Is this the shape of things to come? The number sold is now approaching 500,000! I have to imagine that this deal is better for LivingSocial than it is for Amazon. Clearly people will sign up for LS who are not currently members. Wondering why Groupon couldn't pull this off? It's because Amazon invested $175M into LS and they want a return!

A little more than a month after Amazon invested $175 million in the startup, LivingSocial is offering users a deal to purchase a $20 gift card to Amazon.com for $10.

The deal is available to LivingSocial members in all 170 markets and runs from now until 8 a.m. ET on Thursday.

More than 230,000 vouchers have been purchased two hours after the offer went live, meaning that the deal has already generated $2.3 million in gross sales for the startup — not bad, especially given that members are limited to one voucher per person.