Edit: Before more naive commenters reply saying they don’t believe me and have complete faith in Amazon, check out this CNN link with a story by a U. of Washington Prof. of Law about this exact double pricing problem, with an ADMISSION from Amazon that they engage in these practices.
So this morning I visited Amazon.com to check out the price of a watch I’ve been considering buying. I quickly found it, but was not ready yet to pay quite as much as Amazon quoted. To the internets I went! When I ran a price check on Google’ s shopping search, and rankest the results from lowest->highest price, Amazon came up first. But wait a second, that was not the same price I had just been quoted on the Amazon website…. Compare:
So of course, I clicked the results. But what did I get on the actual Amazon page? The same old higher price. Then, suddenly, I remembered reading an article, many years ago, about Amazon offering two different prices at the same moment to two different customers, for no apparent reason. While I had assumed that scandal had long since made Amazon change this strange practice, I suddenly became a little suspicious.
So I opened Internet Explorer, in which I was not logged into Amazon.com as an Amazon Prime member, unlike in Google’s Chrome browser. And I searched again. You won’t believe what I found. Here are the unaltered results of two pages loaded within seconds of each other, on the same computer, from the same vendor on Amazon. On the left side I am logged in as a Prime member. (Note: “Prime means you pay a significant yearly fee ($79) to get free 2nd day shipping all year) On the right side I am not logged into Amazon at all. See for yourself!
And when I did a little Googling, I discovered that this is in fact a common practice. So while Prime customers pay a significant yearly fee to get free or discounted shipping, apparently Amazon.com secretly changes prices of items for Prime customers on a regular basis. And it gets worse. Since other bloggers encounter numerous replies that claim that they forgot to calculate in shipping/vendor differences and such, I’m including such a calculation right away to illustrate my point:
My $6 higher Prime price still gets me 2-day shipping, unlike the cheaper listing. However, when I checked the cost of 2-day shipping for the non-Prime item, I discovered that it was only $3.69 extra! So not only am I throwing away an annual $79 fee to be a Prime member, I am even paying several dollars MORE for the “item + 2-day shipping” than a non-member is.
Conclusion: As an Amazon Prime member, you are actually paying an annual fee to be allowed to pay MORE for “item + 2-day shipping” than any non-member would be paying! This is a serious pricing/advertising scam. I intend to file a complaint for a complete refund of my Amazon Prime membership for the three years I’ve had it, and I suggest that you do the same.
PS: Check out these pages to see that this price scam is not an isolated incident. Or check for yourself if you’re a Prime member!
Really interesting!
Are you sure it’s Prime in particular and not ‘logged in vs not logged in’? (I haven’t tested it.)
There’s other more complicated stuff going on. I think I’ve seen cases where I looked at something on Amazon, not gotten it, and come back a few days later to think some more about it and look at it again, and… viola–the price is lower!
Want to test this together? Email me a few items and prices and I’ll check them for me–logged in vs not. I’m not a Prime member.
Dont ever compare Google Product Search (Amazon Price) with Actual Amazon.com Price. Google keeps the cache of Amazon Product data and price and refresh it for every 24 hours.
I also looked at the above screenshot of chrome and internet explorer. If you look at them carefully, they are shipped and sold by different merchants.
$264.54 – Ships from and sold by Amazon
$258.66 – ships from and sold by Third pary merchant (Ace Photo Digital)
Amazon price keeps changing (even on same day also). To justify this i just checked the above product and the price is $258.66 (Ships from and sold by Amazon)
So finally the Price and Prime are different.
This has to be the stupidest thing I have ever read.
The one on the left is shipped and sold by Amazon.com, it says so right underneath the item.
The one on the right says that it’s shipped and sold by someone seller named ace photo digital.
You’ve had Prime membership for THREE YEARS and you don’t know the difference between something sold by Amazon and something sold by a random person?
Also, Prime has been around for years and Amazon has millions of customers. Don’t you think that *someone* might have noticed before now if Amazon was randomly ripping off customers?
And if you look you will see (13 available on both) And you don’t find that odd? just coincidence? One is coming from Amazon (who then retrieves the buy from the original seller because he is signed into (Prime) the other is coming from the seller directly.
I have seen this many times. It’s the same seller, it’s just that (Prime) becomes a middle man. This is how Amazon compensates themselves for their “free shipping”.. Nothing is free..
OMG!!! That number “13 New from $258.66” denotes there are 13 sellers selling this item in new condition and the lowest price among those sellers is $258.66 — call it a coincidence!!!
No. Ships and sold by amazon means it is amazons inventory. Shipped and sold by XYZCompany means it is from someone else. Ships from XYZ and fulfilled by Amazon means eligible for prime 2day but XYZ’s inventory is being held in amazons warehouse so it could be shipped faster, amond other benefits for the seller. In this case amazon just showed u their offer because youre’ prime and get the benefits of 2day shipping, which might be a liiiitle unfair considering the shipping difference in this case. However, nothing fraudulentor illegal is being done because the other company’s offer is still available as another offer on the side.
source: Ecommerce and amazon marketplace manager
This is completely true. And the people too narrow minded to see it that are commenting can keep their not-so-thought-out comments to themselves. A friend and I build desktop computers as a hobby, and we both got on our separate accounts, looked at the same exact RAM sticks, and found that mine were cheaper than his. Both showed on sale, but even his LISTING price was significantly higher! They are scamming people every day by offering different prices of each product go different people. That is not only unfair, it’s outrageous.
I know this is very old now but I just encountered the same thing.
Vincent, you must be the stupidest dumbass who has ever commented or simply a troll by Amazon to justify their fraud. Look at the link above the two pages you stupid fucking idiot! It’s the same address!
It is pretty amazing how someone can be that… reckless when posting threads.
You say you’ve been a customer with prime for 3 years, and yet you dont know the difference between sold and fulfilled by amazon, and sold and fulfilled by a Third Party Seller?
If you check the terms and conditions for Third Parties, you’ll see that they’re free to put any price they want, and that prime doesnt apply cuz they gotta pay for it
Your replies show a disturbing degree of consumer naivety.
Try this for yourself when logged into Prime and not logged in. Also try clicking the Google link. I entered the EXACT SAME LINK into my Chrome and IE browsers to get to those two images, which magically led to two different ‘ships by’ entries with two different prices.
The difference in “ships by” is fake. Same product from same location, Amazon just changes one for Prime users as an excuse to raise the price. It’s a scam, and you’re falling for it guys.
RIGHT ON! Every big business in America now is a con and rip off, even when it’s only a dollar, with billions of transactions a day. Think about it!
PS: Vincent, you don’t believe me? Amazon’s double pricing has been a well known issue since 2000, when they admitted it and apologized for it. CNN actually has an article about this exact same issue that I wrote about today: Logged in vs logged out prices. I’m only writing this article because I didn’t realize they were still doing this today, and targeting Prime users.
Here is the CNN link that shows Amazon themselves ADMITTED to this practice.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/24/ramasastry.website.prices/
I always loved Amazon, as many people do, but some of you commenters may be putting a little too much faith in what is ultimately not your friendly neighborhood bookstore, but a large corporation trying to make money, however that needs to be done.
Being a Prime member, I decided to try this. And, sure enough, when I went to the site signed in, it showed me the one shipped by Amazon, and then when signed out, it showed me the one shipped and sold by a 3rd-party seller.
What does this prove? Well, it proves that Amazon tries to get me to buy stuff directly from them by showing it first, which would make sense, and would also save me money, since I get free shipping from Prime and I get charged ridiculous amounts by all the 3rd-party sellers.
Not to mention – HOW IS THIS A SCAM WHEN AMAZON HAS *BOTH* OF THE DIFFERENT PRICES LISTED ON THE SAME PAGE??? Seriously. Look at the screenshotted images. It says “More buying choices”. The left image has the cheaper option from Ace Photo, and the right image has the one from Amazon. How is Amazon trying to scam you when it clearly lists both different prices, which you can choose to buy, from both of the different sellers, ON THE SAME PAGE? Anyone can choose to buy the slightly more expensive one, from Amazon (with free two-day shipping) or buy the slightly cheaper one from the seller (and pay for shipping, and have it take a lot longer than two days). I just tested this by adding both of them to my cart while signed in to my Prime account. Amazon freely allows me to buy either one.
As to the whole “difference in “ships by” is fake”, that has to be the most hilarious thing I have ever read. You know how I know this? I sell with Amazon. So do a number of my friends. You know something else? I order things from sellers all the time. A lot of them are shipped to me from California. It’s not hard to figure out where things are being shipped from. You know which company *doesn’t* have a warehouse in California? Amazon.com.
I’m guessing that you’re not going to read any of the points I just made, so, question then: what did Amazon say when you asked them for your Prime subscription back? I can’t imagine they refunded you.
If you really believe this nonsense, when Amazon is clearly targeting Prime/signed in customers with different prices (as they have admitted that they do!), then explain why, within hours of me complaining to them and receiving a response with a lower price offer on this item:
1. The listing has changed, now the exact same thing shows up to Prime customers when they go to that page.
2. When you do click that list of “12 new from…” you’ll see that there IS NO $263 LISTING that ships from Amazon. It doesn’t exist anymore at all, since moments before the time of day when I received my response from them.
The only one available straight from Amazon now is the old $468 listing that existed before my complaint as well. This is obvious evidence that the previous $263 listing only existed to give Prime users the impression that they were getting a “prime deal”. In reality this was always the same item, would always have shipped from the same location, and the two have now clearly been consolidated to reflect the actual listing.
I’ve been buying from Amazon for 13 years, and have probably bought 1000-2000 products from them during this time. But instead of defending them like a blind fool, I’d rather be realistic and see if I really am getting the deals I think I’m getting.
And Amazon is not the only place that does this. Years of involvement in another very large company taught me that these kinds of things are common practice. You only need to say something is discounted or a good deal, and nobody will question you. (We used such strategies on a regular basis and nobody ever questioned pricing, and sales always went up when people thought they were getting deals when they were actually paying more)
BrightViolet, a smart shopper already knows that Amazon prime-qualifying prices (directly from Amazon) are usually a little more expensive than one of their non-prime-qualifying resellers. This is in no way HIDDEN by Amazon, despite the fact that they would present one over the other depending on your login status. That’s no revelation.
As a shrewd shopper, I will usually go with the higher-priced Prime option for two reasons:
1. Amazon customer service has, in my experience, been far better than dealing with some resellers. It is worth a few more dollars to me to pay for the CS.
2. Final price after shipping is still better through Amazon Prime for some items. Just because your example indicated otherwise doesn’t mean it is conclusive. Small, lightweight items have cheap two-day shipping. That’s common sense.
