'I Tracked Amazon's Prime Day Prices. We've Been Played' (msn.com)
- Reference: 0179752234
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/10/11/070237/i-tracked-amazons-prime-day-prices-weve-been-played
- Source link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/science/environmental-science/scientists-seek-to-turbocharge-a-natural-process-that-cools-the-earth/ar-AA1O4FrT
> I would have saved, on average, almost nothing during Amazon's recent fall "Prime Big Deal Days" — and for some big-ticket purchases, I would have actually paid amore . For the sale that took place Oct. 7 and 8, my family went in prepared. We had a shopping list with prices we'd been tracking... A TV stand he'd been watching jumped 38 percent to $379, from $275 on Oct. 2. Same story for a few other big-ticket items on his list — another console went up from $219.99 to $299. Those products weren't listed as "big deals" on the site, but we certainly didn't expect their prices to spike during Prime Days.
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> And in other cases, Amazon marketed discounts that turned out to be the exact price it had charged in recent weeks. One example: an Oral-B electric toothbrush was listed as 39 percent off, but actually the same price as in August... Other consumer advocates have warned one common trick is for Amazon to feature artificially inflated "before" prices to make discounts appear larger than they are. Ahead of Amazon's 2017 Prime Day, the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog reported that 61 percent of reference prices on Amazon were higher than any price the company had charged for those items in the prior 90 days... I found products listed as Prime Day discounts that cost the same as I'd paid less than a month earlier. For example, a pack of coronavirus tests I bought on Sept. 12 was the same price on Oct. 8, but listed as "39 percent off." Amazon said I'd gotten a particularly good deal in September, and the Prime Big Deal Days price offers "meaningful savings compared to the typical price customers have paid on Amazon over the last 90 days...."
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> To actually get a good deal on Amazon, go in with a plan. I use a free website called [2]CamelCamelCamel , which tracks Amazon's historical prices. You can see what's really a discount — and set alerts when prices drop to your target.
The reporter checked every non-grocery purchase they'd made on Amazon for six months. Purchasing the same products on Amazon's "Big Deal Days" would have brought savings of just 0.6%. "And that doesn't include the $139 annual fee to be a member of Amazon Prime."
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/i-tracked-amazon-s-prime-day-prices-we-ve-been-played/ar-AA1O8P5r
[2] http://camelcamelcamel.com/
Camel. Camel? Camel! (Score:5, Informative)
Price tracker [1]CamelCamelCamel [camelcamelcamel.com] offers [2]browser extensions [camelcamelcamel.com] which allow you to get charts showing price history. Go to an Amazon page and the icon appears in the address bar, click it and the chart pops up. (This is how the Firefox extension works, anyway.) We ordered one of those Solar "Generator" units (I hate it when people or companies call them that, they are not that, but anyway) from Amazon during their sale because it actually was cheaper.
[1] https://camelcamelcamel.com/
[2] https://camelcamelcamel.com/camelizer
Re: Camel. Camel? Camel! (Score:2)
Just keep it deactivated and only use it on hump day.
Re: (Score:1)
Mod up funny. Expected but funny.
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I had forgotten about this add-on. I tried to install it just now and Firefox says it's a corrupt package. Right from the Firefox Add-on site even.
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That's weird, that's where I got it and I'm still running it successfully now.
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Just be aware that after some changes Amazon made in the last couple of years, CCC doesn't always pick up on limited time sales on Amazon so they often don't show the real lowest price in the price history.
Keepa and Camel may not work as you think (Score:1)
These add ons may not work as you expect. They do not scrape your browser session on Amazon to keep track of prices.
They just ask Amazon for the prices. It's Amazon's price history.
Has anyone mentioned that a lot of "instant coupons" are now being used to hide price history?
Anyone using these services notice how every single item on Amazon got listed suddenly brand new about a year ago?
Maybe don't trust the merchants to tell you the true prices of things.
Incidentally, neither service especially hides this.
Re: (Score:1)
I think I misused in vitro. Then again, did I?
