I've been thinking about getting a resistance trainer to turn mike bicycle into an indoor stationary bike. The weather is just to inconsistent to ride on a regular basis. On Friday I got a letter from my health insurance company saying I have $600 I can spend towards health care related stuff (including movie tickets). I had to wait until Monday to call and verify the trainer would be covered so I spent the weekend looking and different models. One of the ones I was looking at is on sale though the 4th. I was going to buy it directly from the company ($599 with free shipping) but they charge tax so I decided to buy it from a local REI that had it in stock. I don't mind state sales taxes but normally refuse to buy from towns near here that add a local sales tax since I don't live in them. When I got the order confirmation it said it would be ready to pick up in two weeks so I cancelled it.

Over the couple of days of researching I had looked on Amazon, they had it for the same price ($599) but I'm not a Prime member. Amazon has a trick that they add in shipping unless you opt to have it shipped free. If you aren't a Prime member they delay shipping it out until a couple days before the date they say it'll show up. Just after I cancelled the order from REI I did a search so I could go back to the mfgs website to order it. That's when Google showed Amazon had it now for ($430.25). So I ordered it from them. They say it's new (not refurbished) both sold and shipped from Amazon. It wasn't Woot. Today it's back up to $599.

If it was an attempt to get me to try Prime it wasn't a very good one. With Prime I would have it by Saturday with free shipping vs without Prime I'll have it on Monday. I have seen this before when shopping for other stuff but I've never actually had it happen when I was about to buy. Does anyone know why Amazon does this? I was thinking that the one I bought was about to be replaced with a newer version but with the price going back up today although still on sale for $200 off from the mfg. Is it an attempt to get be to buy? $170 off a $600 item seems like a big discount. I doubt Amazon made a profit. I should have opened a different internet browser or used a different computer to see if the price was only lowered just for me or if it was a spot sale that I just happened to get the timing right.