Beware of Amazon's Double-Dealing Trickery!

[Qs Laptop]

I needed to buy more dishwasher detergent tablets so I logged into my Amazon account and did a search on past orders. To save time ordering my next box I pulled up my most recent order of Finish All-in-1 Powerball detergent tablets, same quantity (94 pcs.) as before. I then clicked on the "Buy it Again" button.

Whoa?! Almost $30? It seems I paid a lot less than that the last time I bought this item. This inflation is really, really, getting bad. I checked the invoice from my previous order and yep, I had paid $15.22 last time, which BTW, was almost exactly one year ago. WTH?!

Here's a screen grab of the "Buy it Again" pricing that Amazon showed me:





So I did a search on Amazon for "Finish All-in-1 Powerball detergent tablets", found the correct product in the same quantity (94 pcs.) and the price I am shown is $14.99!!



Same product, it even shows my buying history on both product pages it presented to me, but with two different prices.

So let this be a warning to you--do not automatically reorder the same thing from Amazon using the "Buy it Again" button. Check the listings and the price.

 

[Walt34]

IIRC Amazon was doing some similar stuff decades ago, if you were a new customer you got better prices than an established customer. Someone discovered that by logging in with their regular account information, then checking the prices on the same product(s) with either a different computer or simply clearing their cookies, I forget which. It was well over a decade ago, maybe two decades so I forget the details.

I do check now and again by looking at stuff with a private window or on my phone, which doesn't have the Amazon account info on it. I haven't caught them doing that to me, but of course that doesn't mean it isn't happening.

Another thought - were the sellers for the high and low prices the same? I have found routinely that different sellers may have wildly different prices for the same products, and/or different shipping times.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Upon further review, the $14.99 price is if I purchase it from "Amazon Fresh" and if I buy at least $150 worth of "Amazon Fresh" products.

If I put the box of dishwasher tablets in my cart and then try to buy the tablets, and only the tablets, the delivery fee is, well, it's, umm....I'm not sure... Can someone tell me what I will end up paying? LOL.

 

[EarlyandLate]

I had a strange one recently. Some time ago, I purchased several items from Amazon. When I was checking out, I saw that the delivery date on one of the items was a month out and there was a separate delivery charge for that one item. (I had ordered enough for free delivery.) So, I removed that item from my cart and completed the order. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and I again placed an Amazon order. When I went to the cart to check out, the total was higher than I was expecting. I had to scroll down to see something that was off the bottom of the screen. They had added that Item I did not buy previously to my order. I never looked at that item or anything similar to it during my shopping. They just snuck it in!

 

[BrianB]

do not automatically reorder the same thing from Amazon using the "Buy it Again" button. Check the listings and the price.

This is a real problem with food & staples. Buying from the Amazon Fresh system consistently brings up higher prices & shipping costs.

Also, many items on Amazon have third party suppliers. The same item can be offered by multiple shippers and the price & terms can be different between them.

They had added that Item I did not buy previously to my order. I never looked at that item or anything similar to it during my shopping. They just snuck it in!

This happens to us regularly, most often with items that are from our Wish Lists. One or two items are already in the cart before we add anything.

I've told DW & DD they should look closely at the cart before entering an order.


BrianB

 

[Aerides]

Your 94 tab box shows 24.96 with subscribe and save, but 29.36 as a one-off. The price looks like it's been pretty wildly up and down, but well above your 2022 price, for the past 18 months, per camelcamel.

I do always check prices, a lot goes up and down automatically via auto-repricers, comparing whatever is going on with walmart and other online sellers.

A couple of things I've been eyeing in my saved-for-later for maybe 2 weeks? Was $35, now $62. Was $95, now $122...
They might go back down, I don't want them either way but it's wild to watch.

 

[audreyh1]

Yes you always have to check the price. It can be highly variable. Amazon is sometimes not the cheapest source - and this seems to be true a lot with grocery store type items.

I don’t consider that double dealing, simply buyer beware as always.

We usually buy things like Finish tabs at Costco when it’s on sale.

I see 140 tabs for $22.54 - third party ships from Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Finish-Power...ocphy=1026629&hvtargid=pla-922334787584&psc=1

 

[Qs Laptop]

Yes you always have to check the price. It can be highly variable. Amazon is sometimes not the cheapest source - and this seems to be true a lot with grocery store type items.

I don’t consider that double dealing, simply buyer beware as always.

We usually buy things like Finish tabs at Costco when it’s on sale.

I see 140 tabs for $22.54 - third party ships from Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Finish-Power...ocphy=1026629&hvtargid=pla-922334787584&psc=1

Thank you so much! That product is an upgrade on my usual Finish Powerball tablets and the price is a hair less per tablet than what I paid a year ago.

Nice find.

Purchased them.

