Why do Amazon prices change so much?

Freebird

I've had a few things in my basket for a couple of weeks now, and the prices are up and down like a yo-yo, sometimes by 20% or more. Even with similar products from the same manufacturer, one might go up while another goes down. 

Legionreturns

Stock levels. Having lots of the same thing in the warehouse costs money. Quite often you'll buy something, which takes the stock below their nominal threshold and the price immediately goes up. 

martinw

Algorithms.

Freebird

It seems a bit odd that you can save money by just placing items in your basket, and then observing them over time. Not that I'm complaining, I've saved enough to cover tonight's beer, wine, & Indian takeaway 

richardhomer

There was a CD boxed set I was interested in the other day that was just under £20 when browsing using the Amazon App - but twice the price when accessed via their website - even when signed in as me..... Baffled by that one. 

duotone

richardhomer said:

There was a CD boxed set I was interested in the other day that was just under £20 when browsing using the Amazon App - but twice the price when accessed via their website - even when signed in as me..... Baffled by that one. 

That’s strange, unless they are trying to encourage more users to use their app.

Freebird

duotone said:

richardhomer said:

There was a CD boxed set I was interested in the other day that was just under £20 when browsing using the Amazon App - but twice the price when accessed via their website - even when signed in as me..... Baffled by that one. 

That’s strange, unless they are trying to encourage more users to use their app.

There are some very strange things goings on! £50 items jumping to £35 and back again  

ToneControl

price optimisation software I expect

In the UK, they started this on petrol stations in the 90s, I was offered a role in a company creating it. It was started by a couple of UMIST professors I think. It looked at stock levels, cost of nearest competitors etc, and changed prices frequently

Freebird

ToneControl said:

price optimisation software I expect

In the UK, they started this on petrol stations in the 90s, I was offered a role in a company creating it. It was started by a couple of UMIST professors I think. It looked at stock levels, cost of nearest competitors etc, and changed prices frequently

It could be this. An item that has been sitting dormant in the shopping basket for a while shows interest, but not commitment. I use my basket as a place to remember things I have seen, but won't necessarily buy. I'm guessing they are using a personalised algorithm of some sort, and the crafty buggers have worked out a way to tempt me to buy!

ToneControl

Amazon also have multiple listings for some products, not all come up in searches

I had a Kindle that broke once (just after the 1 year warranty expired), and they offered me a replacement refurb, the refurb was from a page that didn't come up in searches, I was able to order a couple of very cheap ones for the kids 

Sporky

It's all down to Amazon being a logistics company. They're basically a warehouse with a Web front end. 

Phil_aka_Pip

Freebird said:

ToneControl said:

price optimisation software I expect

In the UK, they started this on petrol stations in the 90s, I was offered a role in a company creating it. It was started by a couple of UMIST professors I think. It looked at stock levels, cost of nearest competitors etc, and changed prices frequently

It could be this. An item that has been sitting dormant in the shopping basket for a while shows interest, but not commitment. I use my basket as a place to remember things I have seen, but won't necessarily buy. I'm guessing they are using a personalised algorithm of some sort, and the crafty buggers have worked out a way to tempt me to buy!

Are you really saying that I should copy items from my wishlist to my shopping basket and leave them for a few days before clicking on checkout?

wibble

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Freebird said:

ToneControl said:

price optimisation software I expect

In the UK, they started this on petrol stations in the 90s, I was offered a role in a company creating it. It was started by a couple of UMIST professors I think. It looked at stock levels, cost of nearest competitors etc, and changed prices frequently

It could be this. An item that has been sitting dormant in the shopping basket for a while shows interest, but not commitment. I use my basket as a place to remember things I have seen, but won't necessarily buy. I'm guessing they are using a personalised algorithm of some sort, and the crafty buggers have worked out a way to tempt me to buy!

Are you really saying that I should copy items from my wishlist to my shopping basket and leave them for a few days before clicking on checkout?

Just use https://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/

see what price trends there have been for an item, and set a price alert.

Otherwise save items for later in your basket.

ToneControl

yes, camel camel camel has saved me a lot of cash
you can use as an add-on /plugin for chrome and firefox

Bod

wibble said:

see what price trends there have been for an item, and set a price alert.

Otherwise save items for later in your basket.

Another vote for CamelCamelCamel here.  It's useful to check price history to see if I should wait or buy straight away.

bingefeller

ToneControl said:

yes, camel camel camel has saved me a lot of cash
you can use as an add-on /plugin for chrome and firefox

and Safari

Speaking of Amazon's price changes - I bought a Loudness live CD for £50 odd quid and a few weeks later the price had changed to £30 something I was raging.

gretschthumper

Algorithms, timkering with prices depending on what's available elsewhere … best one was Gear4music, when I signed in as a "platinum customer" it actually put the price up! 

Phil_aka_Pip

gretschthumper said:

Algorithms, timkering with prices depending on what's available elsewhere … best one was Gear4music, when I signed in as a "platinum customer" it actually put the price up! 

If it thinks you've got a lot of money, of course it will!

Freebird

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Freebird said:

ToneControl said:

price optimisation software I expect

In the UK, they started this on petrol stations in the 90s, I was offered a role in a company creating it. It was started by a couple of UMIST professors I think. It looked at stock levels, cost of nearest competitors etc, and changed prices frequently

It could be this. An item that has been sitting dormant in the shopping basket for a while shows interest, but not commitment. I use my basket as a place to remember things I have seen, but won't necessarily buy. I'm guessing they are using a personalised algorithm of some sort, and the crafty buggers have worked out a way to tempt me to buy!

Are you really saying that I should copy items from my wishlist to my shopping basket and leave them for a few days before clicking on checkout?

I can't say for sure, but I'm guessing Amazon track your behaviour on their site, and then apply a personalised algorithm to maximise their sales. Every night they modify some of the prices and I receive an update in my basket "Important messages for items in your Basket:" which lists the new prices. Some items rarely change in price, while others have some movement.

Update:
https://uk.camelcamelcamel.com seems like a good resource, as you can view historical price movements in graph form. I will have to check some prices and compare them to what I have been seeing.