12 ms·

Amazon Prime Day deals 'not what they seem'

193 points by john58 8y ago

matty22 8y ago
As always, use something like camelcamelcamel to do price history comparisons for you before buying anything on Prime Day or Cyber Monday (or any other time for that matter).
- wiradikusuma 8y ago
  Shameless plug, but relevant: My startup is a price tracker for ecommerce in SE Asia, particularly Malaysia, and we did a write-up about this "great sale": https://sarahshopper.com/my/what-to-expect-on-singles-day-11-11-from-mycybersale/ https://sarahshopper.com/my/what-to-expect-on-singles-day-11... (TL;DR: just like you said, use a price tracker)
- Marsymars 8y ago
  Depending on jurisdiction, raising the regular price to create the appearance of a sale price isn't legal. e.g. from Canada's Competition Act: > They prohibit the making, or the permitting of the making, of any materially false or misleading representation, to the public, as to the ordinary selling price of a product, in any form whatever. http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/00522.html#sec01 http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/00...
  - saosebastiao 8y ago
    I lack creativity here, but to me that sounds about as enforceable as banning breathing. I'm curious how they would go about enforcing this.
    - Marsymars 8y ago
      Well, the enforcement mechanisms are codified by law. They extracted a million-dollar penalty and concessions to how prices are displayed from Amazon just last year: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/amazon-competition-bureau-pricing-1.3931132 https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/amazon-competition-bureau-p...
  - westmeal 8y ago
    Hey in the land of the free it's completely A-OK :) This has been done for a while and it's extremely effective.
    - freditup 8y ago
      This is not completely accurate, the FTC has rules against deceptive pricing practices [1]. I'm not sure how often these rules are enforced and what the penalties are though. They specifically give an example where raising a price before a sale is not allowed: > The following is an example of a price comparison based on a fictitious former price. John Doe is a retailer of Brand X fountain pens, which cost him $5 each. His usual markup is 50 percent over cost; that is, his regular retail price is $7.50. In order subsequently to offer an unusual “bargain”, Doe begins offering Brand X at $10 per pen. He realizes that he will be able to sell no, or very few, pens at this inflated price. But he doesn't care, for he maintains that price for only a few days. Then he “cuts” the price to its usual level—$7.50—and advertises: “Terrific Bargain: X Pens, Were $10, Now Only $7.50!” This is obviously a false claim. The advertised “bargain” is not genuine. [1]: https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=f8c45f090a32596673aef12b405c46f6&node=se16.1.233_11 https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=f8c45f090a32596673...
      - westmeal 8y ago
        That's pretty interesting I had no idea. Thanks
  - deleted 8y ago
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  - deleted 8y ago
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  - delecti 8y ago
    I suspect Amazon gets around that by typically having most items "on sale". If an item's MSRP is $100, maybe Amazon normally sells it for $50 and shows it as being "50% off", despite that being the normal price. Then it goes "on sale" on Prime Day for $40, they change that to "60% off". Realistically it's 20% off, not 60% off, but I suspect they'd be clear of regulation against raising the price prior to a sale.
- joveian 8y ago
  Those things are not as accurate as they seem since sellers can apparently opt out of allowing their price to show on the api used (or possibly Amazon does it automatically). It should work for this kind of thing with prices above normal, but I've seen multiple instances (out of not that many times I've looked) where deeper sales are not reflected in the price trackers (and not shown as missing data either).
rando444 8y ago
While I like to hate on Amazon as much as the next person, I think the case could be made that sales tactics like this are common at nearly all major retailers. Either the consumer is savvy and spent the requisite time considering their purchase, or they haven't. Retailers will always attempt to capitalize on this.
- 394549 8y ago
  > Either the consumer is savvy and spent the requisite time considering their purchase, or they haven't. Retailers will always attempt to capitalize on this. And the news media will always try to educate the unsavvy consumers; especially if it's an easy story to tell, like this one. A lot of people, formed their impression of Amazon when it pretty much always offered a good deal (and didn't collect sales tax in the US). Many of them are still coasting on that impression, and shopping exclusively at Amazon in many categories under that outdated assumption. I'm not a natural comparison shopping, so it took me a long time to figure out I can no longer I'm getting a good deal at Amazon anymore. I'm glad the BBC is reminding people to question their outdated decision-making assumptions.
