I’m afraid that by drawing attention, I’ll fall into Amazon’s trap. Revealing their secret game could cause even technophobes wary of online transactions to flock to the site day and night—maybe not to the point of parting with money, but taking baby steps closer to keying in their credit card number.
DISCLAIMER: I take no responsibility if, on reading further, you end up obsessing, as I do, on why the price of that camera went up by one cent. And that fan, by 27 cents. Why not 28 cents? Why not 26? Why was it $3.11 lower for four hours last Thursday?
For months I kept notes. On February 9 a Microsoft 4000 keyboard was $41.38. On February 10 it was 41.39, and later in the day, $41.40. Two days later — $41.41. A disconcertingly symmetrical number. By March 19 it was $41.17 in the morning and $41.15 that afternoon. On February 5, a Honeywell 18155 air purifier was $129.98. On February 10 it was $129.97. By the 21st it was $129.99. Why? Why?
Eventually I had to delete items from my shopping cart, where Amazon taunted me by pointing out every pricing adjustment since my last visit.
I couldn’t be the only one to pick up on this. By now, hordes must have noticed how the Internet’s biggest department store has turned online shopping into a sort of commodities market, with prices hopping around like rabbits. A way to trick our brains coming back, the way we check in at TMZ to see if Lindsay’s been arrested again or if Paris beat her to it (which, of course, she did).
When stocks go down, analysts on TV blame the drop on a report that home sales for the previous quarter were lower than expected—and then in a month or two they tell us that later data show sales were actually up that quarter, or lower than first thought, and the revision sparks new trading.
Article comments
1 - Sandi
Good heads up for these fluctuations - like you say this could become an obsession for many. WOuld it be at all possible that it is a "real time" reflection of their stock and order system?
2 - Sondra
Sandi, I'm glad you've noticed it too. At least they're not just putting the changes on my account to drive me crazy.
Are you saying their prices fluctuate according to how much stock is available for a particular product at a particular time? I don't see how that would work: "We've only got three left so we'll raise the price by three cents"...?
You did give me an insight. Amazon could be part of a spy ring, hopefully for our side, and the shifts in numbers, part of a sophisticated signaling system to the CIA (KGB? MSS? RCMP?) regarding sudden and ongoing threats. I hope I haven't compromised anyone's safety by revealing this.
3 - jordan1
The products are sold by independent sellers. In order to keep sales up and move product, individual businesses are always tweaking their prices to see what will work. There is no magic.
4 - Sondra
Sorry, Jordan...1, while your theory SOUNDS plausible, I cannot take the chance of trusting someone with a number in their name. It is all too likely that such a person is aligned with the Amazon/KGB conspiracy and using the comments section to signal others in the ring.
5 - Christopher Rose
I wish we had a comedy section on BC...