I don't really have a complete idea of how the customer journey works for the time being. But basically the customer would come to the website and tell me what he wants to buy. I'll then create him a lower priced offer that's only for him. There wouldn't be a bartering phase. Instead, he gets a fixed price from me, one that's lower than what he has found earlier from Amazon.
Are you proposing a reverse market, such as Zaarly initially did? If so, Fishbacks quora post about their pivot may explain to you why it's unlikely to work:
http://www.quora.com/Why-did-Zaarly-pivot
I think it's a bad idea, if i'm not mistaking... You are going to contact suppliers / authors of Amazon and say: hey, i have a buyer for your book for 9$ instead of the 9,99 on Amazon.
The author will just delete your email, why would he spend one minute on confirming the deal for a lousy 9 dollar, he doesn't care and he already has his lowest price on Amazon. If he agrees with you, then Amazon will also want a lower price (and then it will cost him a lot of money)
> why would he spend one minute on confirming the deal for a lousy 9 dollar, he doesn't care and he already has his lowest price on Amazon.
Despite the strong competition, no merchant/supplier will publicly advertise his lowest possible price because that would be incredibly short-sighted. They advertise the lowest price they can offer OR the highest price sufficient to undercut the competition, whichever of these is higher. So it's effectively 1 cent below the second cheapest offer for merchants who can go (sometimes much) lower.
Therefore, it's reasonable to expect them to accept lower priced offers made to them directly in some cases.
In cases where there is no direct competition (i.e. authors who are the sole providers of said product), prices are strategically chosen (not dictated by competition) and therefore direct sales at lower prices are much more likely.
(Amazon will never know the lower price, I presume)
I get the impression that writeup could be condensed down to a single paragraph. I wound up seven or so several introductory paragraphs.
That said, I think the idea of keeping prices personal and private is great for boutique services, but generally sucks otherwise. When searching for products and services, I'm usually looking for price first and reputation, etc. later, since that's nearly impossible to prove in a depersonalized internet service.
In other words, anyone can put up a website proclaiming that they are the most awesome at whatever they do so they can justify a price point, but there's no way to prove it objectively.
So, we're left with cost. The rest is just what you can stomach.
So it's like a dark pool (in the capital markets sense) for retail, in which you try to undercut the market maker's (Amazon) spread by narrowing it yourself and not telling anyone about how narrow it is? It's an interesting idea, but I don't think it would work because (as many commenters here have already said) Amazon's spread is already quite narrow.
Unless one has an original product or one of a kind product there is no way to charge less than Amazon. Well, there is one way and that is if Amazon runs out of the product you happen to have then you will be allowed to sell yours.
Amazon monitors the trend and has the purchasing power to buy trending items and sell at a low price. Amazon does not allow you to set your prices lower than theirs.
Things would be sold cheaper than competition and that's right. However, the unique part of the idea is to keep the price private - it is only revealed to the buyer who has already decided he wants to buy that item. This would be the solution for small to mid size retailers in getting sales diverted to them from those big players. Prices are kept private for a reason - to soften the onset of price competition.
Good ideas aren't always obvious, and just because an idea seems bad that doesn't make it bad. If you have a valid refutation of this idea, why not present it?
[+] [-] edent|11 years ago|reply
It sort of reads like "A customer comes to my website and asks me what's the best price I can do on a pair of Beats Headphones." Is that right?
Why would a customer enter a bartering phase with you, rather than just seeing that Amazon sells them for £x?
[+] [-] sksa|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _gfrc|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] NicoJuicy|11 years ago|reply
The author will just delete your email, why would he spend one minute on confirming the deal for a lousy 9 dollar, he doesn't care and he already has his lowest price on Amazon. If he agrees with you, then Amazon will also want a lower price (and then it will cost him a lot of money)
[+] [-] lazyjones|11 years ago|reply
Despite the strong competition, no merchant/supplier will publicly advertise his lowest possible price because that would be incredibly short-sighted. They advertise the lowest price they can offer OR the highest price sufficient to undercut the competition, whichever of these is higher. So it's effectively 1 cent below the second cheapest offer for merchants who can go (sometimes much) lower.
Therefore, it's reasonable to expect them to accept lower priced offers made to them directly in some cases.
In cases where there is no direct competition (i.e. authors who are the sole providers of said product), prices are strategically chosen (not dictated by competition) and therefore direct sales at lower prices are much more likely.
(Amazon will never know the lower price, I presume)
[+] [-] drivingmenuts|11 years ago|reply
That said, I think the idea of keeping prices personal and private is great for boutique services, but generally sucks otherwise. When searching for products and services, I'm usually looking for price first and reputation, etc. later, since that's nearly impossible to prove in a depersonalized internet service.
In other words, anyone can put up a website proclaiming that they are the most awesome at whatever they do so they can justify a price point, but there's no way to prove it objectively.
So, we're left with cost. The rest is just what you can stomach.
[+] [-] unknown|11 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] pgwhalen|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] reelgirl|11 years ago|reply
Amazon monitors the trend and has the purchasing power to buy trending items and sell at a low price. Amazon does not allow you to set your prices lower than theirs.
[+] [-] nishithrastogi|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] duckingtest|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sksa|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] turtles|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 6d0debc071|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nishithrastogi|11 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] md2be|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wunderlust|11 years ago|reply