Washington Post (Score:4, Insightful)
Somebody's getting fired...
We've known this for years. (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, why is the press only catching up on this now??
Re: We've known this for years. (Score:3)
Exactly. How is this news? Pretty much anything Amazon claims about prices is probably not true. It would be nice if there was a way to call them out on this in a meaningful way for false advertising.
Re: (Score:3)
> How is this news?
Because it's a fraud that is committed by a well known company. That it isn't new, meaning the fraud has continuously been committed for several years, makes it even more newsworthy.
Re:We've known this for years. (Score:4, Informative)
Honestly I have seen prices change when refreshing my browser. Besides Walmart and other big box stores did similar things in the day.
Re:We've known this for years. (Score:4, Informative)
> Seriously, why is the press only catching up on this now??
Here's an article from 2015, [1]'Fake' Sales Trick Customers at Major Stores, Study Says [nbcnews.com] -- (link to study, [2]Sale Prices Are Rarely Real Deals [checkbook.org])
> A consumer group says some well-known stores seem to have perpetual sales on certain items, so the “discounted” price is really the regular price.
I think I remember Haynes Furniture, here in Virginia, getting in trouble for this kind of thing a while ago.
[1] https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/fake-sales-trick-customers-major-stores-study-says-n366676
[2] https://www.checkbook.org/national/sale-fail/
Re: We've known this for years. (Score:2)
Anyone who thinks a company like Amazon is paying to advertise low price deals deserves to be an Amazon customer.
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Exactly. This is an old retail tactic and you see it more around the holidays. Sometimes they will even raise the price a few weeks prior. Why would Amazon or any company be any different?
Old books are worse (Score:2)
If you try to buy an old book, i.e. out of copyright, you will often be given a long list of various prices. ESPECIALLY for a digital download.
For example you can buy Adam Smiths' Wealth of Nations for $40 hardcover. or $25 also in hardcover. Or free via Kindle Unlimited or Amazon Music or Audible.
Trusting a 'deal' in modern america is foolish.
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They're also never actually free on the scamazon store, it's just a subscription that you don't ever own.
This isn't even an online-retailer thing. (Score:5, Insightful)
This isn't even an online-retailer thing, or an Amazon thing, this trick is as old as sales themselves.
in the weeks leading to the sale, slowly mark it all up. Sale comes, 25% off. People flock to your store.
In reality, due to the slow ramp up of the prices in the weeks prior to the sale, the purchaser's actual savings were much less than the advertised 25%
Sales are scams, meant to drive traffic in. Always has been, always will be.
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> This isn't even an online-retailer thing, or an Amazon thing, this trick is as old as sales themselves.
Absolutely. What I'm taking home from all of this is:
Don't buy anything within a month before Prime Day because the price may be artificially inflated.
Don't buy anything on Prime Day because it rewards their price-manipulation.
But seriously, these articles keep coming up - and I supposed that's good - but everyone should always be price-conscious at all times. Buyer beware.
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> Absolutely. What I'm taking home from all of this is:
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> Don't buy anything within a month before Prime Day because the price may be artificially inflated.
> Don't buy anything on Prime Day because it rewards their price-manipulation.
Keep it simple: Don't buy from Amazon.
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There's a running store near me that does this.
They have a 50% OFF! rack out front, I remember looking at the sale price and thinking it looked pretty much like the retail price...the saw they marked all the items up 50%.
Pays to watch prices. And not shop at sleazy spots.
Watch in amazement as 2025-ers learn ... (Score:2)
... that "Big Sale" doesn't always mean truly lower prices!
I am shocked. SHOCKED! (Score:2)
"Your winnings, sir."
"On, thank you very much!"
I thought this was known to all for many years now (Score:3)
I have been using keepa browser extension for years and it lets me check price history of any product on amazon. And what I have been seeing on the price history for many years now, is that there really is no special price. Infact sometimes they jack up the price and call it a lightning deal. Funny. Even edge browser comes with an inbuilt price tracking app, which shows up in the URL bar as a blue tag.
