Ruby Lane launches online haggling

If you love the thrill of negotiating and haggling over the price of a purchase, then rubylane.com's online equivalent could be for you.

The website's new Make-An-Offer Program allows buyers to give and receive real time feedback as to whether or not an offer is accepted.

This could be great for consumers but not necessarily good news for retailers. Although the service removes the need for online store owners to respond to such inquiries, it does highlight to consumers that they should try and negotiate the price, which could lead to lower margins for the retailers.

To use the program, buyers visit Ruby Lane's site and make an offer on an item of their choice. The Make-An-Offer software automatically counters the offer, based on the criteria set by the individual shop owner.

``We've noticed that unequivocally the number one question from buyers is 'Will you take X amount for an item?' This new program automatically addresses this.''' says Ruby Lane president and co-founder Tom Johnson. ``This new program is better tailored to consumers' actual buying habits and patterns than other auctions currently in the marketplace."

Store owners may find that the Make-An-Offer Program streamlines their ability to maintain their Ruby Lane store. Instead of having to manually counter an offer, they input their specific sales criteria for each item as they input it into their store. Make-An-Offer does the rest of the work. Ruby Lane expects the new Make-An-Offer Program to further increase sales through the site.

Since launching the site in August 1998, rubylane com has grown to index over 2 million items, in 2,000 categories. The site includes a community of over 500 online stores. 

07/13/00 Source: Ruby Lane