Amazon’s dynamic pricing

[Ready]

I’ve been an Amazon shopper for many years, so I’m not surprised when I see something that I bought on Amazon later on for a better price. But lately, I’m seeing the prices on things I need changing on an hourly basis.

I buy a lot of Franklin X40 pickleballs from Amazon. Two days ago the price was $5.49 for a 3 pack. Then it jumped the $9.99 this morning, then back to $5.49. Inventory went from 4 week lead time, to nine in stock, to a ten day lead time, and now ten in stock.

A battery pack I was looking for was 25% off this morning around 7am, then back to full price an hour later. None of these items are lightning deals or Amazon daily deals. They are just items I purchase on a regular basis that seem to constantly change in price.

Has anyone else noticed an increase in the frequency of price changes taking place at Amazon?

 

[njhowie]

Yes. Personal example from a week ago.

I needed to purchase this fluorescent light fixture ballast:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C9GVRQ4

The price was mid-$12. I put it in my cart. I browse around a little more at others, while it is in my cart, it goes down in price. I buy it. I go back to the product page and it's lower! I cancel the order, put it in my cart again at the lower price. I buy it. I say, ok, let me press my luck again, and sure enough, when I go back to the product page it is again showing a lower price. I cancel the order, then buy it again. That was the last time the price was lower. I saved about $1 with this silly process, but I just got very annoyed that the price was changing as I was going through this and ordering.

Considering your experience, I'd say that they've recently put some new algorithm in place.

 

[upupandaway]

Simply set an alert with camelcamelcamel at the price you want to pay or the historic low price for that item according to their graph. This has saved me a ton of money over the years. There is also a chrome plugin.

 

[triangle]

I am a sporadic Amazon shopper, but noticed the same thing last week. Saw one price and come back later in the day planning to purchase the item and it had increased by so much that I abandoned the purchase.

A different example, a couple of days ago I watched a youtube video from Scotty Kilmer, a couple of days after he posted, where he recommended an OBD2 scan tool for $35 (the CGSULIT SC204). When I checked the Amazon link it was already $53, rising another dollar or two an hour later. I was not totally surprised as he has a lot of followers, so I had expected it to temporarily sell out after his demo. When I check now, the price is $45.99
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08TTBNCZL/

 

[Major Tom]

I find this type of price changing rather underhanded.

 

[ERD50]

I find this type of price changing rather underhanded.

Or is it just the free market?

Stock prices change by the second, based on supply/demand. Why not other things we buy?

Note that people posted both that prices went up, and prices went down after putting it in their cart. So if it is underhanded, they don't seem to know what they are doing?

I put it in my cart. I browse around a little more at others, while it is in my cart, it goes down in price. I buy it.

Saw one price and come back later in the day planning to purchase the item and it had increased by so much that I abandoned the purchase.

-ERD50

 

[Ready]

I don’t find it underhanded. It’s just a bit distracting because you never know if you are getting the best price. If I don’t need something right away I just add it to my wish list and periodically scan the prices of everything in the list watching for price drops. Almost everything eventually drops in price if I’m patient enough.

 

[RetiredHappy]

I don't mind that they change prices regularly. What I am unhappy with is the save and subscribe items pricing changes. After you have set up save and subscribe, the next time the items are shipped, the prices could have gone up 4 times, seriously!? Now I make sure I check the prices before the cutoff date before each shipment. For most parts, I don't use save and subscribe much anymore for this reason.

 

[6miths]

Simply set an alert with camelcamelcamel at the price you want to pay or the historic low price for that item according to their graph. This has saved me a ton of money over the years. There is also a chrome plugin.

+1

This is what I do for things I need but don't need today. Especially bigger ticket items. Looking at the prices fluctuations over time is quite interesting. For some items it's clear that there are particular times of the year that one can get betters deals.

 

[SecondAttempt]

I don’t find it underhanded. It’s just a bit distracting because you never know if you are getting the best price. If I don’t need something right away I just add it to my wish list and periodically scan the prices of everything in the list watching for price drops. Almost everything eventually drops in price if I’m patient enough.

I always assume I am NOT getting the best price at Amazon. I buy a lot at Amazon but it is for the convenience not the price. Walmart is 20 miles from me. If I have to drive there for a few items it is ~$5 or so in gas. For a full basket it is worth it of course.

