Amazon has a new competitor called Jet. Here’s how to get a free membership! Plus, how to get an easy $20

The latest BusinessWeek has a pretty interesting story on a man by the name of Marc Lore, who’s gearing up to take on Amazon. He sold his first venture, Diapers.com, to Amazon after Jeff Bezos severely undercut his prices and forced his hand. His noncompete expires early this year and he’s ready to take on Amazon again. Here’s the business idea in a nutshell:

Like Costco, Jet plans to make money on membership fees. Every other savings will be passed along to the buyer. And like EBay and the dominant Chinese e-commerce player, Alibaba.com, it will function primarily as a marketplace, allowing other merchants to compete to offer their wares to customers. But there’s a twist: Shoppers can squeeze out more savings if they can control the urge for instant gratification and let Jet figure out how to deliver the goods as economically as possible. For example, prices can drop when a shopper combines multiple orders into a single shipment or is willing to wait for a seller offering a more economical shipping option.

I’m all for an Amazon competitor. Over on the Saverocity forums, user dboston1 pointed out that you can get a free six-month membership if you sign up now. All you need to provide is an email address, so why not? You can sign up here with dboston1’s referral link–if enough of you join, dboston1 will get a 1-year membership and maybe even more.

$20 FOR SIGNING UP FOR UPROMISE: It looks like I got the same email as Big Habitat:

You’re off to a great start with your Upromise membership. In the past 12 months, you’ve earned more than $25 in your Upromise account, and those dollars start to add up as you continue to earn for college with our partners! Why not share your savings success with friends and family who can also benefit from a Upromise membership?

Let them know how easy it is to earn cash back doing the things they already do. They too can jump-start their college savings by shopping online (with 850+ Upromise partners), dining out (with thousands of Upromise Dining locations), booking travel, and even pumping gas. New members will get $20 in their account for joining.

I’ve used Upromise in conjunction with the Upromise credit card, and it has worked well for me. That 5% on the Staples portal was nice.

Anyway, there’s no referral link–I have to input your email address myself. So if you are not signed up with Upromise and you’d like $20, please send me your address (you can reach me at pfdigest at gmail) and I’ll hook you up. Or, if you like Big Habitat and his super anagram powers, get in touch with him. And if you earned more than $25 with Upromise, please check your inbox for this email since you can get up to $200 by referring people. Thanks everybody! UPDATE: I’ve already reached my limit–thanks! I can still refer you if you want, BUT there’s now a conga line on the Saverocity forums. Other people who received this Upromise email can refer you and they’ll also get the $20. Win-win! (If that doesn’t work for some reason, I’ll still be happy to refer you.)