Amazon mystery: pricing of books

[Donald L.]

Amazon mystery: pricing of books (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-amazon2jan02,0,5340593.story?track=mostviewed-homepage)

Imagine this: You go to a bookstore, browse, choose a couple of volumes. But you don't want to carry the books around. So you ask the clerk to hold the tomes until Saturday, when you'll come back to buy them.

When you return, the bookseller hands you the items but advises you that he's raised the prices. "I knew you were hot to buy them," the clerk says, "so I figured I could make a few extra bucks."

That's what it feels like online bookseller Amazon.com Inc. has been doing to me.

On Nov. 6, seeking to boost my dubious culinary skills, I decided to buy "The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook." I went to Amazon and placed the book in my electronic shopping cart but got distracted and never finished the transaction.

The next day, I signed on to Amazon again. A pop-up message informed me that the price had increased from $11.02 to $11.53.

[Athryn]

Again, this is another reason why I use Powell's (http://www.powells.com). Prices don't change around, and they also sell used copies so if it's just some paperback, I can get it often at half the cover price. And they're an independant bookseller.

Note: I am not a VM. Just a loyal customer. Been shopping with them since before the internets, when they used to do special searches for out of print books.

[Alan Dunkin]

I can back the recommendation for Powell's as a used bookseller; have picked up many books from them in the past (quite a few through Amazon and Abebooks.com) and nary a complaint.

--- Alan

[Jamie Madigan]

Amazon.com's interface has slowly become so God awful over the years that I'm actually getting fed up with it. It's not an easy or pleasant experience anymore given how much irrelevant crap and sales pitches they cram into EVERY page. I'll check out Powell's.

[SpoofyChop]

Donald if you had just asked me I could have mailed you that cookbook for $10.74. I have it and I've never once used it.

[AndrewM]

Yes, every time I look at my Amazon cart (which I use to hold items I'm interested in) the prices of half a dozen things will go up or down by a few bucks. Just now, the price of ten things has changed. The price of one book went up by about 12 bucks. Ouch.

[Flowers]

Well, there goes my career in trading book futures.

[Slainte Mhath]

That's the one thing I never liked about Amazon, they seem to discount things completely at random, and for totally unpredictable time periods. I'm pretty sure that the prices aren't going up just because they're in your cart (though I can't say that with 100% certainty), but more likely just because in the span of 3-5 days Amazon seems to completely redo it's pricing structure seemingly for no reason.

I've often wondered if it's somehow tied to the sales ranking. As something goes higher in the sales ranking or experiences a "hot streak", the price slowly climbs. As things sit there unsold for days and days, the price will fall. Something that didn't sell a single copy for weeks may be steeply discounted, but as soon as a couple of copies sell the price spikes back up again. A system like that would likely be completely automated, hence the randomness of it.

That said, you can often find better pricing on used and sometimes even new copies of Amazon listed items simply by checking out the other vendors selling them via Amazon. I've picked up mint copies of paperback and softcover books listed on Amazon at $5-$15 for as little as $0.25, and I've found some decent discounts on hardcover books as well.

If you live in the Midwest, Seattle, Texas and parts of California, another great place to try is Half Price Books. They usually have a giant selection of new and used books, music, software and movies at bargain prices. It's in store only though, no web sales. http://www.halfpricebooks.com/find_a_store.html

[Crater]

Half Price books usually has lots of slightly older games at very reasonable prices. I picked up Beyond Good & Evil there awhile ago for $5.

[Slainte Mhath]

Half Price books usually has lots of slightly older games at very reasonable prices. I picked up Beyond Good & Evil there awhile ago for $5.

I forgot to mention that, thanks for the reminder. I don't know where they get their stock, but they do often have many brand new copies of games in the 12-24 month old range (or even older) for $5-$15.

[nixon66]

I just saw a copy of Gothic 2 at Half Price Books for $5 as well.

I use Half Price quite frequently, to sell off all the books I read and decide I just don't need to keep it in my library, or when I get a nicer copy to keep permanently. I get $10-20 to just re-spend in the store and I leave happy.

