Is is possible that Amazon could be tracking your web searches and adjusting prices accordingly?
2012-12-12 18:28:22
12
amazon weirdness = cheap bike shorts, for now
So REI had a sale a week ago where you get a $20 gift card after spending $100. I was looking at Pearl Izumi quest shorts for $50 and figured I'd get two. Then I checked Amazon and they were $34. Great! So I checked the next level higher, the attack shorts. $80 at REI and $40 at Amazon. Not one to make impulse buys, I waited to make the purchase. The next day, Amazon was asking $57 for the attack shorts. This continued for several days, so I ended up going with REI and the lower quality quest shorts. Today, I saw an Amazon ad (the kind that follows you from site to site) listing the PI attack shorts for $32!! So I ended up buying three, and will take the two quest ones back to REI.
So if anyone wants bike shorts, beware of these crazy price jumps. Retail was 80 and in just over a week, Amazon's prices jumped from 40 to 57 to 32!
I also experienced this problem with buying a saddle on Amazon. Ended up waiting months for the price to drop, bought the saddle and ended up returning it after realizing it wasn't even what I wanted.
Anyone else encounter these price fluctuations, or do you just buy and forget?
2012-12-12 18:23:13
the amazon price is dependant upon color choice.
the black shorts are listing for $32, but the red ones are listing for $60.
(oddly the "color" difference is a small trapezoidial panel on the bottom of the leg, both styles are msotly black anyways.)
but still $48 off on some gear aint nothing to sneeze at.
2012-12-12 18:36:55
I know the advertisements are tailored to my amazon searches. I think the price is often dependent on other vendors having sales and amazon wants to stay competitive. Sometimes, the price just seems to change arbitrarily. I did notice the color price difference. The red seems to have stayed at about $60 while the black experienced the price jumps.
2012-12-12 18:44:07
there are some helpful websites that let you track the price history of amazon products. camelcamelcamel is one (don't know where the name came from)
2012-12-12 19:29:57
Amazon is indeed an oddity.. with any big purchases, I've gotten in the habit of leaving things in my cart for a couple months and checking the price regularly. I saved about $150 on a stand-mixer this way (they had several color options and cycled through the prices regularly). If you ever see a good price at Amazon on SlickDeals, odds are it will return if you are patient and keep watching.
2012-12-12 22:46:18
REI got crazy high prices. But they have the best return policy of any store. Amazon is my favorite internet store even if they make there employees work hard for low wages.
2012-12-12 23:27:57
Some cycling shoes I bought recently dropped like $30 on Amazon and I was cringing
Pearl Izumi is a good company; they did warranty service on my shorts that had two blown out panels
2012-12-13 00:56:35
Amazon prices fluctuate constantly. I put stuff in my cart and "Save for later". Whenever you go back into the cart, it tells you that a price has changed. Something in my cart/future purchase list changes every time that I go in there. Usually not as dramatic as what you described but small fluctuations.
2012-12-13 12:12:11
@Pierce ... my shorts that had two blown out panels
How many miles per burrito do you get?
2012-12-14 05:14:08
@Pseudacris Amazon actually tried price discrimination before and got caught http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon.com_controversies#Differential_pricing
2012-12-14 21:18:26
A pair of shoes I bought recently were either $30 or $120 based on color and after searching other sites the color I wanted dropped in price by $30. No idea how or why but they did.
2012-12-15 04:48:03