And I live in a small town and don't want the local merchants (and I'm not talking about Walmart which is in a larger town farther away) to go out of business so I pay more to support them but they don't carry the vast majority of stuff I buy at Amazon.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

I do not have a problem with their pricing and am pretty "cheap" and have no problem waiting for the price to be tempting. If their algorithm is working well, they'll find a price I can't say no to! I typically add anything I'm considering to my shopping list well before I buy it (if I do, only about 20% actually gets bought) and usually put in the comments the price and date it was when I thought about buying it. For pricey items, I will research and will buy elsewhere if there are significant savings but I generally prefer to buy from Amazon as a "safe" marketplace and have never had any problems with delivery or payment.

 

[freedomatlast]

I buy very little from Amazon because i can usually buy the exact same item for less elsewhere. However, back in February I was shopping for 75" smart TV's. At that time, Amazon had a good price on the one I wanted. I put it in the cart. Later in the day, the price had risen by $200 and the order that was in my cart at the lower price would not process. Life's too short for Amazon's games. Ended up buying it on Ebay from an authorized dealer at the price Amazon refused to process. I'm really tired of their games all designed to rake in more profit for them at the expense of their customers.

 

[sengsational]

I'm not sure we really can say "Amazon" is changing prices. Certainly things being sold on Amazon change all of the time, of course, but the individual sellers are probably responsible.

I'm a seller on Amazon, and I can price things however I wish. I use their catalog, along with other sellers so customers can find the specific item and have access to all sellers of that item. Amazon makes it easy for me to race to the bottom (match lowest price), which is great for buyers.

Setting aside the stuff that Amazon branded stuff that they've set to be manufactured for Amazon, and so exclusively sold by Amazon, I think everything else is supply and demand driven.

During the pandemic, we couldn't find George's (vinegar based...the only right kind of) bar-b-q sauce at any grocery. It as $75 on Amazon, LOL! Some enterprising outfit realized it was flying off the shelves and raised the price. Good for them, I say.

To add another supply and demand example, many sellers of one brand of mole trap. When moles start showing up, they all increase price. When nobody's buying, they drop in price.

One still must do the operation if comparison shopping if they wish to get good prices. Pretty easy to pop over to Walmart on big manufacturer SKU items.

 

[Aerides]

It's bots. There are automated repricing tools. Amazon and everyone use them. Amazon fluctuates to keep the "buy box" when other sellers are on the listing, or when Walmart lowers their price.

Other sellers use them too, sometimes in a bidding war with amazon on that same listing.

3P seller, has a $50 product, happily selling
Amazon comes along, lists at 48.99 and takes over the sales on the item
Bidding war of the bots begins
Amazon wins, sells out their stock
3P seller takes back over and puts the price back up

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Simply set an alert with camelcamelcamel at the price you want to pay or the historic low price for that item according to their graph. This has saved me a ton of money over the years. There is also a chrome plugin.

Yes, there's a Firefox plugin for CamelCamelCamel, too, and I also find it really helpful for price history. Sometimes I'll also open a private browsing window and see what price SGOTI would get compared to me.

 

[easysurfer]

Amazon prices change all the time.

Don't know if true as to working the system, but I've read that if looking for a product, putting that in the cart overnight can lead to a lower price. May just be pure coincidence though and no cause and effect.

 

[T-Minus]

I have Camelcamelcamel set to alert me to *any* price drops - and I get pinged at irregular intervals - typically in the middle of the night. By the time I go to the site, the price has jumped back up to the original price (or frequently higher). I think it’s Amazon’s way to drive more traffic to their site and get prices higher than originally listed.

 

[CaptTom]

Sometimes I'll also open a private browsing window and see what price SGOTI would get compared to me.

I always do this. I never log on to Amazon to search. My browser is set to delete cookies on exit, so I'm always just SGOTI to Amazon. If I find something I want to buy, I'll copy the URL (up to but not including the /ref) and close the browser. Then I can open it back up, log on, and paste the URL into the address bar.