  - xingped 8y ago
    It's not necessarily that "getting a good deal" is the reason that people shop at Amazon. Personally I think their customer service is pretty top-notch compared to most anywhere else and I know I'll be in good hands 99% of the time if I have any problems with a product. That's worth any minuscule price-disadvantage compared to competitors to me.
    - frockington 8y ago
      If you get a fake product they will deny any wrong doing even with photographic evidence of said fake product
      - stordoff 8y ago
        FWIW I've never had this experience, and either way it's a non-issue in the UK, because you can return items for any reason.
fortythirteen 8y ago
You get a $20 wiretap! You get a $20 wiretap! Everybody gets a $20 wiretaaaaaaaaap!
- metalliqaz 8y ago
  Do you carry a smartphone? Just wondering.
  - superkuh 8y ago
    Yep. It's not surprising people fail to apply the same standards for privacy to things they are dependent on but it is sad. And it's not just smartphones but any cell phone. They're all tracking ankle bracelets. But more back on topic, buying everything from one store, as amazon's 'Prime' and business practices are focused on, represents a fairly large privacy risk and centralized liability in and of itself. Better to just buy from wherever has the best price/etc.
- heywire 8y ago
  Hey wiretap, do you have a recipe for pancakes?
- sctb 8y ago
  You've been breaking the guidelines a lot. Please stop doing this or we'll ban the account. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Waterluvian 8y ago
The article is not wrong. But it seems to be pointing out something all sales like this do. Black Friday is full of fake deals that encourage you to act fast. Same with Boxing Day.
ratsmack 8y ago
Amazons 'tactics' are no different than any retailer of consumer goods. You see the deceptive practices applied especially in clothing where items are marketed at inflated prices and then suddenly dropped 50% or more for a 'sale'.
- agumonkey 8y ago
  True, but I believe that so far Amazon has a glow of trust (maybe people think online retailer of that size don't need to resort to tricks). Not sure how long it will shine.
  - Fnoord 8y ago
    I trusted Amazon in this regard that they weren't so stupid that they wouldn't get caught given how much they know about technology (in The Netherlands there's been a pricewatch website on Tweakers which is for tech related comparisons though localised for NL. Its been online for almost two decennia). Turns out, I was wrong.
    - agumonkey 8y ago
      sad isn't it ? ps: when it comes to selling, there's no forbidden strategy unless it's illegal
      - antsar 8y ago
        That's a bit of a tautology, isn't it?
        agumonkey 8y ago
        let me explain, you can always do something, unless you cannot do said thing.
        deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
- 8y ago
AdmiralAsshat 8y ago
I recommend consulting CamelCamelCamel before making any purchases on Amazon today to verify that there wasn't a price hike before the drop. CCC lets you see the pricing history on any of the items on Amazon. It even has a Chrome extension.[1] [0]https://camelcamelcamel.com/ https://camelcamelcamel.com/ [1]https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/the-camelizer/ghnomdcacenbmilgjigehppbamfndblo?utm_source=chrome-ntp-icon https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/the-camelizer/ghno...
- agumonkey 8y ago
  link for the lazy chromist https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/the-camelizer/ghnomdcacenbmilgjigehppbamfndblo?utm_source=chrome-ntp-icon https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/the-camelizer/ghno...
  - augbog 8y ago
    Is this better than honey Chrome extension?
    - agumonkey 8y ago
      just tried it, honey is about coupon/deals while camel is about price charts (my 1min summary)
      - augbog 8y ago
        thanks! will give it a try! honey also has a price chart thing (only shows when you go to an Amazon item specifically and then the Chrome extension injects it in) but I've found it only shows it when there have been recent deals so it's not always useful
        agumonkey 8y ago
        I see, my minute sample wasn't enough to see that
      - 8y ago
runevault 8y ago
I should double check, but last I knew anything you've put on a wish list shows the % change in price since it was added to the list, so if there are specific items you are interested to see if change/you want to grab if they are on sale, worth putting them in a list to track the price shifts relative to when you added.
Nursie 8y ago
AFAICT most of the stuff offered on UK's prime day is pretty crap. I wanted a kindle fire hd 8 anyway, so I've taken advantage of the price drop there. Otherwise the best thing I can find is an SSD that's maybe £10 below market but claims to be reduced by over £150.
- Havoc 8y ago