Your “study” lacks any depth from which to draw such bold, paranoid conclusions. Good luck on your witch hunt. Maybe just research it a bit more before you post your blog next time.
I would just like to share this:
I wasn’t logged into amazon.com
On Chrome for asus G73JH-A1 17-inch the price was quoted as $1629.99
On IE at the exact same time the price for the same product was quoted as:
$1616.99
On firefox it was quoted as:
$1616.99
But exactly two hourse ago when i first visited the page it was quoted at $1589
this is the link. i wonder what price everyone else gets
I have screenshots. but no way to upload them here. if the author is interested I can email them
Hi Vi,
I checked on Chrome, logged in, one minute ago and got $1628.72!
Thank you for your contribution, it’s more proof that Amazon uses dubious pricing schemes. Strangely a number of people still go to absurd lengths to defend Amazon, when a little calculation and common sense show the obvious dubious practices, as a number of press articles have pointed out too!
Thanks!
I’d just like to backup the claims by the author of this blog. This issue is generally NOT limited to “fulfilled by Amazon” versus “fulfilled by third party” price differences (although I didn’t look into the specific case cited above). As Amazon has admitted in the past, they “experiment” with “price customization”. This means that they will, at times, charge different people different prices for the EXACT same item.
Up until now, classical economic theory has rejected “price discrimination” (the academic term for these strategies) as a profitable practice in goods markets for the very reason this thread was generated… customers don’t like it when they find out about it! However, a lot of internet retailers (not just amazon) are gambling that you are (a) unlikely to figure out how this issue affects you, and (b) even if you do find out that you won’t be outraged over their behavior enough to hurt their bottom line. So, they continue experimenting with these pricing strategies to see how much more profit they can squeeze out of each customer. This may or may not bother you since we’re usually talking about relatively small proportions of total product cost, but denying that it happens at all doesn’t really contribute much to the conversation.
Personally, I was annoyed when I realized that this issue has probably cost me tens of dollars over years of internet shopping. However, now that I’m aware of it, it’s not too difficult to protect against future losses. I also continue to shop with Amazon because despite the icky feeling I get from some of their pricing strategies, I find that the overall value of their prices and service are still among the very best.
Brightviolet, can’t your post on May 20, 2010 at 10:05 am be easily explained by someone simply purchasing the $263 item after your rant? Do you think you’re the only person in the world buying Seiko watches online? The stock could have just been depleted overnight, at which point Amazon would obviously revert to the other price.
I don’t doubt that Amazon tries to promote its higher priced stuff wherever possible, but as another person with experience selling with Fulfillment by Amazon, I have to tell you it’s silly and paranoid to flatly assert that all those third-parties are dummy accounts. Give me a break — Amazon is just putting its own stock in the first position because its algorithms determined that you don’t mind spending money.
Maybe it’s not the most ethical thing in the world to promote higher priced stock as the default option for certain users, but what you’re accusing Amazon of doing (setting up fake storefronts and removing lower prices) is simply wrong and probably libelous. Do your research and stop jumping to the most damaging knee-jerk conclusions.
Anyway, yeah, you can just opt out if you’re convinced you’re the target of a conspiracy. This is not Big Brother.
By the way… who the heck pays almost $300 for a watch? More to the point: Why would someone paying almost $300 for a freakin’ watch complain about a $4 difference? Sheesh!
People that fucking care, that’s who.
25th Jan 2011
I noticed a transaction on my Barclays current account via their online banking system stating:
24/01/11 Card Purchase, Amazon Prime, Luxembourg £49.00
I thought this wasn’t right so I checked my Amazon online account where I found no purchases for this amount and also realised that my last purchase with Amazon was on the 1st Dec 2010 and that that purchase was for a family member using their credit card.
So I rang my bank where they explained to me that Amazon Prime was some sort of trial service that many people had been charged for and that Amazon was refunding these people if they had not known they had signed up to the service. My Bank gave me a phone number to call Amazon: 0800496108
I hung up the phone and called the number I was supplied. ‘number not recognised’
So I searched google for Amazon Prime to discover that it was a membership program that allows fast shipping for families. I had some recall of being offered this service so I checked my Amazon online account and found a ‘Manage Prime Membership’ setting which informed me that: ‘You are not currently subscribed to Amazon Prime. Click here to sign up.’
I then rang my bank again and explained to them what I had done and asked if they could read back the phone number that I was given. I had the correct number! I asked to be put through to their fraud department so that I could report what I had learnt.
The fraud department explained to me that other customers had called regarding this problem and that they had a number to contact Amazon with. When I was read the number it was the same number I had already been given! I explained that this number was not in use and was then promptly transferred to an Amazon representative apparently via this same number.
An Amazon representative answered straight away and I explained the situation. He told me that I had signed up to the Amazon Prime subscription and that since I had not used it I would be refunded. I explained that my Amazon online account stated that I had not signed up but he continued to cancel my subscription anyway. There was no visible changed within my Amazon online account after his actions but I did receive an email confirming the cancellation! Two emails actually!
Seem obviously a scam to me, the only question is who’s behind it? Barclays or Amazon?
Amazon didn’t magically sign you up and charge you for Amazon Prime. You clicked a button, probably signing up for a free 30 day trial when you ordered something, and didn’t read it carefully or realize it. There’s no scam. You’re just stupid.
@jenna – – A bit judgmental, don’t you think? [“stupid” – really?] (2 years after – yet here I am scolding you another 2 years down the road – heh) It’s not unheard-of for marketeers to make you un-check an inconspicuous checkbox to opt-out of something you didn’t opt-in to in the first place. If you’re in a hurry, you may never notice. Those are predatory practices, and there are many parasites out there that setup these minor scams, even in the biggest, most prominent companies.
I have found this to be true but in a much bigger way. Before I joined Prime I bought a printer for $129. I went back yesterday, as a Prime member to buy a second unit and was shown a price of $204. I don’t think computer peripherals are rising 60% a year. I’m very disappointed as I buy EVERYTHING from Amazon, from furniture to books; and their customer service is great. I guess Jeff Bezos’ ethics are not what I thought they were. I have screenshots of the above printers if you want. Thank you.
The watch in question is sold by two different sellers. One is Amazon.com and is eligible for prime (free shipping). The other is Ace Photo Digital and not eligible for prime.
The sellers can (and do) charge different prices for different services, legally and ethically.
As a shopper, it’s up to you to choose lower price or faster service.
This is not considered double pricing against prime members, as you’re suggesting.
Is it legal in US to differentiate the price of your product depending on customer?…
Amazon experiments with the prices they show to people as well. Since they know your purchase history, have recommendations for you, have wishlists and know if you’ve been looking at this item or others that are similar, they can know if you are think…
[…] A product otherwise on sale may be offered to me at full price if the profiler estimates (rightly or wrongly) that I want the product and can afford it. This isn’t exactly new, but it may be becoming more common. Amazon tried something similar, but reversed their policy admit a backlash from the internet community. Although, some reports indicate they may be at it again. […]
I found this morming they had taken £49 out of my account, I just had them call me, and they are refunding the full ammount. I shall be keeping a careful eye on my account to make sure they do.
Just purchased a printer on amazon this morning and when I first viewed the product, it was listed at $149. After I added it to my cart and signed in with my amazon prime account, I noticed the price had reduced to $129. Just to verify I opened a new tab and went back to the product page and since it still had me logged in, sure enough it still said $129 and had a prime icon next to the price. So yes it seems the pricing for prime members are not always the same as others…but not always in a bad way. I was ecstatic to see this price reduction.
The difference is that Amazon sells the watch for one price and Ace Photo Digital for another price. Sometimes Amazon is the cheapest, sometimes it’s not. In this case as a Prime user they assume that you want to take advantage of 2-day shipping, so they’ll often display that up front. If you’re not logged in (and thus likely not a Prime user) the lowest price is displayed.
I can only see this as fooling people who don’t really pay close attention to the money they spend. I always check the other 3rd party sellers to see if there are better deals when buying stuff on Amazon with my Prime account. That’s all you need to do, people.
Oh, but then again, Ace Photo Digital may be charging shipping anyway, slow one week shipping. So it’s all up to you, consumer. Spend smartly, kids!
Lol, this has to be one of the stupidest articles on wordpress.
Not only is the article totally wrong and biased, even after many commenters point out the obvious mistake of the author, she still narrowmindedly fails to understand.
I know this thread is over a year old but I have a curious story to ad. I went to purchase a Canon camera and while checking out, I decided to sign up for the Amazon prime to get free 2 day shipping. After signing up, I went to review my items and noticed one of them was now listing for $100 cheaper due to a discount from the prime membership. It didn’t ring up properly in the cart so I contacted customer service and they promptly changed it for me.
All good, right? I just saved another $100.
I went to look at the item again 2 days later, because I noticed the 2 day shipping was now showing as being 3 day shipping, and the price was about $5 higher while logged in and showing the prime price. The item in question is sold directly from Amazon, not a business partner.
Don’t know if it’s a price adjustment related to the $1500 worth of equipment I just bought but it was interesting enough for me to lookup Amazon price fixing and come across this blog post. I still saved money either way but did find it curious.
I’ve also noticed that the more you search for an item, the higher the price goes up. Also, if you leave on your shopping cart, the prices go up as well.
Hi brightviolet,
I would like to use the side by side image of your article on a presentation I want to put online.
Are there any conditions from your side about that?
Best regards
No, please feel free to use it!
Totally agree about Amazon Prime rip off. Had £50 taken off my credit card with no authorisation. Told today I was already an Amazon prime customer so didn’t change the delivery setting. Now reading martin Lewis website after placing order realise been duped and can no longer get my money back. £50 delivery on one £42 order feel fleeced by deceitful marketing and thus deceitful Amazon.
There’s no rip-off! You’re just stupid. You signed up for Prime and didn’t cancel your membership.
You are looking at pricing from two different sellers! one is sold by Ace and one is sold by Amazon. If you look at the first image on the left right there on the right hand side of the page, it says “More buying options” and right there is the cheaper price with free shiping (with the two or three extra day processing time). That cheaper price is from another seller: Ace.
If you look at the image at the second image (non-prime) you will see that it is in fact the same offer listed on the first image under more buying options. The seonc image also has the amazon price for a couple dollars mroe listed under mroe buying options.
THis is NOT a scam, it is a thrid party seller offering the same product at a cheaper price than Amazon.
@pete Several other people have mentioned that here, and they seem to have missed part of the story. It was only possible to find one or the other, depending on which way I was logged in. There was no either/or choice of sellers, and they had IDENTICAL URLs (not a single digit different in the full product URL to indicate two different offers, IDENTICAL). They were clearly the exact same product coming from the same place. Had I ordered them, the point of origination would without a doubt have been the same. And THAT is precisely the scam.
