Amazon price keeps changing, the following day

[wolf]

This seems to be a common issue. Was checking out the price of H&R Block tax software on Amazon yesterday. $29.99. Decided I would purchase. So next day logged on, price was $34.99.

Same issue, with a PC. Searched on Amazon. Decided to buy next day. Price jumped by $49.99.

"Googled" this phenomenon, Many forums on this issue. Amazon denies any manipulating.

What do you think? Coincidence or price manipulating.

 

[OldShooter]

... Amazon denies any manipulating. What do you think? Coincidence or price manipulating.

I have read more than once about this type of thing. One vendor was found to be charging higher prices to Safari users on the belief that Mac owners were richer and less price sensitive.

It is a fact that Amazon prices are not constant. If you go to https://camelcamelcamel.com/ you can look up the price history of any Amazon item, also the history of any other sellers of the item and the history of "used" items. "Used" items are often customer returns resold by Amazon itself. I have actually had quite good luck with these. You can specifically search "Amazon Warehouse Deals" here: https://www.amazon.com/s?me=A2L77EE7U53NWQ

At https://camelcamelcamel.com/ you can also set a target price and be notified when the item's price drops to or below your target.

 

[DROPOUT]

Download the Honey extension in Chrome and it will track price history for you. Will also let you know if any other vendors on Amazon have it cheaper

 

[Meadbh]

Supply and demand

I searched for an item made in India that was in hot demand before Christmas. The US price was ~$35. The Canadian price was ~$100, which was ridiculous. After the New Year, the Canadian price went down to ~$40. I concluded that the manufacturer had shipped all its inventory to the US in anticipation of the holidays and was unable to supply other markets until production caught up with demand in January. I know the item I purchased in January was already in Canada because it arrived from a distribution centre in Vancouver in two days.

 

[ziggy29]

Case in point -- Mostly around $100, give or take, for months -- now $45 today:

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/quicken-2018-available-88934-4.html#post2007198

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

This seems to be a common issue. Was checking out the price of H&R Block tax software on Amazon yesterday. $29.99. Decided I would purchase. So next day logged on, price was $34.99.

Same issue, with a PC. Searched on Amazon. Decided to buy next day. Price jumped by $49.99.

"Googled" this phenomenon, Many forums on this issue. Amazon denies any manipulating.

What do you think? Coincidence or price manipulating.

Not sure why this is a problem. All stores are free to adjust the prices based on lots of factors, like inventory levels, competitors current prices, etc. I noticed that amazon tends to adjust their prices whenever other listed amazon sellers raise/lower their prices.

When I'm interested in an item but don't need it right now, I add it to my amazon wishlist and wait for the price to go down. I check my wishlist periodically and buy items where the price has dropped. The wishlist does call out when an item's price has dropped since added to the list. I think I also get an email for wishlist items that drop in price.

As noted in other posts, there are available tools that list an item's price history over time.

 

[ziggy29]

When I'm interested in an item but don't need it right now, I add it to my amazon wishlist and wait for the price to go down. I check my wishlist periodically and buy items where the price has dropped. The wishlist does call out when an item's price has dropped since added to the list. I think I also get an email for wishlist items that drop in price.

I keep a watch list in Honey (that's how I found out about the Quicken deal I linked to above). I wasn't going to pay $100 for it since I still had a few months left with my current version, but when I got a notice that it dropped to $45 for today, I was all over it. That's the way to play the "want it but don't need it now" game...