  >AFAICT most of the stuff offered on UK's prime day is pretty crap. Their office 365 subs are discounted a fair bit (<50 for the 5 PC install one). Plus there is a buy 80 quid voucher get 10 free thing
dawnerd 8y ago
It’s the same thing that’s happened to Steam sales. Start them off really strong then every year after slowly make them not as good but people come back for more anyways.
- mkirklions 8y ago
  Speak for yourself, I got 4 games for 17 dollars, I'm really happy about getting Mount and Blade for 7 dollars. Especially when you compare to anything on the consoles. I think the developers have gotten smarter and wont give 1 year old games 66% off on top of their already lower price. EDIT: Also, prime day has always sucked. Not really comparable.
  - Jach 8y ago
    I think I had to wait 2 years instead of my expected 1 year for some games I wanted to play to come out with all their DLC at a good discounted price. Some games also never go below a certain amount no matter how old they are. The demand for refunds killed the classic Steam sale. They're still good (I got a few games too in the recent one) but feel mediocre to what used to be; they can't do anything fun like they once did like community-voted flash sales where something will be super-duper discounted for an hour while for the rest of the two weeks it'll only be merely super discounted. This last summer sale was a nice improvement though since they added the game giveaways (though I don't know anyone who won one, there weren't that many available). Agree about Prime Day, it was never good. Usually don't buy anything...
    - detaro 8y ago
      > The demand for refunds killed the classic Steam sale. how?
      - Jach 8y ago
        >> they can't do anything fun like they once did like community-voted flash sales where something will be super-duper discounted for an hour while for the rest of the two weeks it'll only be merely super discounted. Flash sales were an important part of the classic deep-discount Steam sale, but it's easy to upset people with them. Put another way, you buy at 60% off, then tomorrow it's 80% off. What do you do? What can you do in some circumstances (e.g. you already started playing for a few hours)? I guess I should clarify that this wasn't the only factor (the increase in alternate distribution and visibility channels is another) but it contributed. A side effect is that because of there being little you could do, wiser gamers would wait until the last day to make sure none of the games they wanted ended up on one of the flash sales, then buy things. Valve makes a lot more money if people are buying throughout the sale -- and they've since added a lot of search, filtering, and discoverability to the platform that flash sales once had a role in that encourage those impulse buys.
downrightmike 8y ago
According to CCC, most of what I want will be on better sale at back to school.
logfromblammo 8y ago
Prime Day? More like Same-As-the-Rest-of-the-Time Day. It has always been a highly-hyped disappointment of a store-wide sale, and this is not news to anyone except people who have never before shopped on Amazon's web store. I have never found anything even close to a good deal on Prime Day, and it has been several years since I even bothered to check prices. You're better off marking a product you might like to buy, checking its price history on another site, and possibly setting an alert to notify you when the price drops below a threshold on a third site. If that alert happens to go off on Prime Day, you got very, very lucky that it somehow managed to be chosen as a loss leader.
- compcoffee 8y ago
  >Prime Day? More like Same-As-the-Rest-of-the-Time Day. It has always been a highly-hyped disappointment of a store-wide sale, and this is not news to anyone except people who have never before shopped on Amazon's web store. The headline is misleading insofar as the real story is that the site is completely broken right now, and people (me) are unable to order anything. Kinda dumb for an infrastructure company.
djhworld 8y ago
> However Amazon said its website was transparent, and consumers could compare price changes over time. Do Amazon provide this service, or are they referring to CamelCamelCamel?
- gonesilent 8y ago
  12 years ago Amazon provided such data. Now a few sites that provide such info.
djhworld 8y ago
I don't really have that much in the pipeline that I need. Whenever I browse these Prime Day "sales" I just end up scrolling through a list of products I don't really intend to buy, nor am that really interested in. Most of it is junk I'd probably use once anyway, and I never buy clothing off Amazon. Amazon have nailed the transaction experience when you know exactly what you want, it's very slick from purchase to delivery. But the 'window shopping' experience is so poor, the interface doesn't seem to have changed that much for years, it's the same layout, the same endless ream of products.
- thirdsun 8y ago