 

[audreyh1]

You’re welcome. I just did a Google search on Finish Powerball tabs and most of the links pointed to different Amazon offerings.

Sometimes I have to hunt around at different configurations/packaging options to find a better deal. I did that recently with some K-cups I wanted to reorder.

 

[OldShooter]

camelcamelcamel.com will give you the price history of the item on a particular page. You can also set a trigger price and get an email when an item goes to or below the trigger.

But ...
Something close to half the items sold on Amazon are from third-party suppliers. Some subset of those list very high prices, apparently in hopes of getting orders from suckers who are not paying attention. So you have to watch carefully and look for other listings of the same item.

Also, I have been buying more often on walmart.com. They have all the same problems and a lot of third party sellers too but I have found that checking there can help me find the lowest price. They also have a store pickup option where they will bring your order out to you in your car. I like this because it saves me the hike and the hunt if I shop in the store myself.

 

[JoeWras]

It will probably be OK, but it looks like the cheap soap balls are grey market, probably Canada? RevLogicalFBA has a 62% rating, probably the lowest I've seen. At least 62% of customers are happy, so if OP ordered, it will probably be OK. For some reason, it seems like a lot of Amazon fulfillment of RevLogicalFBA fail too.

Speaking of soap on Amazon, I bet a lot of us have bought stolen goods. Since these are probably Canadian, I doubt it in this case. I'm not trying to guilt anyone into anything. It just turns out soap is a frequent snatch and dash item that is stolen these days, then resold.

We live in interesting times.

Oh and this Amazon Fresh thing has just started popping up to me too. They draw you in then pull the rug out.

 

[disneysteve]

Something close to half the items sold on Amazon are from third-party suppliers.

I was coming on to say this. Actually, according to the ads, it's 60% or so. Amazon is just a platform, similar to ebay or Etsy, where anyone can go and sell their stuff. It's not all coming from Amazon. It might be fulfilled by Amazon, meaning it gets shipped from an Amazon fulfillment center, but the actual seller could be an individual in Ohio or Arizona running a small business out of her basement. I've got an Amazon seller account myself and used to sell books there, though I haven't for a number of years.


The point is that you always need to compare prices when shopping for anything on Amazon (or any other platform) because prices can vary from seller to seller and can change over time based on supply and demand.


None of this means that Amazon is doing anything shady.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I am an Amazon seller so I'm aware of the third party sellers, the Buy Box, other sellers on Amazon, Fulfilled by Amazon, fulfilled by merchant, and so on.

As to CamelCamelCamel.com I've found their data is wildly inaccurate, at least it is with my own products and also most things I've tracked over the years. But it does give you trends, at least.

This practice of having Amazon Fresh pop up as a purchasing channel is new to me, however.

 

[Sojourner]

Also, I have been buying more often on walmart.com. They have all the same problems and a lot of third party sellers too but I have found that checking there can help me find the lowest price. They also have a store pickup option where they will bring your order out to you in your car. I like this because it saves me the hike and the hunt if I shop in the store myself.

+1

Before buying anything from Amazon that strikes me as overpriced, I always check sites like Walmart, Newegg, eBay, etc. And for things that I don't need right away, I set up a camelcamelcamel price alert.

 

[rk911]

betcha those listings had different sellers but the OP's warning is valid.

 

[MC Rider]

Order 2 pairs of jeans, it said your order qualifies for free shipping. But at checkout they added $7 for shipping. Must pay attention and find the shipping options and change it to free. Pretty sneaky.

 

[OldShooter]

Order 2 pairs of jeans, it said your order qualifies for free shipping. But at checkout they added $7 for shipping. Must pay attention and find the shipping options and change it to free. Pretty sneaky.

So cancel the order and re-place with free shipping selected. Problem solved.

 

[MC Rider]

Oh, I was paying attention and checked that box before ordering.
But it's still sneaky of them.

 

[OldShooter]

Oh, I was paying attention and checked that box before ordering. But it's still sneaky of them.

In his book, "Nudge," Richard Thaler introduces the concept of "choice architecture." The idea is to consciously present choices based on a desire to influence chooser(s) in a certain way. For example, in a school cafeteria do you present the deserts right away as the kids come into the room or do you first present, say, healthy vegetables? What order do you present the investment fund options on a 401K sign-up form? I think one can expect that in a commercial transaction the choice architecture will be biased towards the seller's interests.

The book is an interesting read and has been very influential worldwide. It got him a Nobel. I actually like his second book, "Misbehaving," better but both are worthwhile for investors -- particularly the topics on our bred-in loss aversion.

 

[disneysteve]

In his book, "Nudge," Richard Thaler ....

There is a great podcast called Choiceology. It is produced by Charles Schwab but only tangentially talks about financial topics. It's more about behavioral science and how we make choices in our daily lives and how to make better ones. Richard Thaler has been a guest on the show several times.