Powells is a perfect place to go if you are ever in Portland proper. In fact it's a must. Here in Tacoma there is a place called King's Books that does a great job and has a good wide selection, well organized, and has nice fat cats that'll follow you around as you browse.

My wife has had a lot of success with Abebooks.com as a place to find used and new books, and it's search function is quite useful when you are looking for a specific copy, or year published.

[steve]

Again, this is another reason why I use Powell's (http://www.powells.com). Prices don't change around, and they also sell used copies so if it's just some paperback, I can get it often at half the cover price. And they're an independant bookseller.
How is Powell's more independent than amazon? Granted, amazon is huge, but it's not like it's a chain.

You can buy used from amazon too; it's right below the amazon price. I just bought a half-dozen books and didn't pay more than $3 for any of them.

The price changes are weird. Can't say I've ever noticed it, probably because I never leave things in my cart.

[Alan Dunkin]

I think he kind of equates the hugeness of Amazon being the equivalent of a chain or the bigdog, of which Powell's is obviously more independent. Powells, however, is a chain. Not B&N size of course.

I never put stuff in my cart either, I just move it all to the wishlist.

I buy used on Amazon a lost as well where you can get some decent prices (and as I said earlier, Powell's lists their books used on Amazon as well).

--- Alan

[Raife]

I can back the recommendation for Powell's as a used bookseller; have picked up many books from them in the past (quite a few through Amazon and Abebooks.com) and nary a complaint.

I've been using Abebooks (http://www.abebooks.com/) for years for older, antique, or out-of-print stuff. Not a bookseller, but a network of independent booksellers worldwide.

Awesome place, but I still use Amazon for regular purchases..

[Ergo]

Again, this is another reason why I use Powell's (http://www.powells.com). Prices don't change around, and they also sell used copies so if it's just some paperback, I can get it often at half the cover price. And they're an independant bookseller.

Note: I am not a VM. Just a loyal customer. Been shopping with them since before the internets, when they used to do special searches for out of print books. I recommend Powell's as well, but I'm a bit biased. I'm usually in their city-block sized store in downtown Portland at least twice a month. :)

[Athryn]

I recommend Powell's as well, but I'm a bit biased. I'm usually in their city-block sized store in downtown Portland at least twice a month. :)

I've always wanted to go there.

And I forget that they are actually a chain by definition, I forget they actually do have more than one location, albeit I don't think any of them are outside the Portland area.

I usually tend to contrast them with places like Barne's and Noble's or Borders. Amazon is just (mostly) evil due to their pricing policies.

[wildpokerman]

Some of the randomness seems ties to other sites discount prices. For a long while I had the Lord of the Rings extended edition box set in my cart. Amazon would have it at $52 sometimes and as much as $84.00.

Turns out Best Buy always had the same price as Amazon. I also used to hear stories in the old days of people who deleted or edited their cookies and changed the prices on Amazon.

Also just like every interesting topic on Q23 Slate has a good article discussing randomness of prices of electronics that was posted in the last week.

http://www.slate.com/id/2156030/

Collective consciousness FTW.

[noun]

Powell's, holy shit. I recently relocated to Portland, where Powell's is based. Their main store is a frigging four story building the size of an entire city block, they have dozens of books on any subject, and the amount of in-store credit they give on books you sell them is higher than any store I've ever encountered.

Fuck Amazon, Powell's all the way.

[Jojo]

I'm a total Amazon fangirl. I couldn't live without it. The price changes don't bother me, I find they go down as often as they go up, and they never seem to go up by more than a dollar on items. Admittedly I don't leave items in my cart very often, so maybe other people are seeing worse changes.

I agree the interface has got more cluttered, and sometimes its hard to find some of the slightly more obscure links, but I guess I have drunk their kool-aid because I forgive them for it.

[Brad Grenz]

I consider Amazon indispensable as a site for product research. They have better descriptions, more editorial reviews and an outstanding number of customer reviews. They also have more listings, even of stuff they don't sell anymore or yet or ever, than any other site. I got to amazon to figure out what I want, but then I usually check other places to see if I can find a better price.

