Does anyone understand how Amazon works?

[Alex Zeller]

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.

[Bill Dufour]

I know on ebay I will add stuff to my watchlist. Often in a few days the seller will offer me 5-15% discount.
Standard retail markup is 100%. so for a $600 item amazon probably pays $300 wholesale delivered to their warehouse.
Jewelry stores run 400% markup so they offer payment plans. The 25% down payment covers the cost of the item and any payments after that are profit. At worst they break even if no more payments get made.
Bill D

[Bill Dufour]

What I do not understand is Amazons search engine. I have to use goggle to find stuff, Even cut and paste the items name, from google search result sold at amazon, into amazon often fails to find it. If I am looking for metal and put in "-aluminum" half the results are made of aluminum.
Bill D,

[Bert McMahan]

What I do not understand is Amazons search engine. I have to use goggle to find stuff, Even cut and paste the items name, from google search result sold at amazon, into amazon often fails to find it. If I am looking for metal and put in "-aluminum" half the results are made of aluminum.
Bill D,

It's not broken. Their search just doesn't do what you think it does. You'd think their search box would show you what you want to see, but it actually shows you what Amazon wants you to see, and it depends on who paid the most for the top spot.

Some reading:

https://doctorow.medium.com/how-mono...n-83f42a585c3c

(Apologies for the language.)

[Kent A Bathurst]

Yes - someone does know how Amazon works - Amazon does. And they ain't about to tell us proles.

[Rich Engelhardt]

With Amazon - you need to check the prices of items you want on a constant basis.
If anyone has had any luck with any app that will let you know about prices changes - I'm all ears!

The latest for me is - Jessem Router Lift II for $219. Everywhere else, it runs $239 to $269. Just the other day, Amazon had it listed at $269. Today it's $219 & mine!

[John M Wilson]

If anyone has had any luck with any app that will let you know about prices changes - I'm all ears!

I use camelcamelcamel.com - When I see something I'm interested in but don't need immediately, I look at their price history, decide on a price I'm willing to pay, and set a watch.

It may take a while on some items, but especially for those things that fluctuate a lot, it can save you real money! (and make you feel like you got a real bargain!)

I know there are other price watching tools out there, but I've used the 3 camels for many, many years, and I'm quite happy with it.

[Alex Zeller]

The only thing I could think of is Amazon must use AI to decide when you are close to buying and then if it feels you need a little extra tempting it drops the price to try and set the hook. But I did search CamelCamelCamel and it does show the drop. So maybe the price was for anyone who happened to do a search when I did. It would be nice to know when it happens. I've had it happen before when I was looking to buy speakers for a HDTV but didn't pull the trigger. Amazon said the trainer would show up on Monday (Saturday if I was a prime member) but it came today. Brand new in the box.

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[andrew whicker]

I haven't googled around, but I always assumed it was too difficult for Amazon to go out of their way to slow down a shipment (non member) vs a member. I would assume logistically, it's a lot easier to have your shipping and fulfillment division working as quickly as possible vs trying to sort thru a ranking system.

But that's just my guess. I have no idea.

As a member, I've learned to take the delivery day w/ a grain of salt. Mostly they deliver on time, but sometimes they don't.

[Keegan Shields]

As I understand it, Amazon is a market place with four different types of vendors.

1. Amazon sells items it buys from another company, and ships from its warehouse. Similar to Walmart without the store.

2. Amazon sells an item it manufacturers through a contract manufacturer. Think Amazon Basics AA batteries.

3. A third party vendor pays Amazon to list their product on Amazon, and also pays Amazon to hold the item in an Amazon warehouse. Amazon then fills the order when you buy from that vendor through Amazon.

4. A third party vendor pays Amazon to list their item on Amazon, but the third party handles the storage and shipping when you make a purchase from the vendor on Amazon.

So depending on the scenario, your price may vary. For instance, a third party vendor has one Jessem router lift left and want to get rid of it. They lower the price to clear the SKU and you get a nice deal

[Alex Zeller]

I haven't googled around, but I always assumed it was too difficult for Amazon to go out of their way to slow down a shipment (non member) vs a member. I would assume logistically, it's a lot easier to have your shipping and fulfillment division working as quickly as possible vs trying to sort thru a ranking system.

But that's just my guess. I have no idea.

As a member, I've learned to take the delivery day w/ a grain of salt. Mostly they deliver on time, but sometimes they don't.

It's not difficult at all. Just part of a computer program. The warehouse will not pull an item without the computer telling it to do so. What Amazon's computer does is wait until a specified day based on when they said it would be delivered. They don't even hide it as once the order is given to the warehouse an email is sent out saying it's about to ship. It's only for items that are fulfilled by Amazon. Companies that sell on Amazon and do their own shipping usually will send items out within 24 hours. I get it. By making people who are not members wait they are more likely to pay to be prime members.

Speaking of Amazon. I got an email from them asking if I wanted to be a part of Vine. Vine is basically reviewing new items (with less than 30 reviews). You are sent the item free of charge and it's yours to keep (you just have to pay income taxes). You then review it. Not being a prime member it kind of surprised me. I still don't know how it works yet. Is there a list of items that need reviewing that I pick from? Do they just send me stuff based on my purchase history? I suspect I'll know more in a few days.

[Anthony Whitesell]

What I do not understand is Amazons search engine. I have to use goggle to find stuff, Even cut and paste the items name, from google search result sold at amazon, into amazon often fails to find it. If I am looking for metal and put in "-aluminum" half the results are made of aluminum.
Bill D,

This is the largest ditto in the history of dittos.

Go on Amazon, enter some keywords and get a bunch of stuff absolutely and totally unrelated. Why does plastic rivet kit appear when searching for "8mm flange head bolt"? Not exactly interchangeable.

Then find an item that actually does have all your keywords and is exactly what you are looking for, but curious to see if anyone has it cheaper. So you change the search from Relevent to Price low-to-high. Now the item, that contained all your search words and is exactly what you are looking for is...gone. Doesn't appear. Gone. Flip the sort back to relevent and POOF! it returns. I'm sorry but WTF!!! I am involved with programming for a living and this is not that complicated a concept.

P.S. I don't think the -xxxx works anymore more to exclude items that contain xxxx. But then again based on regular searches that don't work it doesn't surprise that also does not work.