Just Thoughts
Amazon Sellers Speculating on Prices?
For quite some time now I have been looking for a decent High Definition webcam for my aging laptop. Last time we did a Zoom meeting with the family, I noticed that the resolution of the built-in webcam was really bad. Besides, now I am also into YouTube video creation. In this article I will share a recent experience (just now!) and by the end you will leave with take-away value that would save you money when shopping online/offline.
A couple of weeks ago, after a long search, I settled for a High Definition (they claim) webcam that wouldn’t ruin my budget. Many are just overpriced and judging by the reviews, it is not worth spending $60-$130 in a webcam that may not fulfill your expectations. What can I say, I am an informed consumer and I am against buying overpriced items.
Today I fired up Amazon getting ready to buy it and to my surprise, I found that notification about items that changed price. When I looked at it, it was exactly what I had suspected, the webcam I had in my shopping cart for a couple of weeks had doubled the price! You might immediately think “sure! it was on discount when you added it.” but the answer is no. The webcam I chose was not on discount, it was on a regular price. So, how comes it had doubled price? Let’s not forget that most of these items are really Made in China for cheap prices.
I decided to write this brief article because I suspect Amazon sellers are speculating on the prices of items they (re)sell. The reason for my suspicion -not being an Amazon seller myself- being that already many times in the past few years I have noticed that same behavior: an item that is on a regular price is put on the shopping cart. Then you leave it there for some time and then all of a sudden that non-discounted item has doubled the price.
I refuse to become a victim of price speculation
I know about the theory of demand and supply, after all I studied Engineering Economics. However, I refuse to become a victim of price speculation. So I did what I do in this cases. Rather than being a dumb consumer and fall for the “okay, you got me!” I simply removed the item from the Amazon shopping cart and started looking for a better deal. And I won’t buy until I find it.
Money is hard to earn and they are not going to play with my pocket.
Further proof is that today (a couple of days later), I found a webcam selling for $8 and when I started reading the reviews, I saw some of the reviewers bought it a year ago for $40. Now, if they are making profit selling it for $8, can you imagine the disparate profits at 5 times the current price? Believe me, people into retail sales never lose!
Months later (Dec. 2021), a few weeks ago I bought a HD webcam at an advertised regular price of $13 (it was not discounted!). While preparing for the product review a couple of weeks later, the same camera from the same seller was now at a price of $30.
Actionable Advise
- When buying on Amazon, don’t let items lying on your shopping cart for too long; chances are the seller is going to watch the trend and increase the price.
- Do you have a tree in your backyard that grows money? so, make your hard-earned money count. Stretch your dollar/euro/etc.
- If the item is not absolutely necessary, then wait longer or look for a better alternative.
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