Amazon Is Quietly Eliminating List Prices

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Most savvy shoppers laugh at "list prices," but it seems some people are actually upset that Amazon is moving away from using them anymore. Now, if you used PC Hound, you wouldn't have this problem. Sure this is a bit of shameless self promotion but our handy dandy tool compares prices from the big online retailers and gives you a price history at the same time.

The shift away from list prices is taking some merchants on Amazon by surprise. A seller named Travis complained in an Amazon forum that the list price on his product — which he did not identify — had disappeared from the site. “I’m well aware that it is bogus but it is a common marketing tactic that works very well at boosting sales,” he wrote. Mr. Kovarik of Rout said his analysis indicated that Amazon was regularly eliminating more list prices. “In early May, about 29 percent of the products we saw were missing list prices, but now the number is up to about 70 percent,” he said.
 
List prices are bullshit, especially on Amazon (and Newegg). The price you pay is the only price that functionally exists. Amazon is probably doing this to stop 3rd party sellers from ripping off unsuspecting people, but still, list prices are not a reliable method of determining if something is a good deal.

Additonally, PC Hound only supports US users and has a smaller list of retailers than "large competitor site". Just something to consider for a future update.
 
I think people just like to see how much they are "saving" even though they know the price is BS. It makes them feel better about spending their money. It helps them feel like they are doing the right thing. I get it. It is dumb, but I get it.
 
Quix said:
List prices are bullshit, especially on Amazon (and Newegg). The price you pay is the only price that functionally exists. Amazon is probably doing this to stop 3rd party sellers from ripping off unsuspecting people, but still, list prices are not a reliable method of determining if something is a good deal.

Additonally, PC Hound only supports US users and has a smaller list of retailers than "large competitor site". Just something to consider for a future update.
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Actually...despite them not being reliable statistically speaking...lots of people see SALE!!! $29.99!!! and assume there, is you know, an actual discount. Not that the regular price is $29.99 and that they're only calling it a sale to bait you into buying it.

I really doubt Amazon is doing this to look out for customers....more likely it is to play false-"sale" games where something is advertised as a deal but isn't.
 
Skripka said:
Actually...despite them not being reliable statistically speaking...lots of people see SALE!!! $29.99!!! and assume there, is you know, an actual discount. Not that the regular price is $29.99 and that they're only calling it a sale to bait you into buying it.

I really doubt Amazon is doing this to look out for customers....more likely it is to play false-"sale" games where something is advertised as a deal but isn't.
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And you think they weren't doing that with the list price? The big "problem" with list prices and amazon, is that you can find items where the list price is complete bullshit.$100 list price marked down to $10 so it's 90% off! Except the item was never even attempted to be sold at $100, and all of the competing products were $10 already, they just don't have the amazing discount on their listing.
 
Steve said:
Most savvy shoppers laugh at "list prices," but it seems some people are actually upset that Amazon is moving away from using them anymore. Now, if you used PC Hound, you wouldn't have this problem. Sure this is a bit of shameless self promotion but our handy dandy tool compares prices from the big online retailers and gives you a price history at the same time.
Click to expand...

Refuse to use PC Hound anymore after the way Kyle treated me.
 
Skripka said:
Actually...despite them not being reliable statistically speaking...lots of people see SALE!!! $29.99!!! and assume there, is you know, an actual discount. Not that the regular price is $29.99 and that they're only calling it a sale to bait you into buying it.
Click to expand...
Yeah smartphones have made this tactic a lot less useful since just about everyone can hop online to see if it actually is a decent price or not.
 
From Investopedia.com.. "Products and product advertisements often include language such as "lists for $99; our price: $79." The list price is often included to make the customer feel as though he or she is getting a good deal."
 
Even when people know the "list price" isn't the real price it can either be a pain to look around or still affect us regardless. It works on anchoring, which just says that the first number we see influences our further judgements.

Doesn't matter if you know it's crap. Just by being there it can mess with you. It works in the other way too, though. If you constantly look at an item's price history you might not want to buy even at a price that you otherwise consider good if you know it's been lower in the past. Though generally I think this is a good thing since we ought to be buying less crap anyway.

Now for my own shameless plug:
I've been thinking about this idea for a while and am goofing around with a Chrome extension to wipe out list prices on shopping websites. Ironically, I guess, demo uses Amazon. Though there are lots of good targets. I'm not aiming to make any money from the project, but I'd love to put it out there and possibly get feedback and collaboration on the project.

Anyway, here it is: GitHub - magarick/anchors-away: Anchors Away is a Chrome extension removes price anchors to help you make smarter purchase decisions.
 
Quix said:
The price you pay is the only price that functionally exists.
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Bingo.

Too bad it's good advertising to dupe some schmo into 'mega savings!!'.


Getting rid of list prices will only usher in the old way of sales: Before a big holiday weekend, bring up prices and leave them there for a while, then when the big weekend 'sale' comes around, drop it back down to the original price.
 
Sonicks said:
Bingo.

Too bad it's good advertising to dupe some schmo into 'mega savings!!'.


Getting rid of list prices will only usher in the old way of sales: Before a big holiday weekend, bring up prices and leave them there for a while, then when the big weekend 'sale' comes around, drop it back down to the original price.
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People were already doing that with inflated list prices as well. List price of $100, regular "discount" price of $20, actual "sale" price of $10.
 
Merc1138 said:
And you think they weren't doing that with the list price? The big "problem" with list prices and amazon, is that you can find items where the list price is complete bullshit.$100 list price marked down to $10 so it's 90% off! Except the item was never even attempted to be sold at $100, and all of the competing products were $10 already, they just don't have the amazing discount on their listing.
Click to expand...

Depends on who is selling it and what the product is. Take for example one of my hobbies, bicycles and therefore bicycle parts....

See all bicycle parts get to all bike parts retailers in the USA (be they online or B&M) via basically one and ONLY one supplier, Quality Bicycle Products AKA QBP. QBP is the monoplistic equivalent of DeBeers, there are others but they are a tiny minority. QBP sets prices and tells retailers to bone over and charge $XX.XX. Amazon and Amazon's sellers all get bicycle parts from QBP. Ergo 99% of the time bicycle parts of all makes on Amazon are sold at QBP retail-list pricing. So seeing s $100 at $95USD is a whopping 5% off-and if you buy through USA retailers is generally as good as it ever gets.

List is list in the USA.

Now if you take the same bike part and buy it from the EU, you can generally get it for 40% off USA retail even after shipping and currency exchange rates.
 
If anyone isnt aware... Thetractor.com

The also have a browser add-on that adds the data inline on the amazon page.
 
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