Name your price websites aren't a new phenomenon. Priceline lead the pack as early as the 1990s with a bidding process for travel-related expenses, and name your price bundle websites are thick on the virtual ground. Greentoe is entering the market with the same service for gadgets of all stripes.
Durable goods have been a challenge for name your price models, as opposed to services or ebooks, since there is a minimum range where profit is no longer possible. Greentoe solves this by borrowing a little Priceline and a little from Ebay. The process works like this:
Member retailers set up shop on the Greentoe portal and list electronics, photography gear and items The customer chooses an item and sends a bid to the retailer The retailer accepts or declines the bid If accepted, the deal gets done and the retailer ships. Greentoe guarantees quality and satisfaction once money changes hands If declined, the customer can make another offer or walk away from negotiations.
To streamline the process, each listing is accompanied by a bid-o-meter that rates a customer's offer on a scale of 'No Chance' to 'Go For It.' This lets customers make their offers with a reasonable understanding of where profit realities will get a bid rejected, and gives retailers the luxury of not entertaining bids that are obviously low-ball offers.
The timeline for accepting an offer can be longer than other sites, since each waits on an actual person to make a real-time decision. Buyers decide for themselves how long an offer will remain on the table before being withdrawn. All purchases have a 14-day return and refund, standard.
Still being relatively new, Greentoe is still expanding the options of what it sells. As of Nov. 2014, it works with retailers selling in five categories: photo, home theater, baby, appliances and musical instruments. They intend to expand offerings over the course of next year.
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