Except for Alibaba, Amazon is the world’s largest online store with a market valuation closing in on $1 trillion. With such a massive size, a lot services will build around their ecosystem, and Purse is one of those.

How does Purse work?

The large discounts are possible because of how Purse connects buyers and sellers on their marketplace. On the one hand, you have those who want to buy stuff on Amazon, and on the other hand, you have “earners” who want to exchange Amazon gift cards. When you place an order on Amazon via Purse, you decide which discount you want. Earners, however, are considering whether or not to accept your discount and fill your order.

Many services, including Amazon, offer online jobs (e.g., surveys) paid in Amazon gift cards. This is popular in many countries, even in countries where Amazon has limited to no coverage. For many, Amazon gift cards are not worth the paper it’s written on, but the fact that they can be sold for money is. These gift cards cannot be exchanged for money directly, but in the secondary market they can.

But why exchange to Bitcoin?

A lot of the online jobs available are paid in US gift cards or in gift cards that may come with geographical restrictions related to where they can be used. For this reason, gift cards in the secondary market are often traded in dollars. If you are in India with a gift card denominated in dollars, in theory, you must go through two intermediaries to get it converted into Indian rupee. First from gift card to dollar, then from dollar to rupee. In many cases, it will be cheaper, faster, and more accessible to switch from Bitcoin to a local currency than to change it from dollars to your local currency.

Purse has built a great marketplace, opening another door to increase market efficiency, both on the supply and demand side. We get a discount on what we buy, and earners get more money for their gift cards.

Purse is a trust-based marketplace, like Airbnb and Lyft. After each trade, you give each other feedback, making both parties accountable. As with all decentralized marketplaces, there is always someone with bad motives. On Purse, this applies especially to people who use/sell gift cards paid with stolen credit cards. However, to eliminate the risk for buyers, Purse has an insurance policy that covers up to $10,000 in case of fraud, injury, or any similar case. I have made several small and medium-sized purchases on Purse, and I have never experienced any problems.

How it Works

Here’s what you need to do to get a discount on everything from Amazon.