Amazon Price Spikes/Fluctuations

Run&Gun

Run&Gun

Veteran
Has anyone else noticed day-to-day price swings/increases on items "shipped and sold by Amazon", recently? I ordered a new backpack a few weeks ago and immediately after I placed my order, it was $5 more(+4%) and today it's almost back to the original price and only .90 more. I also ordered some cleaning wipes on Monday that my GF likes and today they are $10 more(+50%) per pack than when I ordered them barely 48 hours ago. Again, these are all in-stock items sold by Amazon, not just shipped for third party sellers. Are they running "supply & demand" algorithms and adjusting prices in real-time or maybe looking at how soon again you visit an item's page after you purchased it and raise the price thinking they "have you", because you really like the item, but as time passes since you bought it without purchasing it again, it lowers it back down?
 
That's been happening for 10+ years.

But more aggressive than ever because of the state of the various industries/world.

AI is handling everything, millions of calculations.
 
It's crazy now. Bookmark an item or two, and check them every hour to see how many times the price changes.
 
Definitely has been happening for a long time. I use camelcamelcamel to track prices. Sometimes you can get crazy deals (although I once ordered a NAS for crazy cheap and they delivered nappies and god food. I am 50% sure they did that on purpose when they noticed the algorithm changing prices had gone too low).
 
NorBro said:
It's crazy now. Bookmark an item or two, and check them every hour to see how many times the price changes.
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Just checked on a few things I ordered the other day. Two out of three exactly the same, but the third item(third party) has gone up... A whopping penny(same seller). But still very interesting to see.

Dog food is another one that has been swinging wildly. We actually changed the flavor(same brand, though) we feed them for about a month or so, because the price almost DOUBLED. In April/May the price jumped up $30 per bag, if you could even find it. And we’re not even talking about special “gourmet” dog food. It’s a Purina brand. It’s now down to “only” $10 more per bag vs what I paid at the beginning of March. Which is the same price as Petsmart, even though Amazon was typically a few bucks less, before. But in this case, it’s probably a larger across the board issue.
 
It's still early in the day (need to observe for at least 12 hours), but sometimes prices indeed won't change.

The AI usually adjusts them based on how the item is selling and the traffic it's seeing.

Sometimes it will take calculated risks and try to raise a price to make more profit because it thinks people will buy regardless, and other times it will actually do the opposite and lower the price because it thinks way more people will buy and the sales would equal the same money as above or even more.

Really impossible to know what they are doing. It's Amazon.
 
I see it as the new way to give coupons. Put something in a wish list so the retailers knows you have an interest and watch the price or wait for a discount. Crazy how much is automated theses days.
 
Bassman2003 said:
I see it as the new way to give coupons. Put something in a wish list so the retailers knows you have an interest and watch the price or wait for a discount. Crazy how much is automated theses days.
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Yeah, I've gotten one time/initial purchase "coupons" on items before, but they always (did) make it a point to tell you. I'd rather know I'm getting a one-time discount up-front than buy something for say $15 and the next time it's $25 and then being ticked off, because I think they're just jacking the price up, instead of "doing me a solid" on the front end.
 
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