  > Amazon have nailed the transaction experience when you know exactly what you want, it's very slick from purchase to delivery. > But the 'window shopping' experience is so poor, the interface doesn't seem to have changed that much for years, it's the same layout, the same endless ream of products. Exactly my opinion. Even when you need a product from a certain product category and have a general idea of you want, I consider Amazon useless. Research and exploration is just abysmal with Amazon and the amount of subpar products doesn't help at all. I consider it a huge mistake to open the amazon marketplace anything and enyone, including third party sellers. If I that kind of shopping experience I'd browse eBay. From Amazon I expect at least some degree of curation and the intention to sell only decent to exceptional products. Amazon should feature all the advantages of a specialized niche store with the difference that it's able to serve all of those niches.
Bromskloss 8y ago
I feel the title could have been more informative.
duxup 8y ago
Prime Day has always been a couple of publicized deals .... and a lot of garbage. I checked my camelcamelcamel list ... SQUAT that I want on sale.
- mrep 8y ago
  But sometimes you find stuff you might want and if the price is good, try out. I bought a robotic vacuum cleaner on black Friday (practically the same thing) last year for $130 and I consider it one of the best purchases I have ever made. Literally only $50 more than the manual one I bought and it saves me so much time.
  - duxup 8y ago
    I've found Black Friday deals to be far FAR more widespread and higher quality than Prime Day...
ajoy 8y ago
Shopping online is easier if you know exactly what you are buying. But when you are browsing (shoes, glasses, clothes etc), the ideal experience is the ability to filter by a hierarchy of attributes specific to that category. This requires tedious data collection and categorization. Eg. Shoes - there are different kinds of attributes - high level shape, specific stylistic shapes, material, usage, price, brand. This categorization needs to be done cleanly. It can get messy fast. If I start seeing sandals when i searched for leather boots, I will get confused and refuse to trust the results. My theory is that this is why online retailers focussing on certain verticals are able to get some level success vs amazon (Eg. Zappos), largely due to the level of detail available for the browsing experience, even if their prices are higher. Amazon's UX/UI is too generic and sometimes frustrating.
- larzang 8y ago
  Sure, just look at buying parts on Newegg vs Amazon. Newegg has amazing search capabilities tailored to what they're selling, while on Amazon it's a crapshoot whether electronics stuff will even be in the right broadest-level category, so even brand new builders still get pointed to Newegg for their shopping.
  - L1quid 8y ago
    I would much rather deal with Amazon for returns and replacements though. Their customer service is streets ahead of Newegg's.
    - thirdsun 8y ago
      > streets ahead Maybe you used it intentionally but it's mildly fascinating that you subconsciously used a fake expression that a fictional character from a comedy show failed to coin/establish.
trevor-e 8y ago
One thing I find very disingenuous from Amazon is how they promote older products. I was looking to buy a dash cam for my car and settled on a Rexing V1. It was recommended as Amazon's Choice and on sale for $99.99 (from $149.99!). I was just about to complete the purchase when I read the fine print and saw this model was a few years old. Turns out there is another, newer model (Rexing V1 3rd gen) being sold for $139.99. Somehow the older product has a higher price which makes the sale price look like a better deal, and the older product is promoted in the search results. I felt like Amazon tried to trick me into buying their older inventory.
- dmoy 8y ago
  Counterpoint, there are some times where the older model is actually preferred, either due to being just as good and cheaper, or rarely better than the new model. I don't know how their choice algorithm comes up with those labels, but a cheaper older model isn't always a bad deal. Unless the $150 base price is what it normally sells at, and the $50 discount was truly a one time deal... In which case idk what is going on there lol.
  - trevor-e 8y ago
    In fairness to Amazon I'll let you judge for yourself since they still list the prices as 149.99 and 139.99: - Rexing V1: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X528FNE/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X528FNE/ - Rexing V1 3rd gen: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077B25H9K/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077B25H9K/ Half-way down the page there is a comparison with some other Rexing products, but it's not obvious IMO with the price confusion they create. I've seen it "on sale" for at least the last few months.
    - dmoy 8y ago
      Yea I definitely dislike the habit of retailers from showing MSRP as the list price despite the fact that no retailer has sold that product at MSRP for like 3 years. It's no longer a useful comparison for the consumer, and just behaves like a shady anchor point to make it seem like a good deal.

