weird amazon pricing

I see for instance at this moment, on Amazon, a 20v Dewalt Dry Vac for about $98. But it is the tool only, no battery or charger included.

I also know from personal experience on a DeWalt purchase a few weeks ago, that sometimes DeWalt packages the same device with a 3.0 Ah battery, and sometimes with a 5.0 Ah battery. On my purchase, the Lowes online price seemed like a relative bargain compared to Home Depot but on investigation the Lowes came with the 3.0 Ah battery and charger and the HD came with the 5.0 Ah battery and charger. If I recall correctly, there was about $25 to $30 difference between the two retailers.

Is useful to track amazon prices

Here's the actual product on amazon--still $129, no $20 coupon:

https://a.co/d/ajZAizK

Here it is at the big box:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/DEWALT/5013541719

I came across an article stating amazon's coupons that appear, and why it's an additional click, are to combat cart abandonment?

I have all these products in my save for later, so I can see their prices change. I can't be 100% sure, but I don't think it was in my cart. would be interesting if leaving it in the cart triggers a coupon? also, I have never compared, to see if my wife's login has the coupon or not, at a given time.

But $109 plus tax, is about $34 better than $149 with no tax....so I'll take it....

Both of your links describe the device as “65 Air Watts with a 5.0Ah DCB205 battery pack (sold separately)” so plan on parting with more bucks.

On Amazon, the battery and charger are an additional $130.

Keepa.com is better.

I use broswer extensions like camelcamelcamel to check amazon price drops. Amazon is crazy!

Many times amazon will be cheaper and many times not. Do you're homework or let the apps do it for you.

Have multiple chargers and batteries and tools in this family of 20v products.

The main point was that it's $149 at 2 big box stores, was $149 at amazon, but $109 the other night, yet amazon is an authorized eTailer for Dewalt.

$40 is $40, I'll take it, as I always prefer to pay less.

At the time in 2018, 2 5ah batteries plus a charger was $90, so based on your price, batteries are 44.44% more today, and $130 is even a sale price.

Maybe your thinking is applicable to my brother. He buys the tool he likes, not constrained to a family based on the battery. he has milwaukee, dewalt, makita, and even black and decker. He doesn't care what battery it uses and will buy them as needed.

In an ideal case, a business would charge each customer as much as they were willing to pay, right down the lowest price that makes money for them.

Over my lifetime airlines went from fixed prices set by a federal agency to an absolutely bewildering array of prices, in considerable degree driven by this basic concept.

I think Amazon uses software to guess how they might tempt you, personally, to buy at a price that still makes business sense for them.

Just be sure you're comparing apples to apples. Amazon sells and ships some items themselves, and other items listed on Amazon are actually sold there by third-party sellers of varying repute. Some of Amazon's third-party sellers are very good, but some are definitely not, and their third-party sellers are also shipping from widely varying locations. It's not worth it to me to save $5 on something that will be shipped from China, because it will take weeks longer to arrive, and I won't want to have to return it overseas. Always check out the shipping location and customer reviews of any third-party seller before ordering.

I find it hard to compare prices on Amazon b/c you don't always know what model/extras you are getting.

Many years ago if you looked up a CD on Amazon it came up $8. If you looked again it was $9. If you cleared the cookie and looked again it was $8 again etc. The price is what they said at that moment.

This was when I began believing that Amazon was too unethical for me. Years ago there were more e.g selling books that they weren't licensed to sell (Kindle only) and just yanking them out of customers devices (turned out for only three weeks.)

Last year they proposed (and I think actually implemented) sharing bandwidth on routers for anyone with their door cameras. I have bought from them. I likely will again. Only under duress.

With amazon one has to know the price, as others have mentioned.

It's confirmed, the qty 2, 5 AH batteries, which are "49%" off and a "Deal," for $132 as I type....I purchased them on 11/23/18, for $85.

How do I know?

It says in the top left of the web page, "Last purchased Nov.23, 2018, 5.0Ah Batteries Only"

Pretty sad 55.3% price increase, but, apples to apples as the $85 was also a "Deal."

They use terms like Deal to lowest price in 30 days all the time.

But the coupon, to be honest, I don't know what causes it to populate. Again, on the web I saw a term, it's to combat cart abandonment....that coupon plus a price drop, caused my net purchase of the vacuum to be $109 plus tax, vs. $149 just 5 days prior in the big box store. A $33.46 net savings.

Also, one should consider that the box stores will usually do a price match if you bring in a screen print and the URL of the site. Usually the only thing as compared to Amazon is it must be "sold by" and "shipped by" Amazon. Coupons of course are tricky as they seem to come and go randomly. But if the retailer checks, and a coupon appears, then it may be honored. That was the case recently when my local Best Buy honored a 10% off that appeared on Amazon.

If at all possible I prefer to buy local. It is nice to have the product in hand so that if there are issues it is a simple return. Some stores have recently instituted a "return" fee if the product isn't defective.

I definitely would stick to "authorized" eTailers....but the list has seemingly exploded and now there are 24 of them! (go to find online tab)

I've gotten some on eBay, from said authorized eTailers...

https://www.dewalt.com/find-retailer

Interesting and rather disappointing thoughts.

The unit came and I could tell it was used. The $129.00 price is still available, but no $20 coupon, and it's not in stock (why would it be if it was $40 less than the big box, and continues to be $20 less).

But, I was looking for something where I could be 100%.

There it was--Dewalt 20V tools have belt clips, which I never use. It had it already installed, and that causes it to not fit into the cardboard packaging, which was ripped. No seal, but here's another point.

Why is the Dewalt seal so wimpy, it's like a circular clear dot/sticker. Same with Lego--the seal can be opened and put back, when people take pieces they need out, and return.

So pretty sure I've gotten returned goods from amazon before, just that I had no sure sign and I let it be. They scrub the items well and attempt to repackage.

Also, for something that cost $109, sales tax was $7.74.

Google'd that. Supreme CT of the Commonwealth said sales tax is applied to pre-coupon amounts. Huh? Since when?

That made me check another recent transaction--$229.99, with a $100 coupon. Sales tax? $7.80--that's 6% on $129.99. Not consistent with the above.

So, I added this item to my cart and began to check out, since it still has the $229.99 and $100 coupon--tax is still $7.80.

What a hot mess.

Here's that item if you want to see

https://a.co/d/4YkKfAK

And yes, I own shares of this co. that I think along with Bezos, will go out of business someday, in my lifetime.

“If at all possible I prefer to buy local. It is nice to have the product in hand so that if there are issues it is a simple return. Some stores have recently instituted a "return" fee if the product isn't defective.” And as I mentioned, my two local box stores will almost always match an online price. I haven’t brought up that both will also give me a 10% Veteran’s discount.

I would point out that from my experience, at least at the one in my town, the discount is for full-priced items, i.e. not on sale, doesn't apply to major appliances, certain lumber, etc.

I tend to only buy things on sale, and that's the reason I'm looking a lot online.

I've not tried the price matching, although my wife has done it. She has even asked for a discount for no reason at all, and they've given it. I just don't like to do it, whereas she's ok. Usually she does that on an item that she wants, but looks like a last one etc., dusty, maybe dented. Associates can always discount. They literally call it manager discretion. She also asks for a teacher discount since she went full time at the school district--some places offer 25% which is surpising. Most 10.