You are simply wrong. Saying you’re not over and over doesn’t make you right. They wouldn’t have shipped from the same place. One would have come from a TRUSTED vendor in Amazon subject to their return policy and the other from a third party vendor using Amazon’s marketplace. Are you really that dense???
Also, there is a section in both your screenshots that says “More buying options” If you look there in either screenshot you will see the other price from Amazon or Ace.
This isn’t rocket science.
Eddie, your loyalty to Amazon is endearing. I too am a big fan of Amazon (minus the price deception). However, if you read some other people’s findings, such as RodNHC below, you will see that pricing is consistently different for Prime customers.
I appreciate how you just shrug off people CORRECTING you as “naive comments” and continue to de deceptive with your “findings” in your screen shots.
Maybe, just maybe, if you had actual evidence of what you are saying happens people would take you seriously. What Amazon “admitted” is not what you are claiming.
Im sure sticking to your guns and not correctly your lie sits well with you but your claims are simply wrong.
I know this thread is a few years old but I can attest somewhat to what brightviolet is saying. Brightviolet isnt lying. You are both correct. Amazon does price Prime members differently and you can easily check it by having 2 browsers with one logged in and another not logged in. You are correct that it may not be from the same seller, but I assure you that they are the same online item with the same reviews and the same “amazon ID” – meaning that you won’t be able to see both at the same time with different prices/seller AND reviews for both sellers are shared and the same. You will only be able to browse one or the other unless you add one to your cart before logging in then log in as Prime afterwards. So I guess what Brightviolet and others here are really saying is that Prime members will see different sellers (hence different prices)than non Prime.
I’ve been a Prime for ages (since Amazon began offering it) and unfortunately I know they do this on their products. The first time I noticed this is when I saw a product with a lower price and was shocked to see it jack up 10% more after I signed in. The only evidence I can see is that it was the same product was that it had the exact same reviews. Also on most occasions, you wont be able to see the same seller that you saw before logging versus after you’re logged in. This is how Prime gets people. It’s a hassle but what I do is this – I check both prices before logging in plus 2 days shipping then I check the price after logging in with Prime. Sometimes Prime is worth it, other times it is not.
Wow, so I wish I would have done some research and come across your blog before I dropped the $79!
I have shopped Amazon for years, but never as a prime member. Similar to one of the bloggers above. Two days ago, I was in the midst of checkout when I was prompted to sign up for Prime — I did.
I had a few tabs open at the same time in IE (as I always do to comparison shop). I signed up for Prime on one and then went back to the other tab to go to my cart — and the price was different. I thought I was seeing things or on the wrong tab, wrong item … something! But no, the damn price just changed.
Now two days later, I have spent numerous hours logged in and using Prime on one computer, and not logged in on another. It’s nutty, nothing is the same.
Prime is a fricken joke. Prices are WAY higher. But this is the MAIN POINT: They have gotten increasingly higher the more I purchased in the past two days. Sounds insane, but it’s true. I made a list of everything I was going to get, and can compare line by line.
How on earth can this be legal?
While buying more camera stuff this week I noticed the price fluctuating again. Batteries were $9.70 for 4AA and after browsing, buying a battery pack, and then coming back the same batteries are $11.15. Just a little weird. We’re talking a difference of < 30 minutes. All I did was reload the page. I had been hovering over the page, closing/opening and researching the item for a while trying to decide on it. I'm sure they'd likely chalk it up to 'supply-demand' if questioned but I'm not convinced.
It just happened to me with the Western Digital My Passport Essential. Amazon upped the price by 9% when i tried to check our with my prime account.
Same thing here, I was gonna buy WD 1.5 hard drive, and instead of paying shipping I decided to join Amazon prime. AND GUESS WHAT !!! My price jumped $10 more right away !!!!! I went back and immediately canceled by Prime membership and W-H-O-A! price dropped $10. RIPOFF. !!!!!!
Conclusion: PRIME MEMBERSHIP =double waste of money
I have shopped at Amazon for years. I am currently a paid Prime member. I know their pricing is fishy. You put something in your cart to buy it at a later time then BAM the price goes up. It rarely goes down. Worst price adjustment? I put a Scangauge 2 car milage computer in my cart at 119.99. The next day when I was about to purchase it I noticed the total was higher than it should be. The price of the Scangauge 2 was 149.99!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I deleted the item off my cart and when I later went back into the website the price was 119.99. Go figure. Because of this, I check the price of their items and wat several days if not a week to buy it at the better prices.
There is another dynamic with Amazon pricing, often the third party vendors change their price to be a little bit lower than Amazon’s price. It appears that Amazon is aware of this and monitors pricing, and sometimes they follow suit and match the lower price (but not always instantly, sometimes hours later). If Amazon does decide to match that price, the third party vendors will often reduce their price again, and another round of price changes occur. I’ve seen this cycle occur repeatedly on Amazon by watching the price of things I have in my cart change during the day. Also, when the third party vendor who has been reducing the price finally sells their item, Amazon will normally hike the price back up to where it started, so you sometimes will see a huge increase in price from day to day due to this kind of thing. As far as the higher prices for Prime members, I’ve not seen this but will keep an eye out for it (I frequently check Amazon with IE and Firefox, with IE signed in and Firefox not, so I’m already set up to look for this).
I noticed some odd price changing going on and thought it might be in response to my clearly doing research on a product. Here’s a link to screen shots of the same product with different prices- for whatever reason: https://plus.google.com/photos/109421618778122666247/albums/5704359917120277041. Sure I get the 2 day shipping with the prime membership, but isn’t that what the $79/year is for.
I took down the album. One thing that I think is going on is that the same link will take me to different sellers at different points in time and sellers have different prices. It seems like you should be able to compare them side by side, but that’s not the case.
I guees that Amazon admiting they do it should be enough but fanboys defy logic
Thank you for the additions, Whitney!
@KL Yeah, the irony is that I’m a huge fan of Amazon.com, and continue to use Prime simply because it makes me less hesitant to go for 2-day shipping haha. I just like having it prepaid so I don’t sit and waste time trying to decide whether to go for 2-day or regular with each purchase.
The reason I care is precisely because I love amazon, have been a fan since their early days (1997 or so), and am so disappointed that they do this.
First, let me state that I HAD been a satisfied Amazon customer for years, prior to my experience that led me to find this blog and decide to comment.
I finally bought the Prime membership during the 2011 holidays. I had experienced the same issues with MINOR price fluctuations between what I was initially quoted vs. the price of the same item (even just minutes later), in the past. When logged into my Prime account, I noticed the price fluctuations seemed to be much larger. I also found that the more I used Amazon to comparison shop, the more the price of an item would fluctuate.
To test what I was perceiving, I used a web proxy (hides origination) with a different web browser (Firefox vs.my usual Chrome), with an empty browsing cache, to completely mask my identity. I then compared (and confirmed) the difference in price of the exact same items, sold by Amazon, at the exact same point in time- looking at the list of prices from ALL sellers, not just the 1st displayed on the product page. I found that the price quoted to me as a Prime member was higher than when I was an anonymous shopper. I have duplicated this test many times. In my experience, the price as a Prime member is usually within a dollar of the price being charged by the next lowest-priced Amazon vendor, AFTER factoring in their shipping charge.
Do I think this is crooked? YES Possibly illegal? Apparently not, but it should be! Do I think Amazon Prime is a good value? Not anymore, and I won’t fall for it again! Will I continue to shop at Amazon? YES- despite their unsavory price-fixing practices, they still offer a competitive price, good customer service, and a great return policy. However, as an educated consumer, I will no longer trust Amazon to give me the best price, and where I find they are trying to really gouge me, I will take my business elsewhere.
Dear RodHNC,
Thank you for your thorough investigation which far exceeds the scope of my own. Your research, and reports from various others here, seems to offer conclusive proof of Amazon’s deceptive pricing policies. I appreciate you sharing your findings with us. I will try to bring this entire thread of comments to Amazon’s attention once more.
In the example you gave one item is being fulfilled by Amazon the other by an independent seller and contains a warning that it takes an extra two or three days to fulfill. So different sellers different prices.
If you look at the bottom of the page with the 264.54 offering you will see the same watch offered for 258.66. This is common on Amazon. They often give you a choice of several different sellers.
What would be interesting is some very thorough investigation so we know how to trick the system back.
Someone with Prime should test some items prices:
Prime Vs regular (logged in)
Regular (logged in) Vs not logged in
Prime vs not logged in
With cache vs empty cache
Going straight to the item Vs browsing for it and leaving it in the cart…..
Reading all the comments it’s clear there’s price fluctuation but I’m still not convinced that “Prime” itself is a factor.
I’d like to leave a comment for some people writing here and that are OBVIOUSLY people working for Amazon, like Eddie and others!! Forget the 2 or 4 pounds/dollars more you are checking, PLEASE FOCUS on the ROBERY that is being done by AMAZON!! Why the hell are they sacking money from our bank acount without our permission??????? this is absolutly RIDICULOUS and it is a FRAUD!!!! anyway, as a lawyer, just to let you know that I will put this guys in court to answer for this CRIMINOUS ACT!!! this guys think the consumer doesn’t have rights but I’ll teach them Law and to treat with respect the constumers!! Cheers
By the way, Amazon has a note for you, right above the description of the watch, in YOUR screen capture:
“Note: there are lower-priced buying choices available from other sellers that are not elligible for Amazon Prime.”
I’m pretty sure they are giving you plenty of options.
I realized the very same thing happened to me!!!
I’m not happy about that!
I went back and checked on a few items I bought recently with Amazon prime and sure enough, a few items came up with a price difference, and even some HUGE price difference!!
Check out these 2 screenshots taken at the same time when not signed and signed in my prime account. I pay for prime to pay more for the articles I buy!!!
Sure enough, it’s available at a lower price from other sellers, but then what is my prime account for!!?? For me not to buy with prime because they increase their prices just for me, nice customer willing to pay 80 dollars a year for “free” 2 day shipping!!?
that’s plain ridiculous and outrageous!!
Thanks for contributing those screenshots Jerome! Unbelievable how the price is not only $10.23 higher when on Prime, but that’s more than the item+SHIPPING on non-Prime combined! And for that ‘privilege’ we pay $80!
Yeah, it’s amazing!
Hace you complained to Amazon and got your money back?
You and the OP seem dense. Look at your first sceenshot- the best price that comes up is from a 3rd party seller- 16.09 plus 9.20 shipping, making it 25.29. In your second sceeenshot when logged into Amazon, the Prime price shows first as 26.33. So the Amazon price is 1.04 higher. Ok, you always have the option of clicking on the other prices and buying from the 3rd party seller or you can choose to pay the extra buck and get it through Amazon in 2 days and the convenience of easy returns. Prime is about speed and convenience- it is not a guarantee on having the best price on every single item. If they did, then there wouldn’t be 3rd party vendors keeping the prices competitive.