193 points by john58 8y ago

As always, use something like camelcamelcamel to do price history comparisons for you before buying anything on Prime Day or Cyber Monday (or any other time for that matter).

wiradikusuma 8y ago
Shameless plug, but relevant: My startup is a price tracker for ecommerce in SE Asia, particularly Malaysia, and we did a write-up about this "great sale": https://sarahshopper.com/my/what-to-expect-on-singles-day-11-11-from-mycybersale/ https://sarahshopper.com/my/what-to-expect-on-singles-day-11... (TL;DR: just like you said, use a price tracker)
Marsymars 8y ago
Depending on jurisdiction, raising the regular price to create the appearance of a sale price isn't legal. e.g. from Canada's Competition Act: > They prohibit the making, or the permitting of the making, of any materially false or misleading representation, to the public, as to the ordinary selling price of a product, in any form whatever. http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/00522.html#sec01 http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/00...
- saosebastiao 8y ago
  I lack creativity here, but to me that sounds about as enforceable as banning breathing. I'm curious how they would go about enforcing this.
  - Marsymars 8y ago
    Well, the enforcement mechanisms are codified by law. They extracted a million-dollar penalty and concessions to how prices are displayed from Amazon just last year: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/amazon-competition-bureau-pricing-1.3931132 https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/amazon-competition-bureau-p...
- westmeal 8y ago
  Hey in the land of the free it's completely A-OK :) This has been done for a while and it's extremely effective.
  - freditup 8y ago
    This is not completely accurate, the FTC has rules against deceptive pricing practices [1]. I'm not sure how often these rules are enforced and what the penalties are though. They specifically give an example where raising a price before a sale is not allowed: > The following is an example of a price comparison based on a fictitious former price. John Doe is a retailer of Brand X fountain pens, which cost him $5 each. His usual markup is 50 percent over cost; that is, his regular retail price is $7.50. In order subsequently to offer an unusual “bargain”, Doe begins offering Brand X at $10 per pen. He realizes that he will be able to sell no, or very few, pens at this inflated price. But he doesn't care, for he maintains that price for only a few days. Then he “cuts” the price to its usual level—$7.50—and advertises: “Terrific Bargain: X Pens, Were $10, Now Only $7.50!” This is obviously a false claim. The advertised “bargain” is not genuine. [1]: https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=f8c45f090a32596673aef12b405c46f6&node=se16.1.233_11 https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=f8c45f090a32596673...
    - westmeal 8y ago
      That's pretty interesting I had no idea. Thanks
- deleted 8y ago
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- deleted 8y ago
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- delecti 8y ago
  I suspect Amazon gets around that by typically having most items "on sale". If an item's MSRP is $100, maybe Amazon normally sells it for $50 and shows it as being "50% off", despite that being the normal price. Then it goes "on sale" on Prime Day for $40, they change that to "60% off". Realistically it's 20% off, not 60% off, but I suspect they'd be clear of regulation against raising the price prior to a sale.
joveian 8y ago
Those things are not as accurate as they seem since sellers can apparently opt out of allowing their price to show on the api used (or possibly Amazon does it automatically). It should work for this kind of thing with prices above normal, but I've seen multiple instances (out of not that many times I've looked) where deeper sales are not reflected in the price trackers (and not shown as missing data either).

rando444 8y ago

While I like to hate on Amazon as much as the next person, I think the case could be made that sales tactics like this are common at nearly all major retailers. Either the consumer is savvy and spent the requisite time considering their purchase, or they haven't. Retailers will always attempt to capitalize on this.

