Do Amazon Sellers think you're an Idiot???

a reply to: Malak777

It is more naivety than stupidity. Many people are not wised up to online buying so they are taken advantage of. I do not think they are to blame. Many older people are just not clued up on online buying and are confused by digital purchasing.

I agree. And it's this taking advantage of on-line "challenged" consumers which is the predatory part

However, as DTOM notes, brick and mortar store choices are dropping like flies to on-line purchases. Selection and choice go with this. Anymore, you don't even have the option to purchase something in a store. I have a similar issue to DTOM...the consumer world is made for short people with tiny feet. (same with the air travel world, but that's another thread). I can't even shop at about 95% of brick and mortar stores for things like pants because they're all too short. And in my case, tall fat people with flippers for feet are definitely not going to be shopping at Old Navy!

Can you imagine someone like me asking the clerk at Abercrombe & Fag, ermm, Fitch if they had a pair of 36" inseam jeans, a shirt with a 22" neck and a pair of size 15EEE boots???? Or...the Gap? LOLOL!!! Heck, they don't even sell XL at most of those joints, let alone XXL or XXXL. You're either a M, size 9 shoe with a 24" waist and a max 28" inseam...or you don't shop there. 52R Sport coat?? HAA!!! You might be lucky to get a 38R in one of those places!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Not "stoopid" at all, actually business 101, supply and demand.

I've just seen your exact scenario not with bbq sauce.

Amazon is a very fast moving machine. What happens is sometimes lower seller A sells out, and all that will be left is higher seller B.

Sometimes people will buy based on reviews or seller rating. Sometimes seller A is cheaper but the product is older. I've seen this with Makeup. I'm sure this would apply to food too.

Recently I needed some plant hangers. I looked on Amazon. $28 bucks a piece. Seemed like a decent price since they were very well made and decorative. Well I ended up going to a bricks and mortar store and got them for 2 for $6!!!!!!! Yes, $3 bucks a piece, that is over 9X more on Amazon! People were still buying the Amazom prices because they may not have a store near them, or ships to them, and it was still a decent price at 9X more!
I actually think a lot of the Amazon prices are very inflated now. I'm pretty much only shopping online when I absolutely can't find it locally.

This same scenario used to happen on Ebay too, Sellers would use a higher price as a placeholder when they were running out of items, or it would only be worth selling that item a that higher price.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I was at jo-ann fabrics last weekend with my wife.
Just wandering around while she was on a mission I came across some steel wool.
Two pieces of steel wool in a little package was $6.
You can buy a 8 pack at any hardware store for $3.

So yes, Amazon and every other store thinks we're stupid cuz I think there are a lot of stupid people out there proving them correct.

A relative recently told me her kids wanted to paint some rocks so she bought a bag of six river rock sized rocks for something like $13 and the kids wanted to paint more immediately after finishing the ifrst six, but she said no because it was too expensive.

I just looked at her and said, "You know you can buy a 40 pound bag of river rocks at Home Depot for four bucks."

But to put it all in perspective, as I was buying several bags of rocks at Home Depot once, the cashier looked at me and said, "You're paying money for bags full of rocks." Perspective indeed.

a reply to: usernameconspiracy

And then there were "Pet Rocks".

**sigh**

a reply to: usernameconspiracy

Along your same theme, I needed some key chains. I was looking for a certain kind (I forget what they're called). After much searching I found some on Amazon. They wanted like $7 ea. for them. I looked around some more and found the generic name for them. Using this I searched again on Amazon and found them...$2.99...for a bag of (20) of them!!!!

I actually consciously thought about opening up an Amazon seller's account over this. I could buy bags of (20) of these things for $2.99, and turn around and sell them for $7.99 a piece!

Oh, and the $7.99 seller had hundreds of reviews with people raving about what a great deal they got for $7.99.

I went and taught my pet rock to "play dead" instead.

a reply to: usernameconspiracy

Perspective is a wonderful thing.

You should have looked at the cashier and said "there's a self checker line over there"

People think that online is cheaper. Often it ain't.

While I buy online, I am hope that I am savvy. I also buy from shops when I need to actually see a product, rather than have a look in the shop and then slavishly find it cheaper on line. That's the path that leads to no shops. Example, guitars - if you try in a shop then buy in a shop!

a reply to: Bluntone22

LOL!!

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: usernameconspiracy

Along your same theme, I needed some key chains. I was looking for a certain kind (I forget what they're called). After much searching I found some on Amazon. They wanted like $7 ea. for them. I looked around some more and found the generic name for them. Using this I searched again on Amazon and found them...$2.99...for a bag of (20) of them!!!!

I actually consciously thought about opening up an Amazon seller's account over this. I could buy bags of (20) of these things for $2.99, and turn around and sell them for $7.99 a piece!