Your “likes”, your browsing history, your buying preferences are tracked and sold off to companies that use this info to sell you more crap. You can take steps to enhance your privacy online, but that is up to you- these companies are doing a job, no matter how creepy/repugnant you or I may find them. I have read older articles on Amazon using buyer’s history and habits to personalize prices, but that is not what is going on in any of these examples! As for the OP thinking that all of the 3rd part sellers are just Amazon dummy accounts to drive prices higher? That everything ships from Amazon and all 3rd party vendors are just made up fronts? That is bonkers- put your tin-foil hat back on. I am very real and I sell on Amazon. Tons of vendors ship from their own warehouses and individuals can ship from their homes. If you want your item to qualify for Prime shipping, than you must send your stock to Amazon and they will ship to the customer. These items have a large *Fulfilled by Amazon* symbol that means they are 3rd party items that Amazon is storing and shipping themselves, all other 3rd party items come from wherever that vendor is located.
Amazon could be “personalizing” prices for its customers. I wouldn’t put it past them, but the OP and several other posters are just not understanding the logistics of the website and that Prime is not a low-price guarantee, but a service for those that value speed and convenience. If you regularly buy from 3rd party sellers to get the best price and don’t think Prime shipping is worth it, then don’t renew it!
This is just lack of common sense. I don’t see how Amazon’s affiliate program is that difficult to understand, and you don’t need to log in and out of Prime to see what is right in front of your eyes (and yes, the lower price options are ON the very same screenshots being posted of the higher priced items in the more buying options section on the page). Amazon offers two-day shipping from AMAZON with a Prime membership. Amazon has affiliates who sell on Amazon and are free to price their products how they wish. Amazon even lets you sort an item’s purchase options by the lowest price, even if theirs isn’t it. If you buy from an affiliate, you pay shipping. If you buy Amazon and are a Prime member, you don’t. Sometimes Amazon is the lowest price, sometimes they aren’t but the free shipping makes up for it, sometimes an affiliate is the best deal all around even after paying for shipping. They put the prices right in front of your face. If you simply follow the more options link you’ll get all of the different seller options. There have been plenty of times, particularly with high dollar items where I’ve gone to an affiliate – if the affiliate + shipping is a better option than Amazon for every thing you buy, then don’t get a Prime membership, simple as that. If the difference between affiliate prices + shipping and Amazon prices is >$79 + your TVM for the outlay at the beginning of the year for your purchases over the course of a year, then it would be worth it…IF your purchases are typically in >$25 amounts to not just use Super Saver Shipping, OR you value the faster delivery. Oh…and even for non-Prime members the free Super Saver Shipping is for Amazon products and ordering >$25 from affiliates will cost you shipping because the items aren’t eligible…and the same rules apply.
Hi! Thanks for your message but I think you’re missing my point completely.
Maybe I wasn’t clear enough.
What annoys me is not that Amazon prime doesn’t always have the cheapest price, I understand they don’t. What annoys me (greatly) is that they CHANGE the price for Amazon prime members, on the very same item, same link, same seller, same everything, depending on whether you are logged in or not.
So I see a bunch of cool items at say 16 dollars each with 10 dollars shipping and I need a few of these and I think well, let’s get Amazon prime so it’ll be worth it because not only I will get the items faster but I will save 10 dollars worth of shipping for each item! Great!!
Except that now that I’m prime, they are worth even more than the price without prime+shipping.
You see my problem?
Now, I don’t remember having seen Amazon tell me that they would (or could) change the prices of the items up because I was prime!!! Did I miss something?
I’d like to know because otherwise this is plain fishy….
I am a prime member and I order a lot of big things like iphones and ipads BUT I ALSO ORDER A TON of $5 prime items shipped one at a time. I recieved a email saying I had an unusual amount of returns even though I only ever returned 4 or 5 things in 2 years. It went on to read that my account waas not being cancelled but they wanted to make me aware of this. After I read all the reviews where people buy things send em back big things like dvd players and tv’s. And now I get this for returning 4 or 5 things (which were legitiment returns) It makes me kind of nautious to read where people talk about the return policy being so great. I AM CONVINCED I am costing them money by buying so many little prime purchases and they want rid of me!
Let me reitterate, I ‘ve probably spent $5000 on Amazon as a prime member in 2 and a half years. I Do not buy and return buy and return buy and return as I see a lot of reviews talking about trying all three cd players until they find the right one etc. But yet Amazon sends me a letter telling me I have returned in excess??
I also know one thing for a fact. If you leave it in your cart 9 out of 10 times the price will drop significantly.
It’s pretty common knowledge that Amazon plays games with pricing. Whether or not the specific conclusions the author reached are correct (and yes, she offers only one data point) and whether or not she is venting to some extent, her hypothesis is a reasonable one. What astonishes me is that a huge number of people felt the need to excoriate her for no apparent reason. Moreover, those who attack her for not posting an academically publishable research paper on the subject offer not a jot of evidence to support their own religious devotion to the company (yeah, I use Amazon too — but hey, it’s just a company). It’s ok to disagree or think her view unlikely, but she’s not a fool and this isn’t the worst post on wordpress. Really.
Just found this dual pricing thing out for myself. They do dual price depending on login status, it’s almost fraudulent. No more Prime, I’m cancelling asap. I’ve complained to Amazon but I doubt I’ll get a sensible response.
Everyone that can’t see the difference between the two screenshots is a complete pratt. ONE IS FULFILLED BY AMAZON, ONE IS FULFILLED BY A THIRD PARTY VENDOR IN AMAZON MARKETPLACE. You always have the option to seek out the cheapest vendor, by clicking on the “other buying options” link below the price. Whoever wrote this blog entry is a moron, and clearly shouldn’t be allowed to use the internet. Go back to shopping at Woolworth’s and stop inventing controversy.
I’m surprised to see how some people defend Amazon so blindly and passionately. Cool down, guys. Do you work for Amazon? Anyway, I think the author has a valid point here. Sure enough, the lower price is still accessible even when you login as a Prime member, but you are missing the point here, which is that you are led into buying the higher price, and you are paying $79 a year for that!
As a student, I had the one-year free trial and I must say I enjoyed it while it lasted. When my membership expired, I wanted to buy some item and decided that it would be nice to have Prime back again, so I renewed my membership for $39. Then I noticed the “double-pricing” issue… Actually, both prices were about the same, i.e. the price with Prime was roughly the same as the old price plus shipping. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Amazon prices are crafted in order to maximize profit. It’s a company after all. I don’t blame them. I still think it’s a great company, but please, don’t be so naive as to say that they would never deceive the customer into paying more or something… Of course they do.
Sure, I could still choose the other vendor (if I cared to read the small letters), but then what are the $39 for? I did not consider this acceptable, even with the reduced fee, so I cancelled my membership right away. I have yet to see one example where Prime actually gives you a better deal.
This JUST happened to me. If you are a Prime member, search for “tyvek wristbands” and then narrow it down to Prime eligible items only. I chose the “Advantus Crowd Management Tyvek Wristbands, Sequentially Numbered, Yellow, Pack of 500 (AVT75512)” in Yellow for $21.22. Shows sold by Wristco. After I purchased them, it gave me the option to “share my purchase” so I sent an email to myself. The email arrived with the subject “Christi wants you to see this purchase at Amazon.com.” The email contained a link to the product, and the page it was on said right at the top of the page, “Instant Order Update for Christi. You purchased this item on July 27, 2012.” Same item: “Advantus Crowd Management Tyvek Wristbands, Sequentially Numbered, Yellow, Pack of 500 (AVT75512)” in Yellow sold by Wristco. But the price was $7.75 + $5.99 shipping and handling (3-5 business days). So I added it to my cart to see if it would let me choose Prime and it said it was not a Prime eligible item. I ordered both of them and when the second one comes in I will return the order for $21.22, just because I don’t like being ripped off. Let’s just see which one gets here quicker. I also complained about it and will be sending all of my screen shots for backup. Once I get my order, I will request a refund of all my years as a Prime member.
I can see the same thing happening but for the red ones, not the yellow ones.
and the price is $20.08 instead of $21.22
They like to change prices randomly it seems ;-)
Sure enough, there are other prices in small to the right but I feel that is is very misleading the way they present it to Prime customers and sometimes not being very careful you end up paying more than you should whereas as a prime member you would believe they you would get better offers if anything. It’s the point of it right!?
This article is SPOT ON! I recently found this out. When I log out of amazon.com, it won’t show me the shipping charges. However, if I log on to a different computer and not logged into Amazon.com I get to see the scam. This will be huge news some day. I can’t believe this they are getting away with it.
I found out about this today. I searched for Uniden ESP5 speaker. It showed up as $4.76 on the results, then I clicked on it and it showed up as Amazon Prime price of $9.99. This was in Google Chrome. I went to IE and made sure I wasn’t logged on to Amazon, it shows up as $4.76 plus $5.13 shipping, or $9.99 total. So I get NOTHING with Prime. What a SCAM! I am disappointed Amazon. I am cancelling my Prime membership and getting a refund. Total BS!
The price changes because this is not one store, selling mutliples of the same stock. This is a online marketplace that sells it’s stock (and multiples) based on complex analyses that take hundreds of issues into account. There are, literally, thousands of reasons why Amazon may charge a higher price (or lower price) for the same item at different times. Amazon (as well as most retailers) hire people to spend their entire 40 hour work week figuring out company circumstances and marketing trends and assigning prices accordingly. Making things more complex, Amazon is not Wal-Mart or Target where the price is the same for all the multiples of the same stock and, if it changes, usually requires upper management clearance, which takes time. Even then, the price change is consistent over all the multiples of stock. Amazon is really a large corporation (Amazon) PLUS literally thousands and thousands of individual vendors, all selling multiples of the same item, but with different criteria for how much they charge. Like a PP said, sometimes Amazon is able to offer a product at a cheaper price and their Prime system is a part of that. Sometimes, they aren’t able to beat the price of an individual seller and even free, two day shipping doesn’t bring their price as low as a third party seller. Third party sellers are both partners AND competitors with Amazon.
We all wanted to make a deal over retail prices for EVERY amazon purchase we make, ever, guaranteed plus free and timely shipping and all for the “cheap” price of $79. More often than not, the amazon item really is cheaper for me, including the shipping, but sometimes not. That’s just life…..that’s the nature of a free marketplace. Every buyer wants to score a deal and every seller wants to make a profit or at least avoid a loss. Each takes advantage of the other.