394549 8y ago
> Either the consumer is savvy and spent the requisite time considering their purchase, or they haven't. Retailers will always attempt to capitalize on this. And the news media will always try to educate the unsavvy consumers; especially if it's an easy story to tell, like this one. A lot of people, formed their impression of Amazon when it pretty much always offered a good deal (and didn't collect sales tax in the US). Many of them are still coasting on that impression, and shopping exclusively at Amazon in many categories under that outdated assumption. I'm not a natural comparison shopping, so it took me a long time to figure out I can no longer I'm getting a good deal at Amazon anymore. I'm glad the BBC is reminding people to question their outdated decision-making assumptions.
- xingped 8y ago
  It's not necessarily that "getting a good deal" is the reason that people shop at Amazon. Personally I think their customer service is pretty top-notch compared to most anywhere else and I know I'll be in good hands 99% of the time if I have any problems with a product. That's worth any minuscule price-disadvantage compared to competitors to me.
  - frockington 8y ago
    If you get a fake product they will deny any wrong doing even with photographic evidence of said fake product
    - stordoff 8y ago
      FWIW I've never had this experience, and either way it's a non-issue in the UK, because you can return items for any reason.

fortythirteen 8y ago

You get a $20 wiretap! You get a $20 wiretap! Everybody gets a $20 wiretaaaaaaaaap!

metalliqaz 8y ago
Do you carry a smartphone? Just wondering.
- superkuh 8y ago
  Yep. It's not surprising people fail to apply the same standards for privacy to things they are dependent on but it is sad. And it's not just smartphones but any cell phone. They're all tracking ankle bracelets. But more back on topic, buying everything from one store, as amazon's 'Prime' and business practices are focused on, represents a fairly large privacy risk and centralized liability in and of itself. Better to just buy from wherever has the best price/etc.
heywire 8y ago
Hey wiretap, do you have a recipe for pancakes?
sctb 8y ago
You've been breaking the guidelines a lot. Please stop doing this or we'll ban the account. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Waterluvian 8y ago

The article is not wrong. But it seems to be pointing out something all sales like this do. Black Friday is full of fake deals that encourage you to act fast. Same with Boxing Day.

ratsmack 8y ago

Amazons 'tactics' are no different than any retailer of consumer goods. You see the deceptive practices applied especially in clothing where items are marketed at inflated prices and then suddenly dropped 50% or more for a 'sale'.

agumonkey 8y ago
True, but I believe that so far Amazon has a glow of trust (maybe people think online retailer of that size don't need to resort to tricks). Not sure how long it will shine.
- Fnoord 8y ago
  I trusted Amazon in this regard that they weren't so stupid that they wouldn't get caught given how much they know about technology (in The Netherlands there's been a pricewatch website on Tweakers which is for tech related comparisons though localised for NL. Its been online for almost two decennia). Turns out, I was wrong.
  - agumonkey 8y ago
    sad isn't it ? ps: when it comes to selling, there's no forbidden strategy unless it's illegal
    - antsar 8y ago
      That's a bit of a tautology, isn't it?
      - agumonkey 8y ago
        let me explain, you can always do something, unless you cannot do said thing.
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
8y ago

AdmiralAsshat 8y ago

I recommend consulting CamelCamelCamel before making any purchases on Amazon today to verify that there wasn't a price hike before the drop. CCC lets you see the pricing history on any of the items on Amazon. It even has a Chrome extension.[1] [0]https://camelcamelcamel.com/ https://camelcamelcamel.com/ [1]https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/the-camelizer/ghnomdcacenbmilgjigehppbamfndblo?utm_source=chrome-ntp-icon https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/the-camelizer/ghno...

agumonkey 8y ago
link for the lazy chromist https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/the-camelizer/ghnomdcacenbmilgjigehppbamfndblo?utm_source=chrome-ntp-icon https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/the-camelizer/ghno...
- augbog 8y ago
  Is this better than honey Chrome extension?
  - agumonkey 8y ago
    just tried it, honey is about coupon/deals while camel is about price charts (my 1min summary)
    - augbog 8y ago
      thanks! will give it a try! honey also has a price chart thing (only shows when you go to an Amazon item specifically and then the Chrome extension injects it in) but I've found it only shows it when there have been recent deals so it's not always useful
      - agumonkey 8y ago
        I see, my minute sample wasn't enough to see that
    - 8y ago

runevault 8y ago

I should double check, but last I knew anything you've put on a wish list shows the % change in price since it was added to the list, so if there are specific items you are interested to see if change/you want to grab if they are on sale, worth putting them in a list to track the price shifts relative to when you added.

Nursie 8y ago

AFAICT most of the stuff offered on UK's prime day is pretty crap. I wanted a kindle fire hd 8 anyway, so I've taken advantage of the price drop there. Otherwise the best thing I can find is an SSD that's maybe £10 below market but claims to be reduced by over £150.

