a2acommerce.net

The structured emission of a commercial offer by an autonomous buyer agent, expressed in a machine-readable envelope that encodes price, quantity, timing, and conditions. Bid issuance is the entry point of an agent-to-agent commercial interaction and must be signed to bind the issuing principal to the offer's terms.

A verifiable proof of identity, authority, and capability exchanged between agents before a transaction proceeds. Attestations draw on credential standards so that each side can evaluate whether the other has the legitimacy and scope to conclude the proposed exchange.

A structured multi-round interaction through which two or more agents converge on a mutually acceptable price. Price discovery protocols define the message types, ordering, and termination conditions that distinguish auction dynamics from single-shot offers.

The execution phase in which a matched trade commitment is carried out by each participating agent, transferring value and recording the fact of completion. Settlement is distinct from negotiation because its outcome must be irrevocable once the settlement marker is produced.

The assignment of a neutral third-party agent to hold value or an asset reference while the conditions of an agent-to-agent trade are verified. Delegated escrow separates custody from negotiation and relies on scoped authorization so the escrow agent cannot act beyond its mandate.

A tamper-evident record of an obligation that an agent has entered into during a commercial interaction. Commitment records must be cryptographically bound to the committing agent's identity so that downstream parties can audit what was agreed and by whom.

A signed message container that prevents a transacting agent from later denying that it issued a specific commercial instruction. The envelope carries proofs that satisfy formal non-repudiation frameworks, anchoring commercial intent to a verifiable cryptographic act.

A narrowly scoped credential authorizing an agent to execute commercial actions on behalf of a principal, bounded by amount, counterparty, or time. Capability tokens differ from blanket delegations because they encode the exact operations permitted and expire on use or timeout.

A cryptographic signal that an agent-to-agent transaction has reached a state beyond which it cannot be reversed by either party unilaterally. Finality markers are essential for chained commercial workflows, where downstream agents must know when it is safe to rely on an upstream trade.

A machine-verifiable record describing the consideration moved between agents as part of a settled commercial interaction. Receipts function as audit artifacts that carry the amount, timing, and signing identities of both counterparties.

A protocol message that formally raises a disagreement about the execution or outcome of a commercial exchange between agents. Escalation signals move a transaction from an automated settlement track into a defined dispute workflow without losing the evidentiary record.

An agent behavior in which an offer deemed unacceptable is answered with a revised bid generated by rule or by model, rather than outright rejection. Counterbid automation is what distinguishes an iterative negotiation protocol from a simple accept-or-decline exchange.

An evidence-backed indicator of a counterparty agent's historical reliability in completing commercial transactions. Reputation signals are carried as verifiable credentials and are intended to be consumed algorithmically by other agents during counterparty selection.

The runtime attachment of commercial rules — spending limits, counterparty allowlists, jurisdictional constraints — to an agent's active trading session. Policy binding ensures that every subsequent commercial action is evaluated against the governing rule set before it executes.

An agent-initiated reversal of a previously completed commercial transaction, triggered either by explicit dispute resolution or by pre-agreed conditions. The workflow must preserve the original commitment record while generating a new, independently signed settlement that cancels it.