3 On Your Side: Name Your Own Price Online Shopping
By Jim Donovan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- So do you enjoy shopping online but miss the opportunity to haggle? Well these days you can do both. As 3 On Your Side Consumer Reporter Jim Donovan finds, it all depends on knowing where to click.
The art of the haggle is alive and well on the internet. A handful of new websites are allowing you to name your own price for everything you're buying. One site is Greentoe, for electronics and more. Joe Marrapodi of Greentoe says, "customers can expect to save anywhere from 15 to 22 percent depending on the category."
Scott Scher found the guitar he wanted on Greentoe, he estimated it was worth $300 but he eventually settled on a $200 price using Greentoe's "make an offer guide". The guide calculates your chances of getting an offer accepted.
The fashion site Garmentory also has a similar scale. Courtney Bonnell of Favors Agency says, "More often than not these customers know what they are looking for, they know what things are worth." Small boutiques and designers like New York based Collina Strada are featured on the site. They say that the "offer guide" keeps customers from putting in unrealistic lowball offers. Bonnell says, "of course you're going to get some requests you can't fulfill maybe it's just too low."
Stacey Pashcow is hoping to sell a cabinet and lamp on Viyet, a furniture resale site. She says, "Something is only worth what you can get someone to pay for it anyway." Like an upscale flea market, Viyet has hundreds of sellers and thousands of items at big discounts, for online buyers to name their own price. Jennifer Koen of Viyet says, "Anyone coming to a resale sight is looking for a deal on a brand name and I think that "make-an-offer" creates that opportunity for them, that feeling of negotiation and they got a great deal and it's a feeling everybody loves."
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