Havoc 8y ago
>AFAICT most of the stuff offered on UK's prime day is pretty crap. Their office 365 subs are discounted a fair bit (<50 for the 5 PC install one). Plus there is a buy 80 quid voucher get 10 free thing

dawnerd 8y ago

It’s the same thing that’s happened to Steam sales. Start them off really strong then every year after slowly make them not as good but people come back for more anyways.

mkirklions 8y ago
Speak for yourself, I got 4 games for 17 dollars, I'm really happy about getting Mount and Blade for 7 dollars. Especially when you compare to anything on the consoles. I think the developers have gotten smarter and wont give 1 year old games 66% off on top of their already lower price. EDIT: Also, prime day has always sucked. Not really comparable.
- Jach 8y ago
  I think I had to wait 2 years instead of my expected 1 year for some games I wanted to play to come out with all their DLC at a good discounted price. Some games also never go below a certain amount no matter how old they are. The demand for refunds killed the classic Steam sale. They're still good (I got a few games too in the recent one) but feel mediocre to what used to be; they can't do anything fun like they once did like community-voted flash sales where something will be super-duper discounted for an hour while for the rest of the two weeks it'll only be merely super discounted. This last summer sale was a nice improvement though since they added the game giveaways (though I don't know anyone who won one, there weren't that many available). Agree about Prime Day, it was never good. Usually don't buy anything...
  - detaro 8y ago
    > The demand for refunds killed the classic Steam sale. how?
    - Jach 8y ago
      >> they can't do anything fun like they once did like community-voted flash sales where something will be super-duper discounted for an hour while for the rest of the two weeks it'll only be merely super discounted. Flash sales were an important part of the classic deep-discount Steam sale, but it's easy to upset people with them. Put another way, you buy at 60% off, then tomorrow it's 80% off. What do you do? What can you do in some circumstances (e.g. you already started playing for a few hours)? I guess I should clarify that this wasn't the only factor (the increase in alternate distribution and visibility channels is another) but it contributed. A side effect is that because of there being little you could do, wiser gamers would wait until the last day to make sure none of the games they wanted ended up on one of the flash sales, then buy things. Valve makes a lot more money if people are buying throughout the sale -- and they've since added a lot of search, filtering, and discoverability to the platform that flash sales once had a role in that encourage those impulse buys.

downrightmike 8y ago

According to CCC, most of what I want will be on better sale at back to school.

logfromblammo 8y ago

Prime Day? More like Same-As-the-Rest-of-the-Time Day. It has always been a highly-hyped disappointment of a store-wide sale, and this is not news to anyone except people who have never before shopped on Amazon's web store. I have never found anything even close to a good deal on Prime Day, and it has been several years since I even bothered to check prices. You're better off marking a product you might like to buy, checking its price history on another site, and possibly setting an alert to notify you when the price drops below a threshold on a third site. If that alert happens to go off on Prime Day, you got very, very lucky that it somehow managed to be chosen as a loss leader.

compcoffee 8y ago
>Prime Day? More like Same-As-the-Rest-of-the-Time Day. It has always been a highly-hyped disappointment of a store-wide sale, and this is not news to anyone except people who have never before shopped on Amazon's web store. The headline is misleading insofar as the real story is that the site is completely broken right now, and people (me) are unable to order anything. Kinda dumb for an infrastructure company.

djhworld 8y ago

> However Amazon said its website was transparent, and consumers could compare price changes over time. Do Amazon provide this service, or are they referring to CamelCamelCamel?

gonesilent 8y ago
12 years ago Amazon provided such data. Now a few sites that provide such info.

djhworld 8y ago

I don't really have that much in the pipeline that I need. Whenever I browse these Prime Day "sales" I just end up scrolling through a list of products I don't really intend to buy, nor am that really interested in. Most of it is junk I'd probably use once anyway, and I never buy clothing off Amazon. Amazon have nailed the transaction experience when you know exactly what you want, it's very slick from purchase to delivery. But the 'window shopping' experience is so poor, the interface doesn't seem to have changed that much for years, it's the same layout, the same endless ream of products.

