OT - Amazon changing prices.

epcotisbest

An item I was looking at back in April was $99. Logged on today to purchase it and the very same item is now $179. That is an $80 jump. 
Out of curiosity, I did a camelcamelcamel search of it and it has been five different prices, all of them higher than the original $99, since April 17. I find that odd.
I guess they can just change the pricing whenever they feel like it. A brick and mortar store would not get away with that, or if I went to a store five different times and found the price different each time, I might not be inclined to go back.
Yes, I'll keep shopping Amazon, but will watch prices closer. And no, I did not make the purchase at $80 more than what I was thinking it was going to be when I logged on.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

They have an algorithm that will sell as high as the market allows and as low as the market goes. I sell them a ton of stuff and it can be a challenge to keep up with all of it.  

The Cen-Tex Smoker

The low price was probably a price match the algorithm found and dropped price to match. Its a cat and mouse game they they are very adept at. 

thetrim

Yeah I recently bought an item ($190) within 12 hours it was $10 cheaper then two days later was $50 more than what I paid for it.     

Ladeback69

That's normal for Amazon.  It may have been in high stock when they had it listed months ago, now it is lower so they charge more.  Oh I have seen brick and mortar stores have a deal on a certain item at a great price then move it back up to original prices.  I've seen stores mark up prices one week then lower them the next week and call it a sale. 

epcotisbest

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

The low price was probably a price match the algorithm found and dropped price to match. Its a cat and mouse game they they are very adept at. 

So they may have been doing a price match to some retailer that had it on sale and that is why the price was much lower for just a short period of time?

HeavyG

Also keep in mind that there are a lot of third party vendors on Amazon and their prices can vary wildly and outrageously.

epcotisbest

HeavyG said:

Also keep in mind that there are a lot of third party vendors on Amazon and their prices can vary wildly and outrageously.

This one did indicate - Ships from and sold by Amazon.com - each time I checked. Yes, I have seen some outrageous prices from third-party sellers.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

epcotisbest said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

The low price was probably a price match the algorithm found and dropped price to match. Its a cat and mouse game they they are very adept at. 

So they may have been doing a price match to some retailer that had it on sale and that is why the price was much lower for just a short period of time?

Yes. We have to deal with this on a daily basis. They see everyone's price. And I mean everyone. If a small shop in BFE runs an online ad, Amazon matches it...and we are expected to cover the difference. 

epcotisbest

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

epcotisbest said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

The low price was probably a price match the algorithm found and dropped price to match. Its a cat and mouse game they they are very adept at. 

So they may have been doing a price match to some retailer that had it on sale and that is why the price was much lower for just a short period of time?

Yes. We have to deal with this on a daily basis. They see everyone's price. And I mean everyone. If a small shop in BFE runs an online ad, Amazon matches it...and we are expected to cover the difference. 

Wow. No wonder they are killing traditional retail. I think someday we will  regret not having local options.

GregW

Also I have found that you can sometimes get a better price by visiting the Amazon site with another web browser or by deleting all of your website cookies. A VPN connection sometimes helps in conjunction with the other tips.

GregW

epcotisbest said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

epcotisbest said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

The low price was probably a price match the algorithm found and dropped price to match. Its a cat and mouse game they they are very adept at. 

So they may have been doing a price match to some retailer that had it on sale and that is why the price was much lower for just a short period of time?

Yes. We have to deal with this on a daily basis. They see everyone's price. And I mean everyone. If a small shop in BFE runs an online ad, Amazon matches it...and we are expected to cover the difference. 

Wow. No wonder they are killing traditional retail. I think someday we will  regret not having local options.

A wise man for told the future to me 30 years ago. He was commenting on a UPS truck. He said one day local stores won't stock anything. They will simply be a catalog house. They will order what you want for next day delivery.

I'm in the commercial HVAC field. Our local HVAC wholesaler of choice stocks about 5% of what they did 30 years ago........they can still get what you want.....by UPS or Fedx

The Cen-Tex Smoker

epcotisbest said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

epcotisbest said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

The low price was probably a price match the algorithm found and dropped price to match. Its a cat and mouse game they they are very adept at. 

So they may have been doing a price match to some retailer that had it on sale and that is why the price was much lower for just a short period of time?

Yes. We have to deal with this on a daily basis. They see everyone's price. And I mean everyone. If a small shop in BFE runs an online ad, Amazon matches it...and we are expected to cover the difference. 