But wait there is more (Score:3)
Amazon has done that for years and this also: If you use a VPN different states have different prices for the same item. Put the lowest price one in your basket and pay for it and it will still ship to you at the lower rate. But wait, there is more, if you browse amazon not logged in (incognito mode) you often will see lower prices then logged in, which you can put in your cart and check out getting the lower price.
Ignore Prime Day (etc.) (Score:2)
I ignore Prime Day, Black Friday and other such affairs.
I don't play those games.
I order from Amazon weekly, or damned near. I order when I want to buy. Sometimes it seems like daily, or even multiple times per day.
I usually don't bother comparison shopping. I generally only do that for high dollar items. I'm not going to spend an hour clicking on websites trying to save a quarter or whatever. I got other shit to do.
I may not always get the best price, but as far as I can tell, I always get the most conven
It's just another example of enshittification. (Score:3)
Before the Dot Com era, startups that succeeded transitioned from growth stocks in to blue chips. They settle down, focus on becoming more efficient at executing what is now proven business mode.
But modern tech stocks are expected to act like growth stocks *forever*. When they grow to their natural potential, they begin to turn to dubious practices to generate the next tranche of growth. They undermine their services in order to squeeze a bit more revenue out of them. Or they let their successful business stagnate while the rock star founder beguiles stockholders with visions of transforming into a block chain or AI company.
Back in the early 2000s, when Amazon first transitioned from being a book store to an everything store, and they just introduced Prime membership, you used the site and thought "this thing is great." Nobody thinks that anymore; it's slower, more opaque and less reliable, cluttered with knockoffs, sponsored results, and astroturf reviews. Fake sales events with phony markdowns? Who is surprised?
Not Obvious? (Score:2)
Historically, all brick-and-mortor stores did this. It's right up there with the perpetual "Going Out Of Business" and "Fire" sales. I have always assumed that Amazon did this, too.
I did however buy some BIG DAY DEAL items this week, which actually were considerably cheaper than normal. One was my regular order of laundry detergent, and the other was cheap headphones. I threw in some USB sticks, which may or may not have been much cheaper, but were not overpriced.
Not counting that Amazon threw in an offerin
amazon is not competitive (Score:2)
Except for expected Amazon-Tech there were no deals, it is all about gaming the customer. I was looking for a laptop - there was no sensible offering, Instead i ordered one of these: [1]https://frame.work/at/en/lapto... [frame.work] or [2]https://www.tuxedocomputers.co... [tuxedocomputers.com] Know your dealer ;-)
[1] https://frame.work/at/en/laptop13
[2] https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/en/TUXEDO-InfinityBook-Pro-14-Gen10.tuxedo
You can play hardball with Amazon (Score:2)
I purchased A NVMe and there was a 30% price drop so I called customer service who informed me Amazon didn't have price protection (script) so I asked if I could refuse delivery and be credited for a return and order the item at the lower price. The CSR told me I could. I politely asked to speak to a supervisor and the CSR put me on hold and came back in a few minutes and asked if I'd accept a gift card for the amount of the difference, which I, of course, agreed to. Be polite and be strategic and you can p
Consumer Protection Bureau (Score:2)
Isnt this what the CPB is supposed to stop?
Isn't this basically every wshop's strategy ever? (Score:2)
Christmas deals, black friday, /insert anything/ days, when you compare thr prices on something you've been watching you will always notice that prices either don't change at all or even increase in some cases
Fandango has a pretty good system for this (Score:3)
Recently spotted on Fandango when they issue a markdown, the original price before markdown is noted as the median price over the last 30 days. This gives you at least a bit of information on the reality of the price drop.
Sure, you could still game it and wait 15 days after markup before putting it on sale. But at least the consumer knows you had to hold a listing at elevated prices for a couple of weeks first.
Re: (Score:2)
According to European Price Indication Directive, stating that the discount amount must be counted from the lowest price the item has had during the past 30 days.
Must be that Euroean socialism, protecting consumers' rights.
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Markdown is another nerd story. I feel insulted.