[André Costa]

Amazon(UK) is the only European service that i found that ships books to Portugal. :( (Ordering from outside Europe means i have to pay taxes)

[rhinohelix]

There have been several times I have had a friend call me and say "Product X is on Amazon for Y amount!", gone there myself and seen a completely different price. Typing in the same exact url, refreshing, cookies, etc. The weirdness.

[Lunch of Kong]

Amazon.com has a 30-day price matching policy. If the price falls within 30 days of your purchase, Amazon.com will refund you the difference.

http://www.slate.com/id/2156900

[noun]

Given that they don't advertise it, I'm willing to bet if enough people start calling to take advantage of it, Amazon will kill it.

[Leah C]

Amazon.com has a 30-day price matching policy. If the price falls within 30 days of your purchase, Amazon.com will refund you the difference.

http://www.slate.com/id/2156900

Hey, thanks for that. I just checked the price of some Christmas presents I ordered and found some price differences. I emailed them the order numbers through the support page and just got an email back from them saying I'll be refunded the difference in the next few days.

[Elton]

Here's another Amazon pricing weirdness:
I already had Elite Beat Agents in my shopping cart for $29.99 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000HE9LL8/ref=ord_cart_shr/104-9633623-9203967?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=A1VC38T7YXB528&v=glance), but I checked MySimon (http://www.mysimon.com/9015-11029_8-38202099.html) to see if the game was cheaper somewhere else. It is ... at Amazon, for $24.99 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000HE9LL8/ref=ord_cart_shr/104-9633623-9203967?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance).
I'm pretty baffled by it.

[Alan Dunkin]

I've noticed a couple of books in my Wishlist that had huge discounts for awhile before going back up. It's possible they have wide sweeping sales of one type or another and reinstate the prices at some point (or just inventory reduction) without really explaining how or why.

For that one you just mentioned though, sometimes they have multiple entries for the exact same product, so it's possible you're looking at two different URLs for the same thing (but different entries, reviews, etc.)

--- Alan

[Elton]

These two Elite Beat Agents pages have nearly-identical URLs and reference the same reviews, but show up as two separate items if I add both to my shopping cart. The more expensive URL shows up when I just search for the game within Amazon, and the cheaper one only from MySimon, it appears. A clever price-discrimination technique I'm guessing -- only discount it for the shopper coming from the price-comparison site. Now I'm wondering if I've paid more than I had to for all my past Amazon purchases by buying things from a more expensive link.

[Robert Sharp]

Amazon also uses other places to sell things sometimes, especially through marketplace links. So sometimes what you order isn't actually from Amazon, even when you order it through their site. I guess they realize that you aren't going to pay their price when they've already shown you that someone else has it cheaper.

[Moggraider]

You guys are wrong about Elite Beat Agents. I just went to Amazon.com and typed in the game's name. The $24.99 listing was the first result. The $29.99 listing is for buying the game through Target, which is an affiliate with Amazon.

[Woolen Horde]

I was looking for Neon Bible from Arcade Fire and the top two search results?

1. New, from Amazon, $19.99

2. New, from Amazon, $14.99

I checked. Both the same version.

[DennyA]

The only thing I don't like about living in Washington (well, the other thing, along with the traffic) is that Amazon charges sales tax here. Ugh.

[Alan Friesen]

Amazon.com has a 30-day price matching policy. If the price falls within 30 days of your purchase, Amazon.com will refund you the difference.

http://www.slate.com/id/2156900

Not only is this true, but it's been true for at least four years - that's how long I've been doing it for.

If you're not concerned about getting a particular item soon, what works for me is preordering an item one or two months in advance and loading up the order with other stuff I've been meaning to buy. Then check the prices on your order every couple of days. If the price of an item goes down, email them and say that you'd like them to update your order - it hasn't shipped, so they'll lower the price automatically. If the price of an item goes up, your order won't be affected. You'll also have the 30 day price protection guarantee once the order actually does ship.