Oh, and the $7.99 seller had hundreds of reviews with people raving about what a great deal they got for $7.99.

I went and taught my pet rock to "play dead" instead.

ah- but then you're not competing at $7.99, you're competing with the person turning a profit at $2.99 for a 20 pack.
Sure you can play games with your keywords, but the guy selling them for $7.99 isn't paying 2.99 for 20- he's buying them for less than half that dropped shipped from china with a 5 week waiting period, then likely paying $3 each to ship them out at $8 a pop. The guy selling the 20 pack is having it drop shipped from china, no returns, 6 weeks for delivery... and only making $1.50 in profit.

a reply to: paraphi

I absolutely, positively, 100% agree with your statement!!!

I absolutely support local businesses!

And, I will happily knowingly pay more for something to show my appreciation.

a reply to: lordcomac

They showed up the next day.

ETA - But you bring up a good point. A point I've contemplated as well. The basic theme is 'risk'. I wondered how all these sellers can maintain stock of every bizarre item you can comprehend. I mean this stuff is coming over by container ship by the mountain load. Somebody has got to be maintaining stock of all this crap because otherwise it could never show up the next day. So, there's got to be a lot of 'risk' there. Two container loads of rubber dog crap, if it doesn't sell, is gonna' cost some cheddar to store. Seems like some guys are attempting to pass along unreasonable amounts of risk.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: lordcomac

They showed up the next day.

Guess the jig was already up, then- the guy selling them for $8 has been had and will wind up sitting on a bunch of product he can't move for a reasonable profit because he was already undercut

not much money to be had in that kind of work, is all I'm saying. Better off training that pet rock on the weekends and having a real job.
Now if only I could prove myself wrong and get out of the cubicle farms...

I'm reasonably certain the PT Barnum quote was uttered by one of his competitors, not Barnum himself.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

That's why I search for what I want on Amazon and then find it from a far less costly provider when I find what I want. I also found that if you go to the seller's store, they'll have the exact same item often listed multiple times different prices, likely to trick you into buying high on a chance that you saw that ad first.

When I have bought something from Amazon, more often than not, the first one is almost ALWAYS junk and by some miracle, when you complain, they send you a far superior working version of the exact same thing for free and chalk it up to "our new version that's not yet out - you can test it for us". I can't count how many times I've heard this BS.

So I just use Amazon for searching what I want then I buy it from the real manufacturers or stores online for much less. There are SO MANY knockoffs and fake reviews on Amazon, I don't know why they're not shut down, under investigation and fined billions of dollars for their scams.

Pretty sad... And this company is worth how much? How rich did we make them? hahaha It's laughable.

a reply to: Hefficide

yeah like the 49,000 $ video cards that sell for maybe 200$ tops normally. Some idiot prince from Saudi is going to buy one for sure....

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: lordcomac

They showed up the next day.

ETA - But you bring up a good point. A point I've contemplated as well. The basic theme is 'risk'. I wondered how all these sellers can maintain stock of every bizarre item you can comprehend. I mean this stuff is coming over by container ship by the mountain load. Somebody has got to be maintaining stock of all this crap because otherwise it could never show up the next day. So, there's got to be a lot of 'risk' there. Two container loads of rubber dog crap, if it doesn't sell, is gonna' cost some cheddar to store. Seems like some guys are attempting to pass along unreasonable amounts of risk.

Alibaba.... Go there and look for the same items. Alibaba = Bulk Amazon = Singles. Buy bulk from Alibaba and sell the junk on Amazon. That's all the products are.... junk. You can buy dash cams on Alibaba for 3$ and sell them for 100$ on Amazon. Happens every day.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: usernameconspiracy

And then there were "Pet Rocks".

**sigh**

Yeah? I got you covered....

And people ACTUALLY buy this stuff...

The NoPhone Air

Amazon

originally posted by: lakenheath24
a reply to: rickymouse

Sorry to go off topic...but no trouble codes???? You took it to autozone for a free check?

A friend of mine owns a garage, and he told me what to change first. Ford does not show a trouble code for the MAF those years sometimes. He has been doing mechanic work for thirty years, he also has scanners that make autozones look like a toy. I have a scanner too. But mine is just a hundred dollar one, his costs around six grand.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Consider this:

They aren't trying to sell it at all as a primary focus. They are establishing an item history for selling at a later, reasonable price. If someone wants to pay 3,4,5x that's their problem and the sellers gain. Sure ain't the only industry in business with that mentality.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Resellers in general do this....

A long time ago I worked at a pet store. We sold these little aeration stones...one for $0.89 and two for $1.99. Same brand, just different blister packs. I was amazed at how many people would purchase the 2 pack.