Beware: Amazon Ups Prices from Cart to Checkout!

[Turk]

I went to Amazon to buy a couple cell phone batteries last night.

Wife's phone battery was $8.99. I put "1" in the "Cart".

Look around for my cell phone battery, did not find it then looked for something else.

Went to "Checkout" and the price went up to $10.99.

HUH?? I went to Help, then "Chat" with a Rep.

Amazon: "I'm unable to change the price for your item."

Me: Wait, No store changes the price on an item once I put it in a cart and go to checkout, how can Amazon??

Amazon: "We do consistently work toward maintaining competitive prices on everything we carry. Because the marketplace is constantly changing and we strive to offer the lowest price, you'll see some fluctuations in our prices over time.

Me: I thought Amazon was fantastic on Customer Service? This is terrible!! NO store does this!!

Amazon: "I can understand the inconvenience this has caused."

Amazon Supervisor: "The shopping cart will only reflect the current price. Adding an item to your Cart doesn't lock in the price of that item.

Me: NO place does this. How would you like to go to buy a pound of coffee marked $8.99, the clerk grabs the coffee out of your cart and changes the price to $10.99 right in front of you??
PLEASE, change the price or credit me $2.00.

Amazon Supervisor: I'm sorry but I wouldn't be able to do that.

Me: That's deceptive. You have just lost a good Customer. Bye.

I copied & pasted all of the conversation text into Word to keep.

 

[01rangerxl]

Wow, that is sleazy.

I have seen them up the price when I shop around, but don't add something to the cart. I have got around that in the past by clearing cookies and searching for what I want to buy on Google. That would get the lowest price out of Amazon.

IMO adding something to the cart is a clear intention to buy, and the price should get locked in at that point.

 

[Kruse]

If a brick and mortar store would do that, the news media would be all over them. I remember several years ago Amazon got caught charging prices that varied by the zip code. The "rich" zip codes got charged more than the "poor" zip codes. They did this by the cookies that were stored on the buyer's computer. I remember that they said it was just a test and that they'd never do it again. I wonder if any news media outlets would care about your experience. Probably not. I don't think they really care any more.

 

[greenjp]

This happens in reverse as well, so don't get your knickers in a twist. It may benefit you some time.

 

[Mr Nice]

I noticed that about 2 years ago on a music CD. I also notice if you add stuff to your Amazon cart and come back a few days later... some items have gone up in price.

I just cleared the cookies, re-added it back to my cart and checked out.

 

[Hermann]

Many times I put stuff in my cart that I am thinking of purchasing. Then a few hours to a few days later the price will many times go down. Sometimes the price goes up. Recently needed a mixer for cakes ect. Put a $39.99 mixer in my cart. A few weeks later it went down to $29.99 and I jumped on it. Yes it does help to clear your cookies to get their best price. Especially if you have bought the item before. IMO their pricing has a lot to do with their stock level and what they have coming in. As with buying anything anywhere "caveat emptor".

 

[bullwinkle]

Had the same thing happen, usually the price goes down, but not always. I've bought a fair amount of Mercedes parts from Autohaus AZ in the past, and once I had a vacuum pump in my cart-when I came back to buy it their regular price had gone up by $80 or so-but they still sold it to me at the old price. IMO you just had bad timing, the price went up in the middle of the transaction, I would have just canceled it & tried again later or somewhere else.

 

[JHZR2]

I've seen situations where an item I'm considering buying has changed, but usually it's over a day or two. We buy some stuff by subscribe and save, and the price does fluctuate from month to month.

 

[Donald]

Amazon is moving prices by time of day/day of week. It was documented in a report on NPR. This was before Christmas. It was suggested to go to decide.com to see when the best time of day was to buy something. I have not tried that site.

I am sure many "carts" on Amazon never go to checkout. I doubt if they update inventory unless you go to checkout also. I leave stuff in the cart for days or maybe weeks.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Yes, Amazon's pricing is constantly in flux. I've had things go up and down a little but I still haven't found a concrete reason why it changes when it does. The four Monroe Quick-struts I bought each went up about $10 each when I added them to my cart and no amount of cookie-clearing, logging out then back in, etc. changed it. I waited for almost a week and the prices never went back down but they may have eventually.

On the other hand, I had something in my cart for a few days and got a message saying the price went down. So it goes both ways.

I wouldn't make a big deal about $2, personally.

 

[VicVinegar]

Yeah, supposedly their pricing is dynamic and can change at any time. Sometimes this is good, because (especially around Christmas time) price match any other major website's pricing for a "deal of the day" type of thing.

If you had it in your cart within the last hour or so and just hadn't checked out yet, I am surprised Amazon didn't take care of you. They've always been good for me on customer service.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Turk
Me: Wait, No store changes the price on an item once I put it in a cart and go to checkout, how can Amazon??

Not true. You could keep stuff in your cart and not buy it for days or even weeks. It does not mean the retailer is obliged to honor that price if in the meantime the sale ended.

You just got unfortunate as the price happened to increase when you were shopping. But as the other poster mentioned, it could have gone the other way, too.

Sucks though.

 

[ClutchDisc]

Originally Posted By: Turk
You have just lost a good Customer. Bye.
Over two dollars? Your loss not theirs. The price changing is perfectly normal. Like others said, it could have gone the other way.

 

[eljefino]

If you like it you've got to jump. One time I used "porn mode" (no /new cookies) and got free shipping, worth about $45, on a push lawnmower.

I think the price moved in the minute between pick and checkout. Was this amazon amazon or a 3rd party vendor? Sometimes if they run out of stock from vendor A they bump you nearly seamlessly to vendor B with a higher price.

 

[tenderloin]

I had a price change happen once, but it was my fault. LOL While I was looking at pricing from the various vendors (including Amazon) that were selling an item, I mistakenly added the item to cart from a vendor with a higher price as well as being charged for shipping.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Was this amazon amazon or a 3rd party vendor? Sometimes if they run out of stock from vendor A they bump you nearly seamlessly to vendor B with a higher price.

Very good point.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: greenjp
This happens in reverse as well, so don't get your knickers in a twist. It may benefit you some time.
I just saved 40 bucks on a LCD TV from them because of theor lowering the price and they also have a policy of LOWERING the price of a TV for 14 days after the sale if their price drops. They REFUND the money.

 

[97tbird]

I did have this happen to me on Amazon, but the price was LESS than what it was in the cart (item was in the cart for about 1 hr, I think)

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: Bottom_Feeder
Yes, Amazon's pricing is constantly in flux. I've had things go up and down a little but I still haven't found a concrete reason why it changes when it does. The four Monroe Quick-struts I bought each went up about $10 each when I added them to my cart and no amount of cookie-clearing, logging out then back in, etc. changed it. I waited for almost a week and the prices never went back down but they may have eventually.

On the other hand, I had something in my cart for a few days and got a message saying the price went down. So it goes both ways.

I wouldn't make a big deal about $2, personally.


You will not figure it out. Too complex. With computer power and storage cheap, companies use their computers to adjust prices based upon many variables, one of which is their inventory which you will not know. And I am sure its based upon season also. And next Christmas they will have tweaked the algorithms some so it will be different than this year.

 

[FoxS]

Originally Posted By: ClutchDisc
Originally Posted By: Turk
You have just lost a good Customer. Bye.
Over two dollars? Your loss not theirs. The price changing is perfectly normal. Like others said, it could have gone the other way.


+1

And there are usually multiple sellers for items so it often isn't the end of the world when the price goes up by $2.

Wait, are we talking about $2? Geez