Amazon can be a great place to find good deals on everything from books to smartphones, but a new cryptocurrency startup is hoping to provide even steeper savings. Purse.io allows users to purchase Amazon items at discounted prices — provided they pay in Bitcoin, that is.
Purse allows users to select a discount from a sliding scale depending on how fast they want their items. The scale ranges from five percent to 33 percent, with higher discounts taking more time to fulfill. Users who select the five percent discount option can expect to receive their products within two to five days and those orders are fulfilled by Purse.io. This does mean that even the lowest discount leads to slower transactions than ordering directly from Amazon Prime.
Those seeking to get larger discounts will need to wait a bit longer for their items. Once you have selected the discount you want, Purse will match you with an appropriate Earner. These Earners will purchase your item using Amazon gift cards in exchange for a buyer’s Bitcoins. This process is also managed within Purse’s ecosystem, but these orders are fulfilled by third parties that aren’t directly associated with Purse.
As mentioned, buyers can select a discount rate as high as 33 percent, though Earners are under no obligation to accept any of the offers. The site warns that a discount that is set too high might mean that the offer won’t be accepted. However, buyers can always edit and resubmit their orders with lower discounts to make it easier to find an Earner. In general, Purse says that it sees average discount rates of 15 to 18 percent and suggests that as a good place to start.
One thing that should be noted is that Purse does charge a fee for using the name your discount feature. The fees range from 1.9 percent to 4.7 percent for the higher options. This does offset the discounts a bit, so buyers should bear these fees in mind.
The biggest hurdle that newcomers might find on Purse is that they cannot make payments in cash. Users are required to pay in Bitcoins, which can be purchased on various exchange sites.