Bottom line: As the buyer, it’s your responsibility to make the best choice when buying an item, given the situation you find yourself in at that buying moment. Personally, I’m not going to let go of amazon prime membership because it’s worked out more often than not for me and I judge, given my current circumstances and the amount I use the site, that the $79/year is worth it. I’ve also consistently found that if I were to purchase the item at a different website, I would actually pay the same or even more than the highest price listed on amazon (whether it’s a direct sell or a third party sell). The only real competitor to amazon prices, IME, is to go to a retail store when they are having a signigicant sale. But the whole reason I’m on amazon in the first place is because I either don’t have the means or the inclination to actually GO to the store.
Don’t get upset if amazon works better for others than for you. It’s just the way things work. Go and find your own solution and let others do what they do. LIfe’s too short.
tisha, the point is that we pay this 79 dollars and in return we do not have to pay shipping. if Amazon is only going to raise its price for prime customers to cover shipping, or if one of it’s vendors does, then we are paying for a Prime membership and not getting the benefits we paid for.
I will follow up to this reply by adding that all of the MANY Amazon Marketplace participants have automatic repricing options at their disposal. Their prices are automatically adjusted up and down by software based on various factors they choose. The sellers chase each other’s price down until the lowest priced item is gone from inventory, and then prices can bounce up again. Amazon itself also chases the prices posted by individual sellers. Prices can actually be set to adjust hourly.
You can also add to your cart an item being sold by a seller with only one unit left, and then that unit is sold to someone else (before you check out) and then your unit will reprice to a different unit being sold by someone else.
The Amazon marketplace is vibrant and ever changing and largely driven by software making constant real time adjustments. This can make deals seem to vanish or appear randomly, especially on hot items with limited inventory.
I do not believe Amazon prime is a “scam” per se but neither is it a slam dunk deal win every time. But it does provide a good sales experience for some who are not sensitive to getting the absolute best price at all times. You do get a known customer service level and return policy (which is not always true with individual sellers).
Prime doesn’t free you from the responsibility to do careful shopping. People who think it does guarantee the best price are going to be upset when they find out it doesn’t, and that is the cause of this thread.
As far as changing the price of an Amazon-fulfilled item based SOLELY on whether you are detected as a Prime member or not, that is a bit creepy and misleading. Of the many anecdotes described on this thread, this is the most worrisome. Other companies have been reported to do this (airlines?) and no matter what way you look at it, it’s misleading and no one likes it. The average person’s understanding is that Prime membership gives you free 2-day shipping of an Amazon-fulfilled-item at the SAME base price paid by a non-Prime member. If this is not 100% the case then Amazon should state so in an obvious place. Perhaps they do state this but I have never seen it.
As always, buyer beware!
If you look in the “More buying choices” it is 258.66 from ace digital on the Amazon prime page too
The naivety and plain idiocy of the people, as well as the spin from the Amazon agents of disinformation is astounding. I can assure you that Amazon do do this and I know the company from the inside. Prime members get charged more. In addition, in the UK, Amazon use the cheapest delivery carrier so you will not receive your item in one day (so-called one day delivery in the UK). It is a complete scam. They make money off you even if they give you a refund because that money they have scammed off you still counts as profit on the balance sheet, and the funds generate interest, thus increasing the share value within a given period.
The price changes after a few seconds because amazon is like a mall. In the mall (amazon) there are separate stores with separate prices. All amazon does is categorize outside stores and sorts them by lowest price offered per product while operating their own amazon store in the website. What I have notice is if an item is selling out, the price can change in seconds since the stores are competing with each other and amazon. Each stores price and stock of items including amazon govern this changing system. It works but you need to be cautious since this competition can drive prices insanely low or insanely high based on website traffic and product sales. Amazon is good, but there are just as many deals as there are ripoffs. You need to research a little. Its the only way online.
OP, I work for Amazon and can tell you that prices changes (even within seconds) happen for many different reasons. I can expand on specific situations if needed.
Of course the price will vary their sold by different sellers each determining different prices associated with supply, demand , and their cost. I have sold online with amazon for awhile and can say their are times I adjust the price for seasonal changes after noticing a trend. Their have even been times that when I see the price of an item far exceeding retail I will merely pay middleman buy something retail and resale it for a 33% markup ( even as the lowest prixe). Many of the things I sale I am credited a shipping amount exceeding actual cost however on a few items I have actually minimal margins becauase shipment may be 25-30 dollars and because the item has been miscategorized my credit is a very small fraction of that. The simple fact of the matter is you cant blame amazon for the business decisions and pricing from thousands of independent sellers each having their own formulas to set price.
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This happened to me when i was looking for headlights for my car. I figured i would just order it under my g/f’s account since she has prime. Guess what? The headlight were about 20 bucks more expensive under her account. This is not fake guys.
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I love Amazon and have been a prime member for about 3 yrs. I got a little surprise yesterday when my son, who is not a prime member, had his laptop open next to mine with the exact product displaying with different prices.
We added the item to our carts and he upgraded the shipping to 1-3 expedited shipping. The total cost was 27.97
The exact same item from the same shipper in my cart had 2 day prime shipping with a prices of 29.29
I have noticed that the same item from different shipper will have a price difference but the shipping is very different. It take longer for the non-prime item and the price difference has never been enough for me to be concerned about.
But when I saw that a non-prime member, could get the same item I was ordering just as fast and pay less… Well, I was floored.
As a prime member in love with Amazon, I feel like I just got cheated on. I will start doing more compares which will be a pain because you have two accounts and two different PCs.
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Nice article! I’ve experienced the exact same thing. The way Amazon does pricing feels underhanded.
It doesn’t matter if there’s some underlying logic to the way they do things. As long as customers feel they’re being ripped off, it’s a dumb move on Amazon’s part.
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I have just discovered this situation myself. I looked up an item of interest and discovered one person selling it for $99.99 with free shipping (non-Prime). Another vender selling it for $109.99 total (again non-Prime), that same exact vender that had it for $109.99 also had the exact same item listed at $125.99 for Prime members (Fulfilled by Amazon).
That case wasn’t a matter of two different venders, it was the exact same vender. Two different prices though, one for non-Prime members and one for Prime members.
So that “free 2-day shipping” that I get as a Prime member actually cost me $16, or if you compare it to the first vender, it cost me $26 for that “free 2-day shipping”.
Amazon has yet to explain how Prime actually benefits me, other than to repeat that I get “free 2-day shipping” and “1 click buttons”.
If you’re a Prime member, cancel. If you’re not a Prime member, don’t become one. They’re ripping people off.
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I bought the Prime Membership for the video. It has cost me all my free time. I am catching up years worth of 3 TV shows. Runs better on my computer than Hulu. I too noticed the price differences so I wonder if it would be good to start another Amazon account and use the free shipping over $25 deal they have instead of Prime?
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I got Amazon Prime for the Movies and TV shows. I buy stuff too and have noticed that I can get a better price elsewhere if I don’t mind waiting more than 2 days to get the item. So basically, you still pay for 2-day shipping. Amazon just adds it to the cost of the item on a lot of items.
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Yes, I have had this same thing happen. Just bought an ac from amazon and at the same time signed up to be prime member. Next day, I clicked on the AC link, it shows a $40 higher price. Not logged in, it’s back to the price I paid $40 less then whats showing on my prime membership.
The prices definitely are different. I noticed this as well. When you are logged in, you will pay more for products vs. if you are not logged in. In addition, I believe amazon also charges differently based on preferences. My girlfriend made a purchase while logged in that was the same as a purchase I made while logged in, and the two prices were different.
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There’s one thing you didn’t notice. You may even be right on the double pricing as I’m currently trying to buy something at amazon.co.uk but the check out price is higher than the cart price.
You may notice on the second photo to your left bottom side that there are other sellers for the watch you wanted. There you can find Ace Photo Digital that sells for $258.66, on the left side picture, and Amazon selling for $264,54 on the right picture.
You’re not being fooled by them there, but if you notice this detail you find that your assumption was wrong. All you have to take into account is from which seller are you buying from at amazon as prices may differ and in this case you were given 2 different sellers with 2 different prices, not the same seller. It doesn’t mean though that they may cash in on Prime users as they offer the amazon deal over any other seller, which may or may not be cheaper.
Take your own conclusions upon what I just said.
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The website camelcamelcamel.com shows how the price of an item on Amazon fluctuates from day to day (or even moment to moment). The Amazon price is the same for everyone, but it does change. You can check the price history to see if the current price on offer is a good deal.
I’ve heard that once you add an item to your cart, then the price remains “locked” as long the shopping session is active (as long as you don’t navigate away). So if you have a good price, seal the deal and checkout before you close that browser window!
I’m not affiliated with camelcamelcamel, but think it’s a great utility.
dude, deal with your spam
Have you ever thought about creating an ebook or guest authoring on other websites? I have a blog based on the same topics you discuss and would love to have you share some stories/information. I know my viewers would enjoy your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to send me an e mail.
Another reason it’s a scam: For a small item like a watch, you’ll probably get the item within two days anyway, without paying the absurd $79 a year fee. A first class package will make it to most places in the US within that same 2-day window, and since it’s a small package a third party seller would most likely have free shipping. As long as they have it in stock and process it the same day, you’re better off buying from them instead of from an FBA seller.
wrong conclusion. You are looking at two different sellers. One is amazon. The other is ace photo digital, which is competing for “the box”. Amazon’s distributed architecture will randomly give the box to sellers (including itself) when the scoring based on various factors including price is very close. Hit refresh a few times over a few minutes. Drawing conclusions and reading TMZ are equally dangerous.
The author is not wrong; I am trying to buy a game for the 3ds and it’s priced at $51.00. My brother has a Prime account and I gave him the link hoping to get it sooner, and on his computer it’s charging him $59. Our computers are right next to each other’s; we are looking at each other’s screen. So yeah, the author is right; stop trying to defend this sort of shady dealings.
Amazon is a monopoly that is growing in its buying power by leaps and bounds!!! I used to buy constantly from Amazon for the great deals. No longer are there great deals. I bought an i5 2500k CPU for $219 in 2011 and in 2013 it was listed for more than I paid 2 years ago. Wow consumers are so gullible and believe all the hype of AMAZON!!!
Every comment/story/complaint/fellow blog link falls into one of a couple categories:
1.Price different Prime/Non-Prime
-This is not true. The default seller shown does change depending on if your logged in, logged in with Prime, not logged in, etc. Why do they do this? If you are a Prime member, they figure you are wanting to purchase from the cheapest option that uses Prime. If you don’t have Prime, they figure you are going to want the cheapest option available, whether it is Prime or not. Every time I tested this, the same options were always available, though the first one shown does change.