I've never see a difference in "my" price as a Prime customer, vs. SGOTI's price I just searched for. I've seen prices change over time, but nothing as dramatic as some others here are reporting. Sure, they go up and down based on supply and demand, but no more than I'd expect.

Where I see very dynamic prices is Ali Express. I rarely buy from them, but sometimes a deal is just too good to pass up, and I'm not in a hurry anyway. Their sellers are really in a race to the bottom.

 

[Sojourner]

I get (and don't really mind) that prices fluctuate up and down, since I keep track of things I want to buy on CamelCamelCamel. But what I don't get is something like the following:

Why does this hot chocolate mix go up and down so much, over and over again, like clockwork? I only ever buy it when it drops to its lowest price, but there must be some folks out there buying it at its highest price, even though it's guaranteed to drop back down to its lowest price within days. Puzzling.

 

[Sue J]

A few months ago DH bought something on Amazon. It had already shipped and he saw the price had dropped by $10. He thought he could not get a price adjusted for the difference but I dug into the Amazon website and found the link to chat with Customer Service.

I think it started with a bot but I was able to get through to an actual person who did send a credit to the account. It's not a refund, it's a promo credit to be applied to the next purchase of something sold by Amazon. It can't be used for something sold on Amazon by other sellers.

That's ok, good enough!

 

[easysurfer]

Usually I don't pay much attention to the price fluctuations unless I buy a large priced item like a printer or camera. Then I usually go to camelcamelcamel route.

There are times when I feel cheap and look at the price from Amazon vs ebay. Sometimes better deals can be had at ebay but not as immediate gratification.

 

[turbo89]

Another vote for having observed this.

In my case I’ve put a few items in my cart, then forgot to order them, went back the next day (or few) and saw the price go up.

I’m starting to think they use this Psuito-meta data to adjust prices based on anticipated demand.

…. Just like every other growing company, they start coming up with “new ideas”, ultimately frustrating / pushing away existing customers.

 

[sengsational]

For people that seem to come out on the short end of the pricing, I think it's a little like the "always getting in the slowest moving checkout line". You simply notice it more when you're getting the disadvantage. So even though it's evenly split, you "always" get hit with an increase.

Based on what I can guess about the members here (their attention to detail), as opposed to the population in general, the price fluctuations probably result in cost savings (on average).

 

[Qs Laptop]

It's bots. There are automated repricing tools. Amazon and everyone use them. Amazon fluctuates to keep the "buy box" when other sellers are on the listing, or when Walmart lowers their price.

Other sellers use them too, sometimes in a bidding war with amazon on that same listing.

3P seller, has a $50 product, happily selling
Amazon comes along, lists at 48.99 and takes over the sales on the item
Bidding war of the bots begins
Amazon wins, sells out their stock
3P seller takes back over and puts the price back up

^^This^^

As an Amazon seller, this is exactly what is happening. Next time you monitor pricing on Amazon on a particular item look for the identity of the seller. This can be seen right below the "Buy" button. Make a note of it. Next time you look and if the price has changed take notice of the seller.

Sellers can have an algorithm set up to automatically adjust their pricing by a nickel, a dime, 20 cents, a dollar, whatever, to keep the coveted position as seller with the lowest price. Eventually a seller's algorithm will reach the minimum price allowed and they will drop out of the race to the lowest price.

You can also click on the "Available from Other Seller" button and see all the various entities that are selling the item.

 

[Calico]

This is a timely thread.

I have been collecting jigsaw puzzles for several years; they are one of the joys of my retirement now that I can devote as many hours as I like to them.

I have been on the lookout for a particular type of Ravensburger puzzle for a couple of years, and last week a couple of them popped up on Amazon. But, one was priced at $38 and one was priced at $28. There's no way in heck I would pay that much, no matter how much I wanted them.

So, I put both puzzles in my cart and just waited. This afternoon the $28 one dropped to $17, and I snatched it up. The $38 one is still holding, but based on past experience I expect it to drop in the next couple of weeks. If it does, I will buy it. If not, nope.

I admire folks who are persistent enough to set alerts and do comparison shopping for every little thing. I can't be bothered - I just know what I am generally willing to pay, and while I do spend a little bit of time surfing and comparing, I don't put a lot of effort into it. I'd rather spend that time reading a book - or puzzling!