Purse.io lets you spend bitcoin at Amazon. Amazon doesn't accept cryptocurrency, so services like Purse fill the gap. Gyft and eGifter sell Amazon gift cards for bitcoin—eGifter returns points to your
Purse.io lets you spend bitcoin at Amazon. Amazon doesn't accept cryptocurrency, so services like Purse fill the gap. Gyft and eGifter sell Amazon gift cards for bitcoin—eGifter returns points to your account while Gyft no longer does. Purse works differently. You tell Purse what you want, lock bitcoin in escrow, and Purse or another seller buys it from Amazon and ships it to you. When the item arrives, you release the bitcoin. You get 5% off on the spot, or more if you wait for another user to accept your order. Prime shipping usually comes included.
To use it, paste an Amazon URL into Purse's search box. The problem: if Amazon added text to that URL—from clicking through reviews or looking at images—Purse can't find the item. The fix seems obvious: strip the extra text. Purse doesn't do it. You can buy from Purse's own merchants, but selection stays thin. Bitcoin products and scattered tech gadgets make up most of the catalog, so most customers import from Amazon instead.
The browsing experience feels clunky. Purse has a search function, but it can't match Amazon's. Search for "Xiaomi" on Amazon and you get 20 pages of results. On Purse, 11 items total. You can't see Amazon reviews on Purse—possibly a copyright issue—and Purse doesn't host buyer feedback either. That's a missed opportunity. Amazon drowns in fake and purchased reviews. Purse could build trust by letting real buyers share honest assessments.
Merchants show a public reputation score, though the system provides almost no detail. Users vote thumbs up, thumbs down, or neutral. You can't explain your vote or read why others rated someone that way. You have no ability to evaluate whether complaints have merit.
A couple of my purchases cost less than Purse's estimate, usually from taxes or shipping variations. Purse refunded the difference to my wallet. A few cents each time. One item cost more, so I canceled it. Purse sent multiple reminder emails to complete the canceled order. One email to their support team stopped them.
The "name your discount" feature lets you upload a wishlist and set your discount level. Drag the slider to increase the percentage off, and Purse shows how likely a seller will accept it. This feature has friction. You can't search for items inside it—you build and share a wishlist first. Then shipping times become a problem. I ordered something from Hong Kong with free shipping but six weeks delivery time. A seller flagged the order for "long shipping times" and nobody picked it up for hours. The escrow system causes this. Sellers won't lock their money away for a month waiting for the package to arrive and the buyer to release the bitcoin. I canceled and chose a Prime item with two-day shipping, setting the discount to 16%. A seller grabbed it. The item arrived two days later without issues.
Purse Instant gives a flat 5% discount and doesn't face this shipping problem. The name-your-discount sellers apparently do.
You can't use Purse with Amazon's affiliate program. I prefer routing purchases through podcast affiliate links as a way to support them. That works with bitcoin-purchased gift cards but not Purse. There's an optional 1% donation to "charity," but you don't choose where the money goes.
I questioned the return process at first. Purse provides your Amazon Order ID once the order completes, so Amazon handles disputes for Amazon purchases. Orders from Purse merchants use escrow to settle disagreements. I didn't encounter problems with any completed orders, so I couldn't test the return process.
Purse's discounts overshadow the usability problems. It would help if Amazon reviews appeared on Purse, if you could search all Amazon inventory on the site, if long shipping times didn't block name-your-discount purchases, and if you could order items under $10. These inconveniences fade beside the core benefit: steep discounts on an already discounted retailer.
Purse isn't perfect, but what it delivers matters. Even without discounts, offering a bitcoin purchasing option at Amazon would hold value. Getting substantial markdowns at a major retailer appeals to bitcoin holders and to people still deciding whether to buy cryptocurrency.