2. Price only seems to go up when in cart/wishlist, not down.
– This is definitely not true. Prices have gone up and down while in my cart. It is true that prices change quickly and often. WHy? As an online only retailer, changing prices is very simple and quick. Amazon regularly changes prices based on things like third-party prices and prices from other large retailers. Consider this: A lot of people will decide to put an item in their cart when they notice a really good deal. Because this price is probably on the lower end of the typical price range, it is a lot more likely the price will go up some compared to down.
3. Using a proxy produces different prices.
– This is one to be very careful with when testing. It is very common for proxies to show you as being from a different country. This could lead to you looking at an Amazon page for a different country (which does have different prices). Also, some third-party sellers might not show up because they do not ship to that country. Lastly (and this is just a maybe), Amazon may raise the price when shipping to certain countries because of certain taxes/tariffs. Stuff like this may also affect 2 different location in the same country, considering laws on commerce are different for different states (talking about US here).
I have seen numerous blogs/stories with the exact same fallacies. Not one has provided any real evidence, esp. in the last decade.
[…] is the deal, you price things differently for different situations, just like Amazon. So when you advertise around campus you advertise at a price that is cheaper than the book store […]
You don’t take into consideration that you get unlimited streaming of video and music content along with your prime membership? It seems you signed up for prime thinking it was just something to give you free 2 day shipping. I have noticed multiple times that I have bought different items that if I wanted it at a cheaper price I was welcome to do so but it wasn’t prime eligible for the free two day shipping. I can say that mine has come in handy just on the TV purchase I made recently and the 14 day price guarantee.
And I think you, Jason, forget that Amazon Streaming didn’t even exist when this article was written.
This blather might hold some water if the other purchase alternatives weren’t shown in close proximity directly below the Prime price listing in the LEFT image. Ironically, the image provided as evidence of the problem disproves that the problem exists.
As others note, the fallacy, or at least one of them, is the two offers are NOT “from the same vendor”.
Expecting Amazon to do all a shopper’s Shopping is not reasonable. As a Prime subscriber I am of course first interested in the best Prime price at the time. . .But I know enough to check the alternatives for the best price overall. Much more often than not in my experience, the Prime price is the lowest combined price and the lowest price alternative has a high (often outrageous) shipping charge.
Sadly, it’s true. For example, without my Prime Membership, the shampoo I usually get is $20; with the membership is $24. $4 may not be much but it would be exactly as much as I would pay for shipping (not two-day though). It’s not a big amount but with more orders the $99/year seems futile.
The bitter taste left in the mouths of Australian players
and fans still lingers soon after their dubious 2nd
spherical elimination at the arms of the Italians in the 2006 World
Cup. The squad headed to South Africa bears an awfully common resemblance to the one despatched
to Germany and, with the controversial manner
in which they exited the previous tournament, will have a point to demonstrate.
Germany has a true contest on its fingers appropriate out of the
blocks. This group offers an interesting strategic predicament
for the management of each and every group and ought to supply fairly an
entertaining struggle.
Wayne Rooney will return to commencing line-up after the United striker skipped the video
games from Moldova and Ukraine with a awful head damage.
Hodgson will welcome back again the 27-yr-previous with open up arms as Rooney continues to be the prime purpose scorer
in the team with 5 and is 4.90 to score very first. Daniel Sturridge could companion Rooney upfront after
the Liverpool mans amazing commence to the period, with 7 Premier League objectives to his name the most in the league.
Chelsea still left-back Ashley Cole is out with a rib
injuries, which must give Leighton Baines a likelihood to
fill in at the again.
I believe the real crime here is simple, that anyone would consider buying or wearing that watch.
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Actually there are two prices because one is from a marketplace seller called Ace and then Amazon sell it at another price. The seller called Ace is selling it cheaper than Amazon. In both views you have the choice to choose which seller you buy it from.
So, regardless of the pricing Amazon quotes, they don’t prevent customers from viewing or purchasing from alternate suppliers. So if the price Amazon quotes is higher than an alternate, you still have the option to buy from a different seller. When it comes to whether the “free” shipping is worth it or not if there’s a higher price, it might well be. Some 3rd party sellers are really quick and will priority mail your order without charging extra. But others are not. Then there is the question of whether you want to have to deal with an independent seller if something goes wrong.
I didn’t pay for a Prime membership because I thought I’d save money. It might be a wash at the end of the day. In general, I’ve found Amazon Prime to be great because it provides predictability and speed. 2 days from order to arrival is pretty good. I know exactly when something will arrive and that if its being fulfilled by Amazon that it will come as expected. Then there is access to the instant video library which I could take or leave but which, on the whole adds to the value of the membership. I’m not affiliated with Amazon in any capacity, btw.
Even I have proof of this try searching for “bath tub hair clog remover” you will see a product “Cobra Products 00412BL Zip-It Drain Cleaning Tool” for $4.59, then select prime from left hand filter you will see this change to $11.99 the same product.
Amazon=Just-in-Time pricing. It all comes down to caveat emptor.
But just so you know, your $79 Prime fee goes straight into Jeff Beso’s pocket.
All $790,000,000 of it….
http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-prime-10-million-members-morningstar-2013-3#!Hws4u
And what a great deal for Amazon! Not mentioned in the story is that they get your money up front and earn interest on the unused portion throughout the year. Doesn’t sound like much until one realizes the scale of combined deposits. If they have, coservatively, half of their Prime customer base’s fees on hand in any month, what one months’ interest on $395 mill?
It’s what one would call, “pure profit”.
And you thought they wuz jus bean nice.
Shows how useless this blogger is. Don’t even know basics of shopping online. Stupid idiot. When you login to amazon when you search for items you need to filter click either search only prime or search all vendors. Obviously this idiot clicked search only prime on the left screen and hence the vendor is amazon itself. On the right screen he didn’t filter the same and hence it shows the item from another vendor known as Ace Photo Digital. What a retard!!!
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The poster is an idiot. Plain and simple. One look at the pics shows how freakin dumb you are… Just sad.
As of 7/14/2014, I have confirmed that Amazon price discriminates…AGAINST ITS CUSTOMERS!
I looked at a product from my computer, not logged in at work. Then an hour later I looked at the very same item from home while logged in.
THE PRICE WAS $2 LESS NOT LOGGED IN FROM WORK!
I have also saved things on my wish list. A week later, the price has gone up by a dollar.
They nickel and dime you in order to squeeze more $$$ from you. Their pricing is dirty bastard business tactics and I do not like it.
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while this article was written a few years ago, it still hold true!! I just went to order a kindle book that was $10 last week…today it’s $15 !!! what a rip off!! decided to get the physical book from half.com for $9.25 (includes shipping). and when hubby checks on his ‘non-amazon’ computer, we often have different prices – mine higher, as I have ‘prime’. seriously will not sign up again for that. show interest in a product of theirs, and they will up the price on you.
Amazon doesn’t adjust prices for prime members only. They use your cookies to track your browsing/shopping habits. The third party vendors prices will also be adjusted by amazon, even on their independent web sites. To test this buy a product on amazon through a third party vendor, then go to the same vendors website. You will find a change in the price. Then go back to amazon and check the price change. It feels a bit scammy, but it isn’t much different than a commodity market. Prime does seem like it saves no money, and youre actually paying for a service(I.e. video…). BTW amazon isn’t the only retailer online, there are deals everywhere if you look around.
Amazed how much people are missing here! First and foremost you aren’t just paying for the 2 day shipping! There is also Amazon Prime Instant Video that is nearly identical to Netflix with some things they don’t have. That right there is a $84 value(how much netflix costs yearly at time of this blogs publishing) ! You also get free Kindle books which not even sure of that value! And yes you did get all of this at the time of initial writing of this blog. Even if you don’t use it you are buying it! So, if at that time a Prime membership was $79 subtract $84 oh wait that’s right you came out $5 ahead of buying a Netflix membership and you got some free e-books so I think that is one heck of a deal!
Secondly, I’ve bought many things (mainly cell phone parts as I repair them) and have gone the “cheap route” I think of about 10 shipments I got one that I paid for the 2 day shipping on time! Never happened with the Prime option even got a text tracking the shipment. Not to mention the packaging! Digitizers and LCDs are fragile little devices and when trying to save money I received a $180 screen in a bubble envelope cracked! After, fighting with them for what seemed like forever I got my money back. During that time I still needed the part so ordered a Prime one if anything it was over packaged. Box was 3x’s the size, was in a bubble bag surrounded by another wrap of bubbles and placed in a Styrofoam lined box that sucker wasn’t going anywhere!
Also, because the reviews are the same for the product you aren’t always getting the same product! I did that with iPhone 4 screens the Prime and the 3rd party had same reviews but when the two products came in it was obvious on the install the 3rd party one was horrendous quality vs the Prime one! I returned it and got another same awful quality so it wasn’t a one off!
Prices change all the time! I bought an UAG case for my S5 back in April it was less than $20 when my company switched to the S5 in August it had jumped to over $30! Good product people want it so prices go up. But, I’ve also had tools that I had in my wish list drop by 30% too! I by all means am not an Amazon fangirl as I buy a lot from Ebay as well but, this was just too much for me not to comment!
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I on this very day experienced this same issue. The price disparity was so severe that I actually had to do a double take. I was shopping for strut assembly kit for my truck and I actually had a previously perused item placed in my Amazon wish list. The price was (prime) $84 each. I compared it with another online retailer, then I noticed that each model number differed by one digit. So as to compare apples to apples I returned to Amazon and typed in the comparable model number WHOA! That price was significantly more than the competitor’s offering AND more than the model Amazon was offering for the model number one digit off.
I decide to click backwards on Amazon’s site to discern the difference between the models.. when I landed back on the very page I had been, the price for the original model had changed to $124 each. I thought I had made a mistake, but happen to notice the “recommendations” of similar products had jumped significantly in price as well.
I switched to my wife’s computer and without logging on to Amazon simply put in the desired model number.. MAGIC! It was back to $84. Run back to my computer and refresh the page… still $124. Back to my wife’s computer, place the items on the cart.. THEN log in.. sweet.. I get them for $84 each.
I don’t believe this is a Prime Member issue, it is a tracking cookie issue. On a side note, Amazon is always pushing their credit card at point of purchase with incentives of $x off this purchase for applying/approval of their credit card. For same purchase, my computer offered $70 off, whereas on my wife’s the offer was $30 off. Same items.. no idea.
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I discovered this nonsense several years ago. It has become even more apparent in recent time. I think a lot of those 3rd party vendors on amazon you see are nothing more than sales tax dodges by Amazon. I’ve had vendors change on items in my shopping cart and in my order history.
I use several Amazon accounts just to keep them honest.