I'm in Canada, so my experiences might be slightly different from the rest of you. Up here, the only true competitor is Chapters.ca, which has terrible customer service and generally terrible rates. They used to offer a rewards card whereby you paid $20 a year for 10% off in-store and online. This was a great deal for me, as I regularly spend far more than $200 in books every year. They nerfed the deal half-way through my membership to 5% online and refused to issue me a refund, so I haven't shopped there in years.

So as far as I'm concerned, I'm stuck with Amazon.ca and Amazon.com, which are certainly competitors, as far as I'm concerned. A few years ago, when the price difference between the US and Canadian dollars was significant, it seemed as if Amazon.ca was dedicated to gouging Canadian consumers, often having prices that were 10-30% higher than Amazon.com (taking into account the exchange rate). It would be far cheaper for me to order books on Amazon.com and pay for shipping than it would be for me to buy the same books on Amazon.ca and get free shipping. Another bonus is that Amazon.com doesn't charge Canadian taxes (Powell's does when they ship to Canada) and, amazingly enough, Canada Customs does not levy any taxes or duties whatsoever on Amazon.com shipments from the US to Canada. $200, $300, $400 orders go through without a hiccup. On the other hand, I've been charged tax and duty (!) on a single $30 USD book from an independent company in Texas. I've heard that Amazon.com stuff shipped to Canada actually gets shipped from Ontario, but I've never figured out why in the world I've never been taxed on it.

The difference between Amazon.ca and Amazon.com has sharply declined since the exchange rates between our two fine countries have almosts hit parity. Some books, in fact, can only be bought in Canada and not in the US: Sapkowski's Last Wish, for example.

Americans might have choice, but Canadians do not. If you refuse to pay list price for a book, the Amazons are the best choice. I have used Powells on occasion, and certainly I go there when I'm in Oregon, but I've never - never - had a problem with the Amazons that they haven't fixed to my satisfaction. On the other hand, I have had issues with Powells, and of course with individual book sellers on sites such as abebooks and alibris. As far as I'm concerned, Amazon dominates the scene because it's great at what it does. If that means that the price of books fluctuates from day to day, so be it. </fanboyism>

[Moggraider]

I was looking for Neon Bible from Arcade Fire and the top two search results?

1. New, from Amazon, $19.99

2. New, from Amazon, $14.99

I checked. Both the same version.

*Sigh*

Read a little next time.

From the description for the $19.99 version: "The deluxe CD version is packaged in a hinged box with two 32-page flip books designed by the band. The LP is double 180-gram audiophile quality with three sides of music and an etching on the fourth side. The LP also includes a coupon for a free MP3 download of "Neon Bible"."

The $19.99 version is also clearly labeled "Neon Bible [SPECIAL EDITION]" at the top of the page.

Maybe check your head instead of Amazon listings.

[LesJarvis]

You guys are wrong about Elite Beat Agents. I just went to Amazon.com and typed in the game's name. The $24.99 listing was the first result. The $29.99 listing is for buying the game through Target, which is an affiliate with Amazon.

You'd think the prominent "Target" logo would have tipped them off, but I guess not.

[polar boar]

Given that they don't advertise it, I'm willing to bet if enough people start calling to take advantage of it, Amazon will kill it.

That's kind of contradictory, if they have this in place as a promotional incentive, yet don't want too many people finding out about it, what's the point? I wonder if it's some sort of veild admission of guilt of working with 'personalised prices'.

[Coca Cola Zero]

As others have mentioned, the prices seem as likely to go down and thus benefit you than go up and screw you. In any case, either the book is worth it at the price they are selling it to you at the time of actual purchase, or it isn't, so I have no problem with the prices changing fairly quickly.

Also, Neon Bible was really disappointing, but I guess that's par for the course on second albums.

[dannimal]

Or it's like rebates, where they have a promotional incentive, yet don't want people to actually use it.

It's common to provide incentives that sound good but in practice don't get used much. If something starts costing you more money than you'd expected/wanted, you cancel it. No big deal.