Amazon Prime Day Discounts Aren’t Always As Big As They Seem
Amazon has an excellent understanding of capitalism. The ubiquitous online retailer uses every psychological trick imaginable (and some we probably can’t even imagine) to maximize its profits, and one of the most powerful tools in the company’s arsenal is controlling product prices during sales such as promotions Prime Day. The next one is expected in mid-July.
In a broad sense, Prime Day is all about convincing consumers to buy things they don’t need , and one specific technique they use is manipulating prices over time to make you think you’re saving more money. than in reality. are. (For more, check out this deeper dive into Amazon’s tactics .)
Of course, a lot depends on how Amazon determines its prices—inflation, supply and demand, etc.—but “making you think you’re getting a good deal” is an obvious motivation during promotions like Prime Day. Honestly, this is nothing new and is a tactic used by most/all retailers, but judging by their success, Amazon seems to be particularly good at it.
Consumers hoping to buy things that are worth the price they pay for them have a powerful, easy-to-use weapon that would have been nearly impossible to use before the advent of the Internet: the ability to easily check a product’s price history.
How to Check Price History on Amazon
In the chart above (created using Keepa , a Chrome extension that compares Amazon prices over time), you can see the price volatility of the Amazon Fire TV Stick over the past year. Although Amazon states that the item’s list price is $39.99, as you can see, it is “on sale” just as often as it is not, which expands the general understanding of what “list price” and “on sale” are.
Amazon offers the item at a lower price so often that it would be foolish to buy it at the list price, but the Prime Day price of $24.99 isn’t the best deal either. This is not lower than the price on most other “sale” days. The best time to buy a Fire Stick TV is Christmas: you could get one for $19.99 for most of November.
The same general principle generally applies to non-Amazon products, although prices for third-party products tend to be less volatile than Amazon products. Consider the Bissell, 2747A PowerFresh Vac & Steam Vacuum All-in-One . In 2023, it was listed at a Prime Day price of $129.99. That’s 30% off the stated “list price” of $185.39. A lot until you look a little closer.
If you had bought this vacuum back in April, it would have cost you $153.39, so you would actually be saving just over 15% by purchasing it on Prime Day, rather than the advertised 30%. Anyone unlucky enough to buy this vacuum between May 1 and May 3, or May 10 and May 13, 2024, paid $289.99, a whopping $136.60 more than the lowest price.
How to Check a Product’s Price History Before Buying on Amazon
Because Prime Day deals aren’t released until a certain time period, you can’t tell in advance what kind of discount you’ll get on a particular product. But if you buy something on Prime Day, you can instantly check price history before you buy anything.
I’m sure Amazon would prefer to keep its price history secret, but since it’s public, people are creating sites, apps, and extensions that collect price history and allow you to compare stores over time. I use the Keepa Chrome extension because I like how it displays product price history right on every Amazon page you view, but it’s not the only easy-to-use, free, Amazon-specific price history tracking option. Others, like Camelcamelcamel and Earny, do basically the same thing, but with slightly different bells and whistles: I use CamelCamelCamel to get alerts when the price of an item I’m tracking drops to a price I think is reasonable. If you haven’t already, you should use one of these tools before you believe the hype about Amazon’s advertised discounts.
For a deeper dive into Amazon prices, check out our list of the best price comparison tools .