Actually I’ve been finding better deals on the same items from other places like Walmart, HomeDepot, Newegg etc. Walmart’s really fast “ship to store” has really been kicking _ss on a number of high end purchases I’ve made saving me over 40% over Amazon. But even Walmart plays the pricing game so be careful. ex I bought a TV antenna from Walmart for $54 which everyone else was asking $99. After receiving and seeing how well it worked I tried to order another 5 days later only to find the price had gone up to $79.
Amazon used to be the cheapest on my wife’s favorite perfume, however in the past few years, Newegg has been about 15% cheaper.
As for shipping, I’m fine as long as i get within 10 days unless I purchase on ebay from china and those take 2-3wks.
The worst shipping times are with UPS std with final delivery by USPS 6-10 business days total.
The best for the money is USPS priority start to finish, 2-4 business days.
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Get a a grip, the people on here who believe the bull coming from brightviolet, need an education.
Seriously people, its quite straight forward and simple.
You purchase a membership from amazon called Prime, this gives you unlimited Next Day Delivery for a set amount each year. So you sign up, now you browse amazon and find an item you are interested in and its £70 for arguments sake. This iem is also marked as Prime and if ordered within set period of time can be with you on a specific Day. Now lets go about this the same way and you open up another browser, clear cache and saved passwords etc and go back to Amazon, copy and paste url from your other browser where you are signed into your Amazon Prime account and low and behold the price may be different.
Why is this, one simple fact When you have Prime Amazon will target you with their Products as first choice, this is price you see on product screen. Under that you will see choices to buy from other sellers, normally if a seller is cheaper it will market this with available for less but not prime eligible. This is your choice. Think of Amazon as ebay, lots of sellers same item. Hence numpties saying URl same, obviously, its a stock Item with a unique SKU, same SKU regardless of who the seller is.
Logging into Amazon via a browser you have never used before will always target you with the lowest price, but if you click other sellers, Amazon will be listed in their with the exact same price as that on your other browser. Price fixing, I think not, Marketing and Advertising purely, why target you with a different seller when you are paying for Amazon Prime. They want your business.
And those jabbering on about price fluctuations, its a business, competing on the open market with vast amounts of retailers. If market demand is there then prices will change obviously happens all the time. Its not a big deal.
You are misrepresenting the statements made by many of the posters.
I do not have prime. I look at an item, it shows a low price. I’m not ready to buy, so I come back in a week. The price has now gone up. I have done this repeatedly over the last two years.
Each time, it was Amazon as the seller, not a third party.
I don’t like Amazons pricing practices. The second you show interest, they raise the price on you.
They also charge more based on how affluent your zip code is. At home, prices are always higher. At work, they are always lower. I work half a mile from home, I just live in a better area than I work in.
People have legitimate reasons for being upset with Amazon. Their pricing practices are opportunistic, exploitive, and discriminatory.
You are obviously an apologist for amazon, and actively attacking their critics. Just answer this, are they paying you or do you just like to argue with others?
Wow, this stuff is so bonkers. I just tested this with multiple products, one signed in, one from a totally locked down aviator browser with ghostly blocking ALL tracking. The results were identical. Next I will try it over TOR to ensure IP can’t be used as an excuse. This is conspiracy theory bullshit at it’s finest. You need to get a hobby.
Maybe I need a new hobby, God knows criticizing Amazon is not fun. I actually use to like them, but not any more.
I may need a new hobby but you Joboo, you need a new job. Being a paid propagandist for Amazon can’t be very rewarding.
You’re the asshole
Come on Timmy, insults don’t help. People start to insult when they know they lost the argument. It is the sign of the desperate, and only fools are distracted by it.
Amazon is a billion dollar company, so of course they will hire PR people to post on threads like this to protect their interest and cover up their foul practices.
I can’t blame you, everyone needs a job. Especially in this economy. No amount of cover up will change the fact that Amazon hurts its customers.
It’s not limited to pricing,either. Amazon shows you reviews -or not- based on your identity.
Case in point-a review I had written for a product. I gave it 5 stars. It goes without saying I have nothing to do with this product; it’s a common household manufactured good,made in China most likely. When I log in, IInee the review. When I surf on another computer , it is not there and the count of reviews, as reported by Amazon, is one less. When reviews are sorted by date, I can see the reviews prior and after the date of my review, but my review is gone.
I am aware that Amazon has a problem with fake good reviews, but there is exactly zero chance anyone would take my review as coming from a paid agent of the seller, owing to the length,detail and content of the review.
So what gives? Well, I can be sure that Amazon knows me from the complaint I once lodged regarding their pulling a bad review I had written.
Long story short, I paid big bucks for book x and it was not what the author claimed. I wrote a review detailing how exactly the book varied from its description and gave it 1 star. A war ensued between Amazon’s employees being motivated by the book’s author who was insisting my review be taken down and myself. In the end, Amazon allowed my review , but pulled it a couple weeks later. Subsequent reviewers said what I said about the book.
Point is, Amazon knows I will bitch. So to SMTFU , they passify me by making me believe my reviews are posted, saving them the cost of paying someone to go back and forth with me.
What was wrong with my 5-star post? Really, who knows. I am -was- a regular American Amazon customers with a normal house address who regularly bought Amazon stuff to the tune of a couple thousand a year, at least. There could be nothing shady about my identity to them, specifically, I was not sitting in some boiler room churning out two sentence 5 stars reviews for some scammer review-factory middleman.
I dropped buying from Amazon because it was so insulting to me that they thought they could keep me in some happy-customer version of the Truman Show. It’s vile, and disgusting just on a gut level.
Here are some interesting things to consider. Amazon, internally, almost certainly has a code-name for ‘people like me’ and a name for what they did. Those names would be extremely revealing of how Amazon thinks about its customers. Their employees certainly know those names. Someone should be actively soliciting those names from Amazon employees and making them public, along with the actual practices themselves of course.
There will be many things like this, abhorrent, dishonest and manipulative pra tices which all stem from an underlying contempt for their customers. That contempt would also extend to their employees, who can and should be encuraged to come forward the details.
What a complete and utter waste of time. Why is this garbage still online when it was written back in 2010. You do realize your comparing Amazon Prime to another regular merchants price or even to an FBA merchants price? You do realize there are multiple merchants selling that watch right? When your logged into Amazon Prime, your getting Amazon’s Prime’s price, plus any FBA merchants price. FBA means Amazon fulfills the order after the company sends them their inventory. It also qualifies for Prime. When your logged into Amazon regular account its giving you Ace Photo Digital’s price which is winning the Buy Box in the example. When your logged into Amazon Prime, it chooses from Amazon and any other FBA merchant.
Its not in any shape or form a scam. It’s simply you not fully understanding that Amazon has multiple merchants selling the same merchandise under different variables. You want the lowest price, to save you a few dollars, than have it shipped from that other seller and stop whining.
Prime has saved us a lot of money and time. We’ve paid Amazon more on certain products so it arrives in 2 business days vs waiting for a regular merchant who may have it cheaper to charge shipping or delivery a week later. Prime is worth every penny when you’re viewing the data right.
As a UK buyer of quite a lot of US titles on CD, I always used to compare the price of each item via amazon.com as well as via amazon.co.uk. $3 (for example) + $6.95 international shipping was often cheaper than the price for the same item via amazon.co.uk with only £1.26 domestic shipping.
But now the international shipping price imposed on all sellers via amazon.com has been hiked to $14.95. My guess is that this is to deter non-US customers from buying via any amazon site other than the one based in their own country (though some US sellers advertise their wares on amazon.co.uk with just the standard £1.26 domestic shipping charge).
So now, instead of comparing the price of an amazon.co.uk item with the price via amazon.com, I just go to eBay.co.uk or eBay.com. I recently bought a couple of (American) items from Japan, for which the international shipping charge was only $5 and another via eBay.com from a seller in Germany, for which the shipping was only €2.
So now, if the price via amazon.co.uk is a bit on the steep side. amazon.com won’t get my business either and indeed I may even look for an item first via eBay rather than via amazon, as I always used to.
The More buying choices on the right of other sellers Prices is switched on each page too, You can still get the better price you just have to pay more(pun intended) attention since they throw the higher price up to members
Wow – DUMB POST. Look at the screen shot on the left from Amazon. What does the headline read?!?! “Note: There are lower-priced buying choices available from other sellers…” Wow – that is Honest! And under More Buying Choices — there is your lower price listed right there – Ace Photo. Go click on it and buy from them! Just learn to use the site instead of writing this post – no hidden secret conspiracy theory around pricing to rip off Prime members.
Online shoppers get ready to spend, spend, spend, for Black Friday is coming early this year as part of Amazon’s 20th birthday celebrations. Next Wednesday, July 15, Amazon is launching “Prime Day”; its own global shopping event that aims at offering “more deals than Black Friday”, for customers in nine countries, including the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Japan, the
online marketplace announced Monday. Greg Greeley, vice president of Amazon Prime said in a statement that Prime Day will be “one of the biggest deals extravaganzas in the world.” The retailer also promises that new deals will be “starting as often as every ten minutes” on the day. However, as its name implies, “Prime Day” is for Amazon Prime members only. An online service that provides members exclusive options and benefits for an annual fee, for instance $99 a year in U.S. http://bit.ly/prmday
Some people need hobbies that don’t involve this kind of aluminum foil hat wearing nonsense…
Try this one: item for sale, estimated delivery (without Prime) 20 days. No tracking information available during shipment. Item arrives after 16 days from less than 15 miles away, posted THE PREVIOUS DAY. Call me suspicious, but could it be that Amazon is leaning on it’s vendors to delay shipping to make Prime look like a good deal?
This item was most likely bulk shipped from China to a local wearhouse then shipped to you from there. Many sellers do this, you have to read delivery estimates before ordering. If it’s 20 days don’t order it if needed sooner, or don’t complain if it arrives after 16 days, 4 days sooner than estimate.
The problem with this article is it is simply wrong. As numerous other posters have mentioned but based on the authors’ responses that fact seems to be ignored.
For the title to be true amazon would have to either actually change their own price (you know the sold by amazon listings) so they were different for different customers, or simply not allow the user to view certain options (for example the “new from 13 sellers for 258.60” would need to either state fewer sellers or a higher from price for price discrimination.
In truth the worst this would be would promoted listing discrimination, since the same prices are available (based on the OP’s own posting) to a buyer (logged in or not).
Additionally the only example of actual price discrimination is from the CNN article, it is given a limited description (how much and for how many details were not listed) and that came from 2000.
I even review the other blog links at the bottom, one is a repeat and now retracted version of this post, and the other is unrelated, and makes an unsupported and poorly stated claim that amazon raises the prices of items on a users wishlist. Amazon routinely shifts the prices of items, this can be shown by tracking sites such as camelcamelcamel, items often raise and lower in price, and one should not order an item assuming they have the best price, but instead should research what the highs and lows are and order when the price is low, but if you wait and order when it is high, that’s not Amazon’s problem/issue/fault but your own (vs if you bought an item after seeing a low price and then saw amazon had charged you more, that would be an example of Amazon being at fault).
