this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2024
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Amazon's pricing I not deterministic. You were likely tracked and information collected to know this was a key item for you. Amazon will market loss leaders to you in an attempt to get you to default to buying on Amazon.
As a former Buyer for a chain of retail stores, the loss leader is effective marketing. I sell you a popular item at or below my typical cost because statistically, a large percentage of customers are making a special trip to my store to buy that product and will make additional purchases at margin. On the wholesale Buying side, these are tools to get past bulk buying tier discounts for seasonal ordering with smaller scale retail.
Amazon is using a convoluted front end system of overlapping product categories and a supposed multi seller listings (despite collectivized logistics and warehousing) on the website you see. This is how they perform price fixing where you do not see honest or straight forward determinism. When you repurchase that same item later without making comparisons, the seller will shuffle so that a higher price is presented.
If you have a well isolated network where device history for social media and internet browsing is totally partitioned from e-commerce you'll likely see even more of the scam. If you see anyone online show the search results and pricing on Amazon, then try to replicate those search results and product price on a device that is totally partitioned from your viewing of the item/price elsewhere, you're likely to find it is not possible. If you then go back to the original device and do the same, you'll magically find the same product and lower price. It is a scam market. This is why they are collecting and paying for all that data about you. We are in an age when automated individual targeting and manipulation is possible and happening. This is why data mining stalkerware is insidious. Scam markets are only the tip of the iceberg and what can be uncovered if you go looking for it. Anyone that has done database or logistics management should have major red flags flying when looking at how Amazon's website is setup. The front end is absolutely untenable garbage for effective logistics. The only reason it is convoluted and search results are terrible is because it is a price fixing scam. The logistical efficiency proves that there is no connection between the front and back end of the site.
How much does it say these beans cost?
How does CamelCamelCamel display a price history if the price is different for everyone? Perhaps it’s inaccurate for some (Just hasn’t been for me the handful of times I’ve “had“ to use Amazon.)
And Amazon doesn’t price discriminate if they put something on a nationwide sale? So the bloggers can advertise that AirPods are at their lowest price ever?
reporting on their bad biz practices
They definitely get accused of other unsavory stuff:
Amazon “tricks” customers into buying Fire TVs with false sales prices: Lawsuit
Thanks for this. I’ve only used Amazon a few times and was always baffled at the train wreck of its chaotic layout / ux. I had to buy something there once and it was such a process it was like being asked to leave the store before paying. Thought at the time it must be down to legacy and new features being showhorned around ancient web1.0 history, its success being its burden with customers having to learn how to use the thing. Price fixing scam is what I will think of it now, while continuing to avoid it.
Maybe it's stockholm syndrome or something, but I find it absolutely fine. My general rule of thumb is to look past the first page of results, since that's where a lot of the sponsored listings are, and then look at several listings before deciding. As long as you're aware that the first page or so of results are generally sponsored (i.e. ads), it's not too hard to find a decent product. And since it's online, it's pretty easy to compare w/ other retailers (I'll often look at eBay, Newegg, and a couple others depending on the type of product before pulling the trigger).
That said, I'm definitely not your typical consumer (I rarely buy things on impulse), so it's hard for me to understand the impact of their "price fixing" nonsense.
Nah, the layout is absolutely horrible. Especially when you check a box in the filters and other options disappear because Jeff forbid you want to look for motherboards by Asus, Gigabyte, and Asrock but ignore other brands.
Are you talking about the immediate refresh thing? Because yes, that is frustrating.
I don't know if it happens in browser but sometimes on their app other options disappear if you choose one from the filter.
If I start looking for shoes, and check Adidas under brands filter then the page refreshes and I don't see any other brands' names.
no it's absolutely horrid. HOWEVER in your defense, so are like 95% of all websites, ever made, it's not a unique problem.
Yup, the modern web kinda sucks. But once you learn to navigate it, it's usable. Mostly.
yeah, i was thinking the other day, about how much money we've spent developing the technology to put a floating window over a web page, just so it can display you an ad.
Aside from that web browsers are starting to become a secondary operating system, and i hate it, it's stupid.
Yeh people learn and it becomes normal which is fine. Ebay is as bizarre to me. Not hate, more a morbid fascination that things so maze-like to navigate can also be successful. Could be semi cultural as well. I’ve noticed this being the way in other US platforms with a similar legacy. I’ve also being (attempting to) subvert tracking for quite a while so maybe that's working and its less useful as a result lol. I’m lucky in a sense that their corporation isn't so strong where I live so theres more choice (ironically I may actually have less choice). Its annoying when they have the monopoly on a given product, but it’s also possible just to go without the shiny thing.
Yeah, it's a bit odd, but again, once you get used to it, it's fine. My general rules of thumb:
I do that each time, and I haven't had any problems so far.
oh so basically the entire shitpost about walmart or whatever it was having "dynamic pricing" is literally already real...
ok.
I noticed this on Walmarts website when asking chat GPT to find items for me. I was wondering why it was happening. Some of the price differences were extreme too.
Did 39 people really believe this enough to upvote this? This is easily proven false. Amazon is convoluted because it's old as heck and they hire subpar engineers. Like me. I used to work on the team that made the search page. It sucks because most of us were fresh out of college and had never made a website in our lives.
You've never done ecommerce logistics. You do not get Amazon's efficiency from such a garbage system, or the worlds richest man. I have no doubt there are dubious practices to give plausible deniability. The thing is too large and too successful for this to be the big picture. The collectivized warehousing invalidates the front end system and mechanics entirely.
I literally have. Go climb up a tree.
you mean it gives huge discounts to random people because of an error? i would think amazon would want to fix that ASAP
Great post. Thank you for this insight!