thirdsun 8y ago
> Amazon have nailed the transaction experience when you know exactly what you want, it's very slick from purchase to delivery. > But the 'window shopping' experience is so poor, the interface doesn't seem to have changed that much for years, it's the same layout, the same endless ream of products. Exactly my opinion. Even when you need a product from a certain product category and have a general idea of you want, I consider Amazon useless. Research and exploration is just abysmal with Amazon and the amount of subpar products doesn't help at all. I consider it a huge mistake to open the amazon marketplace anything and enyone, including third party sellers. If I that kind of shopping experience I'd browse eBay. From Amazon I expect at least some degree of curation and the intention to sell only decent to exceptional products. Amazon should feature all the advantages of a specialized niche store with the difference that it's able to serve all of those niches.

Bromskloss 8y ago

I feel the title could have been more informative.

duxup 8y ago

Prime Day has always been a couple of publicized deals .... and a lot of garbage. I checked my camelcamelcamel list ... SQUAT that I want on sale.

mrep 8y ago
But sometimes you find stuff you might want and if the price is good, try out. I bought a robotic vacuum cleaner on black Friday (practically the same thing) last year for $130 and I consider it one of the best purchases I have ever made. Literally only $50 more than the manual one I bought and it saves me so much time.
- duxup 8y ago
  I've found Black Friday deals to be far FAR more widespread and higher quality than Prime Day...

ajoy 8y ago

Shopping online is easier if you know exactly what you are buying. But when you are browsing (shoes, glasses, clothes etc), the ideal experience is the ability to filter by a hierarchy of attributes specific to that category. This requires tedious data collection and categorization. Eg. Shoes - there are different kinds of attributes - high level shape, specific stylistic shapes, material, usage, price, brand. This categorization needs to be done cleanly. It can get messy fast. If I start seeing sandals when i searched for leather boots, I will get confused and refuse to trust the results. My theory is that this is why online retailers focussing on certain verticals are able to get some level success vs amazon (Eg. Zappos), largely due to the level of detail available for the browsing experience, even if their prices are higher. Amazon's UX/UI is too generic and sometimes frustrating.

larzang 8y ago
Sure, just look at buying parts on Newegg vs Amazon. Newegg has amazing search capabilities tailored to what they're selling, while on Amazon it's a crapshoot whether electronics stuff will even be in the right broadest-level category, so even brand new builders still get pointed to Newegg for their shopping.
- L1quid 8y ago
  I would much rather deal with Amazon for returns and replacements though. Their customer service is streets ahead of Newegg's.
  - thirdsun 8y ago
    > streets ahead Maybe you used it intentionally but it's mildly fascinating that you subconsciously used a fake expression that a fictional character from a comedy show failed to coin/establish.

trevor-e 8y ago

One thing I find very disingenuous from Amazon is how they promote older products. I was looking to buy a dash cam for my car and settled on a Rexing V1. It was recommended as Amazon's Choice and on sale for $99.99 (from $149.99!). I was just about to complete the purchase when I read the fine print and saw this model was a few years old. Turns out there is another, newer model (Rexing V1 3rd gen) being sold for $139.99. Somehow the older product has a higher price which makes the sale price look like a better deal, and the older product is promoted in the search results. I felt like Amazon tried to trick me into buying their older inventory.

dmoy 8y ago
Counterpoint, there are some times where the older model is actually preferred, either due to being just as good and cheaper, or rarely better than the new model. I don't know how their choice algorithm comes up with those labels, but a cheaper older model isn't always a bad deal. Unless the $150 base price is what it normally sells at, and the $50 discount was truly a one time deal... In which case idk what is going on there lol.
- trevor-e 8y ago
  In fairness to Amazon I'll let you judge for yourself since they still list the prices as 149.99 and 139.99: - Rexing V1: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X528FNE/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X528FNE/ - Rexing V1 3rd gen: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077B25H9K/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077B25H9K/ Half-way down the page there is a comparison with some other Rexing products, but it's not obvious IMO with the price confusion they create. I've seen it "on sale" for at least the last few months.
  - dmoy 8y ago
    Yea I definitely dislike the habit of retailers from showing MSRP as the list price despite the fact that no retailer has sold that product at MSRP for like 3 years. It's no longer a useful comparison for the consumer, and just behaves like a shady anchor point to make it seem like a good deal.