Amazon Product Tracking Amazon pricing changes

[Reprise]

(some of you may know this already - since I had just found out recently, I figured the info may be useful to others)

If you've ever shopped for items on Amazon, and wondered "how/why did the price change on that (so much) between <yesterday, last week, earlier today> and now" - it's because Amazon and their partner vendors are *always* changing prices. The trick, then, is to know when to 'strike', when a price drop occurs on an item you've been looking for.

I found a site called 'Keepa' (www.keepa.com) - it will track items for you, either in a general context, by category, by importing your wish / shopping lists, or by one specific item (and it will do all of these simultaneously).

As an example, I have one headlamp housing on the Envoy that has some clouding, and I haven't been able to 'restore' it to my satisfaction.
On a hunch, I searched for a vendor offering a headlamp. Found one who sells pairs - and over the last two days, the pricing has dropped by nearly $20 USD.

Here's a partial screencap showing the price trending (sorry for the x-axis being cut off at the bottom - it represents 'time' (in this case, over 3 months)



Now...will I purchase these today? Not sure....probably 'not' (I might be able to get them cheaper at a pick-n-pull, for example, and I don't need them 'today') But the trend shows these to be the lowest pricing in a long time, as of today.

I intend to use this tool for a bit to see if it helps - I hate paying more than I have to for an item, unless I have dire need for it.
Finally, the tool has several ways of notifying you about a change - via e-mail, FB, Twitter, RSS messaging, others. There's also versions for Android / Apple.

 

[Mooseman]

I've also found Camel Camel Camel. Seems to be similar or may be the same. Good tip either way.

 

[Reprise]

Yes - that app does the same thing, which is to track algorithmic pricing.

Those times where something is ridiculously cheap - more often than not, it's due to multiple sellers setting an 'always price item x$ or x% lower than next lowest - and when two or more sellers do that at the same time, prices can swing in the buyer's favor - at least for a time.

Case in point - I found a NOS GM fender liner for $21 yesterday (with a 'only 1 left in stock' attached) Since that was easily half of the usual pricing (and I need the part), I bought it.

Today I check that same item, and cheapest price was $62. (same vendor, etc.) And now there were 12 in stock, where it didn't say 'more on the way' yesterday.

Maybe Russian bots are on Amazon, too. All I know is...somethin' ain't right, and these tools help even the playing field - however slight.

 

[Mooseman]

I think a lot of these ultra low prices are simple mistakes. Case in point, $20 CAD for ACDelco rear brake disks on Amazon.ca. That could have been just a USD vs. CAD pricing error but another member did take advantage of it and bought 4 (stupid me I sat on it ). They immediately jacked the price up to $80.

 

[Dr.Fiero]

I think a lot of these ultra low prices are simple mistakes. Case in point, $20 CAD for ACDelco rear brake disks on Amazon.ca. That could have been just a USD vs. CAD pricing error but another member did take advantage of it and bought 4 (stupid me I sat on it ). They immediately jacked the price up to $80.

Ha! This was the exact item I was going to mention when I was reading the top of the thread...

Wish I'd grabbed a set at the time.