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Christmas

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Original poster

Anyone noticed this with Amazon....

28 replies

WinkyWinkola · 03/12/2009 22:46

Or is it just me...

You find a product and put it in your basket. You continue shopping.

You go back to your basket, find that the product has been put into your Saved Items--to buy later section of your basket but that the price has suddenly gone up.

I had a lego product that has gone up by ten pounds to 25 pounds since putting it in my basket. Everywhere else, it's the same price - fifteen pounds.

OP posts:

tiredfeet · 03/12/2009 22:48

I was reading about this the other week. Apparently they save information about you and then change the prices to target different visitors. So if they know you're intersted in a book / type of book etc the price goes up or you don't get the special offers. I think its shocking!

Original poster

WinkyWinkola · 03/12/2009 22:49

Really? I don't think I'll shop at Amazon any more. It kept happening to me and it's so frustrating not to mention a rip off.

OP posts:

nevergoogledragonbutter · 03/12/2009 22:50

ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave · 03/12/2009 22:51

My prices tend to go down...

llareggub · 03/12/2009 22:52

I keep a lot of items in my basket and the prices have gone down as well as up.

Sputnik · 03/12/2009 22:52

I think when the item gets moved into your saved for later list it is because it's no longer available from the same seller. Another seller will be offering a different price.

iheartdusty · 03/12/2009 22:53

but I find that prices on my 'saved' items go down as well as up sometimes.

I assumed it was just stock flows.

ReneRusso · 03/12/2009 22:53

That is shocking. Will have to watch for that. But I think when I look at my basket there is usually a big notice to warn if a price of any of the items has gone up or down.

MollieO · 03/12/2009 22:55

Boden do similar with their offers. I get better offers emailed to my work email address (which I've never used to purchase anything) than I do to my home email address.

I tend to look at other sites, work out what I want to pay and then check Amazon. They had go go hamsters the other day for nearly £50 each!

tiredfeet · 03/12/2009 22:56

Its not just stuff in your basket, its if, for instance, you search for books on a particular topic. then if you go back another time, you won't be shown the offers for books on that topic which other people might see. I've been studying on my masters course, its really shocking but they're not the only online company doing things like that. Its because they can store so much information about you, they can track every search you do and link you click on and tailor what you see accordingly. I was totally shocked when I read about it .

shonaspurtle · 03/12/2009 22:59

To be fair to them, I've often had prices of things in my basket go down. I don't think it's a conspiracy tbh.

Original poster

WinkyWinkola · 03/12/2009 23:01

But it happens to me seconds after I've put a product in my basket and the price changes by ten pounds? That's not right, surely?

I've had bulletins about things going up and down in price but it's a matter of pence, not ten pounds.

OP posts:

bruffin · 03/12/2009 23:05

i can't see it working like that as I was buying an iron the other day and it was very cheap, left it two days and the price had gone up to normal price, it was the same price if I logged in as me or DH.
I found another one on Amazon at very good price and bought it that day, a few days later that had gone up again.

tiredfeet · 03/12/2009 23:36

they store cookies on your computer, which tracks your searches, so it wouldn't matter whether you or dh logged in if you were both logging in from same computer. I was when I was told this, but it makes sense really I guess, at the end of the day they're a business...

will probably still buy from there though as its so convenient!

madwomanintheattic · 03/12/2009 23:47

lol. mine go up and down (sometimes both lol as i have stuff there for weeks or even months) and i always always always look for the same sort of stuff as i buy uni books online. it's normally only by a few pence either way though - it makes me laugh that i log in after a few days and get a whole 'the following items have changed price since you added them to your basket' message - ooooo, it's gone up 12p! or down 30p! none of it really changes my mind - if i want to buy it, i will.

i've never had anything go up by more than a pound... i usually buy books, but have bought all sorts from most departments on and off.... i do occasionally log in and renew my preferences... the ort books i bought 5 years ago because dd1 was moving school systems still kept coming up in 'recommendations'... erm, she can read now, thanks. whatever tracking they are doing on me, it ain't that good!

alwayslookingforanswers · 03/12/2009 23:54

"so it wouldn't matter whether you or dh logged in if you were both logging in from same computer"

well I can't "see" DH's cookies when I'm logged in, and he can't see mine when he's logged in. My search history and cookies stored are totally different......

shonaspurtle · 03/12/2009 23:58

You didn't buy it from an affiliate seller did you winky? I've just noticed that some Duplo I had in my basket has been moved into my saved items and has gone up by quite a bit.

There was a message about it though, something along the lines of "the original seller has sold out so we've moved it into your saved items and it's coming from another seller"

bruffin · 04/12/2009 07:25

I searched on another computer as well from different isp.

golgi · 04/12/2009 07:30

This happened to me - the item had sold out from the original seller so they offer it from another one, who may have it at a different price.

Also have to watch out for the postage - if the things in your basket are from different sellers you have to pay the postage for each one and it makes a big difference - I bought some stuff thinking it was free postage because it was over £15, and it wasn't.

StealthPolarBear · 04/12/2009 07:34

if you're logged in it won't be cookies, it'll be your order history under that username

ProfYaffle · 04/12/2009 07:42

That's shocking ( see?) I'm definitely going to have to compare prices with other sites before buying anything in future.

Saucepanman · 04/12/2009 10:54

This just prompted me to check the stuff I pt in my basket the other day- cinderella aquadraw "not available" but with same seller has gone from 11.94 to 34.97!

That will teach me not to buy right away

Miggsie · 04/12/2009 11:03

I have not noticed this I must admit alhtough I see my wish list updates to show me when things are out of stock or out of print.

I do compare somethings to other web sellers but I find Amazon are ususally a good deal so I generally buy from them or play.com who are sometimes cheaper.

Miggsie · 04/12/2009 11:04

I also clear my cookies...but that will not stop them storing purchase information on me on their central servers

bruffin · 08/12/2009 16:48

Well I bought a DVD for DH for christmas at the weekend, even though I had ordered it and paid for it on Sunday, the price on my order actually went down on monday
I went in to see if I could cancel it as found out on monday evening that the price of the dvd was much cheaper in ASDA so was going to try and cancel, but found I didn't have to as the price was now the same as ASDA.

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