Amazon's New 'Make An Offer' Lets You Bid On Some Items

Amazon has bestowed upon its shoppers a new feature to make private "bids" on items sold through third-party vendors on the website. Called "Make an Offer", the feature allows customers interested in an item to privately offer the seller less than the listed amount, which the seller can then either accept or decline, or alternatively can reply to with a counter offer. The feature is limited for now, but will become an option on thousands of items starting next year.

As of today, the Make an Offer feature is live on select items that most people probably won't be interested in buying, such as a 1863 document with Abraham Lincoln's signature (asking price: $150,000 USD). As you can see below, the feature itself is shown where you could otherwise purchase the item and simply involves putting in your own offer amount.

Make an Offer will be showing up on "hundreds of thousands" of products some time next year, however. When used, a seller will have 72 hours to accept, counter-offer, or outright reject the offer. If a counter-offer is made, the buyer then also has 72 hours to decide how he or she wants to proceed.

This joins a roster of other news from the company in recent weeks, including its rumored Amazon Prime Now bike delivery service reportedly being tested in New York. Under that, according to sources, customers would have their products delivered within an hour through a bike courier service. Check out the timeline below for other Amazon news.

SOURCE: Reuters