Chattanooga startup lets online shoppers become picky payers

PriceWaiter allows online retailers to feature a "Make an Offer" button so that customers can name their price for products they want to purchase. The retailer ultimately decides whether to accept, reject or counter customer offers.
PriceWaiter allows online retailers to feature a "Make an Offer" button so that customers can name their price for products they want to purchase. The retailer ultimately decides whether to accept, reject or counter customer offers.
photo T.J. Gentle
photo Andrew Scarbrough
photo Bijan Dhanani

Haggling at flea markets, car dealerships or small privately owned stores are wheeling-and-dealing scenes most shoppers have witnessed, if not been part of. The same goes for eBay, though that tends to send prices higher.

But bargaining with online merchants in a bid to pay less is probably not as common for consumers.

PriceWaiter's founders started toying with the concept about four years ago and launched a company to do just that in 2012. They kept quiet about their brainchild for some time, tweaking its features and making sure they could scale.

"The idea is ... so obvious, you wouldn't want to get it out there in the marketplace until then," said T.J. Gentle, who founded the Chattanooga company with Stephen Culp, Andrew Scarbrough and Matt Bain. Bain works out of the company's Seattle office. Chattanooga's Lamp Post Group is among its investors.

Gentle and Scarbrough are speakers at this week's Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition in Chicago, considered to be the world's largest eRetailing conference and exhibition. Their startup also is one of four Chattanooga companies selected for 36'86 in Nashville next week.

To simplify how PriceWaiter's service works, after a company employs the startup's feature, PriceWaiter's widget lets customers make offers on products the company sells. The widget embeds a "Name Your Price" or "Make an Offer" button on any product page or category the company chooses. Then the company decides whether to accept, reject or counter customers' offers via a dashboard. The service is especially suitable for high-end products.

PriceWaiter's service allows companies to convert shoppers into buyers, the company's founders tout. PriceWaiter reports that its conversion rate is 20 percent. The startup also helps companies that want to clear inventory or are frustrated with minimum advertised prices, founders said.

"It's one way to engage more visitors," Scarbrough said.

Smart Furniture, founded by Culp, was the company's first client. PriceWaiter now has 10 employees. The company doesn't share its revenue numbers, but it reports that it has handled more than 100,000 consumer offers totaling more than $54 million. Those translated to $10 million in consumer transactions, which has saved shoppers more than $1 million, PriceWaiter reports.

In December, Amazon rolled out a similar feature, with about 150,000 items in sports and entertainment collectibles, collectible coins and fine art.

"It was a huge validation for us and a totally positive thing," said Bijan Dhanani, who handles special ops for PriceWaiter. "Hundreds of thousands of retailers around the world are going to be looking at this and potentially wanting the functionality without switching their platform."

Contact staff writer Mitra Malek at mmalek@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6406. Follow her on Twitter @MitraMalek.

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