The greatest irony is that the user in that last blog actually had data to see the price was higher then when they first wishlisted the item, then ordered, AND THEN got upset when the price dropped again. It is always funny when an individual does not understand a system, and then assumes the system revolves around or against them with little or no proof, that is both childish and lazy.
If you don’t like Prime then don’t use it? Not sure what else to tell you. I shop regularly at Amazon. I often see changes in prices of things I’m interested in buying, and as others have mentioned you can see previous price fluctuations at camelcamelcamel. If you don’t like a price Amazon has, don’t buy the item. Wait for it to be cheaper or go to local stores to see if they have cheaper prices. Or by a different brand. I don’t blame Amazon if they’re constantly doing tests to see which prices will bring in more revenue. That’s a wise business decision.
I buy well more than 30 items a month from Amazon, and I’m usually happy with the prices I pay, so for me the Prime membership is worth the cost.
I found the total opposite of what this article states. I had used the trial Prime membership on mistake somehow and then when it was time to actually pay for it my credit card had expired, so Amazon couldn’t take a payment. I was cancalled from the Prime membership. Before being cancelled from Prime, I had put an Amazon shipped item for $40 in my basket to purchase at a later time. I went back to purchase after my Prime membership was cancelled and was told I could no longer purchase it because I was not a Prime customer. The only price offered for the item that was shipped by Amazon was $40 more than the Prime member item. So, I have personally seen price differences being offered to different customers, but in my case it was to the non Prime customer. This should not happen either. I also would like to add that the item that I was trying to purchase was something I had purchased in the past. When I tried to make a review about the item and state how the price changed for me in the middle of my transaction, the comment never showed up on the website under the item. So once again, Amazon only posts what they want to be seen under the reviews. Something needs to be done about Amazon’s deceptiveness.
@Jennifer Prime offers are obviously available only to Prime customers. Or am I assuming too much about people’s mental capabilities and they think Prime is available to anyone?
To the people here saying “your just defending Amazon” you are retarded. Amazon is an online marketplace and Amazon also takes part in its own marketplace. Simply clicking the “13 New” hyperlink in the screenshot above would show you the entire list of sellers and their prices + shipping for that product nothing is hidden and you are free to purchase whatever you want and at what shipping speed you want for the price they ask for. Most of you simply don’t know how to navigate the site
It is not my first time to pay a quick visit this website,
i am visiting this web page dailly and get nice
information from here everyday.
brightviolet is either plain stupid or this is an article paid by Amazon competitors. When an Amazon Prime account is logged in the main price is always a Prime offer. This is what people who subscribe to Amazon want, well at least me, because if I paid for Prime I want to use it. But as many others pointed out not only that Amazon lists on the same page within 10 lines distance the cheapest price and total numbe of offers but also displays a note in a clearly visible location that there are cheaper options. So maybe brightviolet is not stupid just can’t read or doesn’t understand English.
And like others mentioned it I wouldn’t go for a non-Prime offer for only $6 difference. Maybe for $20 at a price like this but $6 doesn’t worth losing the free return, extended return period and the high level customer service Amazon provides.
And yes, price on Amazon and any other shop (even offline shops) change often, sometimes within minutes. But if you have something in your cart Amazon will display a notification about all price changes so one can decide if they still want to buy the product or not. And there are tons of price comparison sites so go and compare prices before buying something. And don’t forget to include shipping into price.
hi
I have used the Prime membership in the past when it was offered for limited time , for free. Ok ; no problem. But because I am on SSI and rarely can buy anything and I certainly cannot pay for a membership for Prime. My problem/complaint/question is: How to get search results that filter OUT the ones meant for Prime Members only ?? I am having a hard time finding the normal (jacked up price ) when I do a search. I notice I can choose filters to get better search results based on what price range , brand, etc……But I do not find one for NON -Prime members. I can ask it to show results FOR Prime members.
I see no help or contact section even. If there is a way and you can let me know, I’d appreciate it.
Thanks
um.
if you look at the first pic, you can see the cheaper option by ace digital over to the lower right. just click and you are good.
you need to look rather than accepting what is front of you. I would choose a cheaper option from the sidelines but sometimes when I’m lazy i would refresh the amazon page until the right seller/price comes up.
It’s some equal rotation to give all sellers fair shelf service. Like three brands of syrup wants to be upfront on the page. All cant do that at the same time. Therefore, rotation due to refresh page. the unlucky ones on refresh are listed at the right side.
Things must have changed over the years, because no matter how long I wait now for prices to change, they stay the same for me! Even regardless of whatever browser or computer or location I use!
Anyway, it’s very plain and simple; If you like something, use it. If not, use something else. If you know something or believe you know something others don’t know, act accordingly. A lot of businesses / people in general do things because they know other people will “fall for it” or still go for it, which ever phrase you choose to use. Sometimes people simply just don’t care. After all, look at what Beatport dot com does – and they ANNOUNCE the price games and stuff they do before they do it, having people wait all weekend or for an extended amount of time for a “MYSTERY DEAL” price that fluctuates until the mystery deal ends! Some people end up having to pay more for something that others paid less for. That’s not fair, but…. life in general isn’t fair. For example, nice guys and guys with poor social skills that don’t fit in have to work harder to have women appreciate them or to even make friends in general while others who use and abuse seem to naturally achieve high status and multiple females. Some people born in certain countries have to work harder to obtain the same, or almost the same quality of life as someone who has it relatively made in another country. One guy working in a certain position at a certain job can be making more or less than another guy working in the same position at the same job. Some people are thin and others are obese, etc. etc. etc. Life isn’t fair in many ways! It is what it is!
Now, let me prepare for my trip on this flight I had to pay more for just because I waited longer to buy this ticket than the people who bought the same ticket before! Or maybe I should have waited a bit longer if I had only known that a lower fare would briefly pop up two weeks later and I could’ve connected flights through Atlanta instead of New York to get to Paris! Anyway…. well, hope it doesn’t snow. If it snows the day I’m supposed to travel and my flight is cancelled, but the people who chose flights the day before and after or at a different time get good weather, I will be PISSED! That’s not fair! After all, I did pay more for my ticket than others did through the same website….
Therefore, I conclude that Delta, Air France and KLM are all a SCAMMMMMM!!!!
It looks like many people responding here are missing the actual point of this article. It’s to inform the general public about Amazon price-fixing items making their Amazon Prime customers pay more for the same item. First off, anyone who has Amazon Prime and accepts paying more for an item is a dummy. Amazon touts that you get “free 2-day shipping with Amazon Prime”. This in essence is true, but they do raise the price of the item itself to offset that “free” rush shipping. Personally, I’m glad this article is still here sharing the misdealings of Amazon. As soon as I found that Amazon does this, I canceled my Prime membership.
For people like metz2000 who are “okay with paying $6 more for the same item”, you and I should talk because I definitely want to sell you whatever you want for $500 more than anyone else and I will even hand deliver it to you the same day. Do you see how silly this is now? It’s all a profit scheme created by Amazon to dupe the majority into thinking paying $10.99/month for 2-day shipping is worth paying $6 more per item shipped. You’re all essentially being double-billed and I find it absolutely hilarious that you are willing to go on this ride with Amazon! Keep the money rolling into Amazon’s pockets.
You do realize those are different prices from different sellers lol you can see the 258 one listed on the picture with the higher priced watch
However, as its name implies, “Prime Day” is for Amazon Prime members only. An online service that
provides members exclusive options and benefits for an annual fee, for instance $99 a year in U.S.
http://amzn.to/1KGW54o
It tells you on your “logged in” page that there’s one available at the lower price, then explains that seller typically takes a few days longer to ship. Maybe look at the entire screen before grabbing your glazed donuts and writing jibberish. Go get laid or something.
[…] lot of controversy on the net about Amazon’s price disparities. I don’t understand it since books (etc.) […]
[…] has used price discrimination for many years. One blogger even found through experimenting that having an Amazon Prime membership could result in overall higher prices, and that's after the annual […]
Amazon Prime clients pay more for a similar thing. For one thing, any individual who has Amazon Prime and acknowledges paying more for a thing is a sham. Amazon touts that you get “free 2-day shipping on Amazon Prime”. This basically is valid, yet they do raise the cost of the thing itself to balance that “free” surge shipping. By and by, I’m happy this article is still here sharing the misdealings of Amazon. When I found that Amazon does this, I scratched off my Prime participation.
I’m very sorry but your information is incorrect, as an Amazon seller I see things you do not see in your example you have shown… they are being sold by TWO different businesses… Amazon and a third party seller… Amazon has third-party sellers on their site. There are many listings for the same item from different sellers it depends if you’re using the same UPC code. If I bought that watch from the manufacture and it had a UPC code and I offered it for sale on Amazon it would be placed in the same listing as Amazon… But then you’re competing with Amazon for the buy box… This third-party seller must have used a different UPC and was able to make their own listing that way they do not have to compete with Amazon… Same item, same picture and if I enlarged the image the description was different… these are things I never would have known before selling on Amazon… most people think everything on Amazon is sold by Amazon but over 40% of the items listed are from third-party sellers… Just thought everyone should know
I agrees to terms for Amazon prime to pay monthly in installments. It was $99.00 I agreed to pay $10.99 a month. Next thing I know it was up to $12.99 & they actually billed my other card for it that month! I was upset because I am really confused . If I had entered an agreement to just pay a revolving fee every month thats fine, so far I’ve paid more in less than 12 months. Wish they’d be more specific on how it works!
You can definitely see your expertise in the article you write.
The world hopes for even more passionate writers like you
who are not afraid to say how they believe.
Always go after your heart.
I just experienced the EXACT same thing (which I promptly Googled and found this post).
I searched for a product while logged out. Then, I logged in to buy it. Immediately after logging in (with my Prime account), the item costed $1 more.
I’m certainly offended by this, especially after they raised the price of Prime membership.
used trucks are sometimes expensive and it is quite hard to find a good bargain if you don’t search heavily;
I came to this page after Googling for “amazon shows lower price when logged out” as I experienced the EXACT same thing. And in my case both were shipped and sold by amazon. I used a product link so it was the same merchant Amazon. Further when i added the cheaper one to cart and tried to checkout by logging in they stuck with the lower price. (diff was not big though – $1)
This is the product link – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0019N4ZHQ?tag=camel3palerts-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1&language=en_US
This is definitely something Amazon is doing. I can share images if you would like to update your post showing this with both sold by Amazon.
Is there any way to register a complaint on this?
https://tellind.com/sepojunpe farjane ralstyn a30b5ac58e