'Make an Offer' lets you haggle your way to savings on Amazon

Following in the footsteps of Priceline ("name your own price") and eBay ("best offer"), it seems only natural that Amazon, too, has decided to reach out to bargain hunters by allowing customers to make an offer on certain goods sold through the e-commerce juggernaut. 

Beginning this week, Amazon shoppers can try to negotiate a lower price on more than 150,000 antiques and collectibles—movie, sports, music, and theater memorabilia, fine art, stamps and coins—sold by third-party, or independent, merchants, says Tom Cook, an Amazon spokesman. Next year, the Make an Offer option will expand to "hundreds of thousands" of items, according to Cook. Make an Offer does not apply to goods sold directly by Amazon.

By adding a haggling element to its traditional fixed-price model, Amazon broadens its appeal to a wider audience of consumers motivated not simply by low prices, but by the thrill of the hunt and scoring a deal. If you're the type of shopper who loves, estate sales, antiquing, and flea markets, Make an Offer is right up your alley.

Whether you're buying on Amazon or elsewhere, Consumer Reports has your guide to the best holiday gifts.

How much can you save by haggling for antiques and collectibles? Plenty, according to Consumer Reports National Research Center. In a 2013 study, 89 percent of those who attempted to negotiate a lower price were successful at least once, with nearly three-quarters of respondents saving $100 or more per transaction. Read "Learning How to Bargain Can Reap Big Bucks" for more details.

How to haggle

Items eligible for negotiation are accompanied by a box indicating the firm price—"buy at the current price"—and a second box allowing customers to make an offer. The accompanying photo shows the details. By clicking inside the latter box, a customer can enter and submit an alternate price. The seller receives the lower-price offer through e-mail, at which point the he or she can accept, reject or counter the offer. The seller and customer continue to negotiate back and forth via e-mail until the transaction is complete. When a seller accepts a customer's offer, the customer is notified and can place the item into his or her shopping cart at the agreed upon new price for checkout and purchase.

The new Make an Offer experience could be 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. "In a recent survey of our sellers, nearly half of the respondents told us that the ability to negotiate prices with customers would be important to drive more sales on Amazon," says Peter Faricy, vice president of Amazon Marketplace. "Make an Offer delivers that functionality and makes customers feel confident they are getting an item they want at the lowest price possible."

Amazon's announcement was accompanied by a statement from Steven Costello of Steiner Sports, a major player in the hand-signed memorabilia market and a supporter of the new format, who was quick to clarify that Make an Offer isn't the same as an auction. "All negotiations are one-to-one and private between individual customers and sellers. A seller is able to accept a customer's offer at any time. The intention is to lower prices, and a customer negotiating with a seller will never pay more than the listed price.

"The negotiation experience will hopefully get more communication between us and our customers to help us better gauge the price for certain items," Costello said.

Spencer Eggers, owner of Coast to Coast Collectibles, had an additional observation: "This new shopping experience could also increase customer loyalty because it will give serious buyers the opportunity to have direct communication with the seller to determine a fair, agreed upon price. It will be like a Black Friday sale 365 days a year."

—Tod Marks