Amazon’s latest attempt to boost sales for collectible items give consumers the ability to bargain over prices with sellers.
While it’s not uncommon for customers to haggle over the price of items at garage sales, most of us wouldn’t dream of walking into a prominent national retailer and asking them to cut the price of an item just because – that is until now. Amazon unveiled a new option that allows customers to bargain over the price of thousands of collectible items sold on the site.
Amazon announced today that it’s working to boost the sales of antiques and collectibles by allowing customers to bargain with sellers through its new “Make an Offer” option.
Officials with Amazon say the new bargaining method is currently available for more than 150,000 items in the categories of sports and entertainment collectibles, collectible coins and fine art.
To begin the haggling process, sellers must first enable the “Make an Offer” feature on their products. When a customer see a product they’d like, but don’t want to pay the listing price, they can select the “Make an Offer” option and enter a new price of their choosing.
That offer is then sent via email to the Amazon seller, who can accept, reject or counter the offer. Negotiations continue through email until a deal is worked out. At that point, a customer can then place the item into their shopping cart at the agreed upon new price and complete their purchase.
Officials with Amazon say in a statement that the new option is a “game changer for Amazon customers looking for great prices on one-of-a-kind items, and for sellers looking to communicate and negotiate directly with customers in an online marketplace environment just like they do normally in their own physical store or gallery.”
While Amazon says “Make an Offer” allows customers “more control and better deals,” the process could prove to be slow and burdensome.
Sellers have three days to respond to an offer made, which means if you’re shopping for holiday gifts at this point, you might be cutting it close.
It’s also unclear if the seller can entertain more than one offer at a time. According to Amazon’s news release, the program is not an auction format and all negotiations are done one on one.
Amazon Unveils ‘Make an Offer’ for Customers to Negotiate Lower Prices [Amazon]
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
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