Skip to main content
Thursday, October 29, 2026Oct 29
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

This story is free to read.

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. 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.

By Mitra Malek 3 min read

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.