Wow. No wonder they are killing traditional retail. I think someday we will  regret not having local options.

It will all come around one day- it always does. The brick and mortar shops of yesterday (and even most today) were not built to withstand the internet, much less Amazon. Malls are dead, the old way of thinking is dead but a new wave of smart, customer focused retail will emerge and thrive. Everybody has their weekness. Amazon's will emerge and there will be plenty of smart people there to exploit it. There will be a backlash against web only shopping. It will either fall out of fashion, or people will get tired of their identity getting stolen or something unforeseen. But it will change and it will change again.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

GregW said:

epcotisbest said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

epcotisbest said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

The low price was probably a price match the algorithm found and dropped price to match. Its a cat and mouse game they they are very adept at. 

So they may have been doing a price match to some retailer that had it on sale and that is why the price was much lower for just a short period of time?

Yes. We have to deal with this on a daily basis. They see everyone's price. And I mean everyone. If a small shop in BFE runs an online ad, Amazon matches it...and we are expected to cover the difference. 

Wow. No wonder they are killing traditional retail. I think someday we will  regret not having local options.

A wise man for told the future to me 30 years ago. He was commenting on a UPS truck. He said one day local stores won't stock anything. They will simply be a catalog house. They will order what you want for next day delivery.

I'm in the commercial HVAC field. Our local HVAC wholesaler of choice stocks about 5% of what they did 30 years ago........they can still get what you want.....by UPS or Fedx

Hilarious. Sounds like sears 100 years ago! What comes around goes around. Too bad sears won't be here to see the model they invented 100 years ago come back in fashion. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

HeavyG said:

Also keep in mind that there are a lot of third party vendors on Amazon and their prices can vary wildly and outrageously.

That is where the problem is more than anything else. We pay a service (a lot)  to clean our product off all 3rd party sites. There are people that buy returns or damages goods and resell it on amazon at 50% off. Amazon matches it and sends us the bill. 

Eggaroo

Funny seeing this post not 5 minutes after purchasing a set of mower blades for my Toro Timecutter Z series mower. The price changed by $5 or so between the time I added it to my cart and proceeding to checkout! I went ahead with the purchase as it was still the best price I could find, but I did think it was kind of strange.

MJG

Amazon just opened a brick and mortar bookstore by my house...weird. 

tarheelmatt

Wednsday,  my co-worker heard me talking enough about sous vide and he was going to buy one.  I sent him the link from Amazon for an Anova unit.  It was $79 for the 800w model.  I told him he better jump on that.  

He waits till after lunch.  He put the $79 unit in his cart.  He went to check out and site indicated it was no longer available.  Go back to look, it jumped to $109! 

TN_Sister_State

I have the honey chrome extension installed for online shopping. Has helped me more than once. Never used camelcamelcamel but honey is built right in. 

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/honey/bmnlcjabgnpnenekpadlanbbkooimhnj

Austin Egghead

Wow this has been an education.  I am not enamored by amazon, but I will shop there for some items (music books that I can't find at Half Price Bookstore).  
Usually what I will do is go to the retailers they reference and shop or to the manufacturer themselves (after I have cleared all cookies).  This is especially true when it comes to my EDC and cutlery knives.  The web shopping is full of fake knock off stuff,  some really good, some really bad (this is especially true of high end collectable EDC knives).
Thanks for the education. 

xfire_ATX

The banking industry went through this 20 years ago.  They decided to push everyone to online banking and guess what happened- we all got home loans and car loans and investments elsewhere.  Now there is a bank on every corner and they want you back in the branch shaking hands.

xfire_ATX

GregW said:

Also I have found that you can sometimes get a better price by visiting the Amazon site with another web browser or by deleting all of your website cookies. A VPN connection sometimes helps in conjunction with the other tips.

thats exactly all I use ie for these days- cache free comparison shopping.

fishlessman

it seems you see a good price on amazon the first time you look, thats when you need to buy or cut out the middle man and buy direct from hong kong, i still cant believe the cover for my yeti 30 tumbler was $1.50 delivered in a week for free.  does anyone get a loan from their bank anymore, way simpler online

SoCalTim

Before I push the Amazon button, I always check Ebay .. often times prices are lower - oh you might not get the two day delivery, but sometimes it' worth the extra day or three.

On a sad note, Thanks Amazon for a major hand in the demise of 'Small Business' USA - I live in Los Angeles and can't even walk into a store anymore to buy a pair of decent sneakers ... it's all online.