Amazon Pricing

[cobi]

I have to admit, I really like buying from Amazon. I have been trying to buy Friends Lego 3189 for 2 weeks when I saw it for $34.00 ($49.99 MSRP). The price has been going up on Amazon ever since. Walmart also had for $34.00, but it was out of stock. I was just able to buy 2 from Amazon for $34.00 (1 hour ago). I just checked it's back up to $44.99, and they only have 2 in stock. CRAZY!! Do any of you have any insight on how to watch/buy from Amazon. I am really starting to build by investing collection, but am doing so by buying sets at what I think is a discount.

[CNH1974]

Amazon prices can change every time you refresh the screen. I remember trying to buy a CD a few years ago, the price was varying by 30%. Took me 2 hours of refreshing to get it at the lowest price.

[spener90]

Amazon prices can change every time you refresh the screen. I remember trying to buy a CD a few years ago, the price was varying by 30%. Took me 2 hours of refreshing to get it at the lowest price.

I kept looking at this trying to figure out what lego set CD meant...

[CNH1974]

:) Its one of those round spinning things people bought before downloads. I'm sure TLG would produce a constructable one if they could. Confession: I spent 2 months on this site trying to work out what TRU meant. Doh.

[spener90]

Haha, I figured that out. I thought it was a Lego Set... It's always the worst when someone abbreviates something and you can't figure it out... I get confused with MF (Monster Fighters or Millennium Falcon?).

[Talon]

I had a strategy class that delved into pricing a little bit and it can be very complex with math that reminded me of my engineering classes. Amazon and many other sellers on Amazon use pricing algorithms that are based on many factors including how many people are on that item's page, how many people have it in the cart, saved for later, competitor's price, inventory level, seasonality, etc. Since these are programmed they literally can change from second to second. On Amazon I have been able to see one price on my computer while seeing a different price on my wife's computer, this event lasted for several minutes and the product was the Lego Minecraft set. camelcamelcamel.com has an interesting write-up on why they don't constantly ping Amazon for prices. Also, if you look up Pricing Strategies on wikipedia you will see 22 different strategies and nine pricing laws. When you literally have millions of products as Amazon does, pricing is a big deal and there is an entire department dedicated to pricing algorithms, consumer behavior, statistical analysis, etc. I would guess Amazon has consumer psychologists, programmers, economists and statisticians working on pricing algorithms. Personally I put all the sets I am interested in purchasing in the save for later cart on Amazon. Then, every time the cart refreshes I get a list of all price changes. I also subscribe to alerts from slickdeals.net and camelcamelcamel.com but those alerts are sometimes too slow.

[CNH1974]

Haha, I figured that out. I thought it was a Lego Set... It's always the worst when someone abbreviates something and you can't figure it out... I get confused with MF (Monster Fighters or Millennium Falcon?).

I tend to use the numbers as they are usually shorter to write than names. So I know 10182 10185 10190 10197 10211 10218 10224 & 10232.

Of course then someone quotes one at me, 10159 for example and I have to go into BP to look it up! ;)

[Yellow]

Amazon and many other sellers on Amazon use pricing algorithms that are based on many factors including how many people are on that item's page, how many people have it in the cart, saved for later, competitor's price, inventory level, seasonality, etc. Since these are programmed they literally can change from second to second. On Amazon I have been able to see one price on my computer while seeing a different price on my wife's computer, this event lasted for several minutes and the product was the Lego Minecraft set.

Very informative Talon! Never knew this!

(not speaking about Lego products) But I hear often how great Amazon is, but I find Amazon to actually be higher in a lot of items I buy, and rarely buy from them. They tend to be slightly more than their competitors.