Amazon confirmed last month that collaborative wish lists, a feature that users have wanted for a while now, are on the way. Which always made sense to launch, since there’s often a kind of social component to building the shopping and wish lists — for people who use the lists for birthdays, Christmas gift ideas, party planning and more.
Until now, though, users have only been able to simply share those lists with other people (“Here’s everything I want”). But an Amazon PR representative confirmed today the collaborative shopping lists and wish lists have finally arrived for all customers.
“Making collaborative purchase decisions when it comes to household essentials, group vacations, or party planning ensures that no product is forgotten and eliminates the possibility of duplicate purchases,” the rep explained in an email by way of adding context around the launch of the feature. “Collaborators can add or remove specific products, comment on products already listed, make general product suggestions, or purchase directly from the list. All you need to collaborate is your own Amazon account.”
This is how you try it out:
Go to “Accounts and Lists” within your Amazon account on desktop or by clicking the upper left hand menu on your mobile device. Choose “Your Lists” and create a Shopping List, Wishlist or Idea List.
To invite others to collaborate on a list:
- Go to the list you want to collaborate on.
- Click the “+ Invite” button.
- Then invite whoever you want. You need to copy the link and send it to others through your preferred channel, or click on “Invite by email” and the default email client will open with a pre-populated message you can send. Also, on the Amazon app you can tap on “invite” and select the channel of your choice to send the invitation.
To actually join a list you’ve been invited to collaborate on, you need to click the link that’s been shared with you. You’ll be asked to sign in to your Amazon account if you’re signed out, and if you don’t have an Amazon public profile you’ll be prompted to create one.
Once collaborators join the list, the list owner and collaborators will be able to view the list, add items to it and take items off, get notifications about list updates, engage in a conversation on the list and see a history of activity related to it, like who’s joined and who’s been added or removed.
