A fluke or a scam?

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Mo had a certain Nerf gun on his shopping list for this Christmas. We looked and looked and couldn't find it -- despite the fact that he thought he knew the model number.

Over the course of several days we looked through the Nerf offereings on Amazon. We never could find the particular model he wanted.

Then we discovered that Nerf didn't make it, Air Strike did.

So this morning we went back to Amazon to look at it.

It was offered as "ONLY ONE LEFT IN STOCK!!!!! ORDER NOW!!!!!!" for $80.00.

I wasn't about to pay $80.00 for a nerf-style gun.

Then later this morning I was at ToysRUs. They had a few of this model gun on the shelf for the regular price of $40.00.

WTH?

Okay. I admit that I'm a little suspicious because I don't know how all this search stuff works (I do know that every site I sign onto right now tries to sell me sinks so it knows what I've been looking at.)

So. Was it a fluke that Amazon offered this gun at twice the price or was it a scam because they somehow knew I had finally found the product I was looking for after several days of searching?

Just curious.

Thanks!

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Type: Question • Score: 8 • Views: 4,582 • Replies: 24

Cripes.

0 Replies

@boomerang,

I was browsing some DVD sets (TV shows), looking at formats and pricing. I didn't put any in my cart, but a few days later I got an email from amazon.com informing me one that I'd looked up was on sale. I guess because I'm signed into my account when I browse there, they know what I'm looking at and make note of it?

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Cripes is right. I'm ready to give Amazon the big heave-ho.

I was signed into my account too!

But I had looked all over. Amazon. ToysRUs. Target. Google images. We finally found the model on Youtube this morning while looking at Nerf videos.

I went back to Amazon and typed in a model name and number for the first time.

And I got the message "ORDER NOW!!!!".

Re: the sinks. I've been looking at sinks for the last 6 weeks. Now everywhere I go (except A2K (thanks Robert) advertises sinks to me. I was looking up some info on genetics the other day and I was being sold sinks. It's goddanm annoying.

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I would really like to see if everyone gets the $80.00 price.

If you can or would, go to Amazon and look up:

Quote:

Buzz Bee PUNISHER Motorized Gattling Dart Blaster

2 Replies

My "refreshed" price is now $86.99 -- it's gone up $7.00 since this morning.

1 Reply

@boomerang,

$86.99 -- Order soon. Only one left.

2 Replies

@Irishk,

At least it isn't just scamming me!

I don't think I'll be shopping Amazon again anytime soon.

1 Reply

@Irishk,

I forgot to thank you for checking it out.

Thank you!

0 Replies

@boomerang,

That looks like a lot of money for the toy pictured. And, ToysRUs had it for half that price? Still looks like a lot lol.

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@boomerang,

Sounds like a bait and switch not offered by Amazon itself but one of its Marketplace nut jobs.

Amazon is subjected to this nonsense. Say you want an iPod but don't need the latest generation ... go to Amazon and look at many of the smaller (GB storage size not the size of the actual iPod or MP3 player) many of the older generations are more expensive then the new ones because the idiots pricing the older generations don't bother to lower the prices to the older (less reliable or feature filled MP3 players) when the newer and far more superior player come out at top value. Every other market (televisions and computers, etc...) follow this market based pricing rule but not these untrustworthy independent tech sellers.

1 Reply

@tsarstepan,

You're right, Tsar. It's not amazon, but worldoftoys.

0 Replies

@boomerang,

boomerang wrote:

I would really like to see if everyone gets the $80.00 price.

If you can or would, go to Amazon and look up:

Quote:
Buzz Bee PUNISHER Motorized Gattling Dart Blaster

Amazon isn't the seller. The World of Toys is and this kind of leans towards my prior post's point. These companies know that there will be some sucker who will pay twice or higher the price because they see it's the last one left.

Sounds definitely like a bait and switch to other kind of gray area scam.

1 Reply

@tsarstepan,

Use the poison pen and write to Amazon to tell them of this retailer's shady practices. It is the only way to clean it up.

1 Reply

@Butrflynet,

yeah, don't boycott the entire mall because of one store...

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Thanks for the help and the explainations!

I think that I will post a comment on this store's pricing.

In the past I've found some very good deals on Amazon but I have had some problems with third party vendors.

I agree that $40 even seems like a lot but Nerf and nerf style things are expensive. Still, they are the top toy for all the neighborhood boys so they get played with a lot.

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@boomerang,

Boomer- Amazon does business a number of ways. They sell stuff themselves. They sell stuff from other stores, but the item is charged thru and guaranteed by Amazon. (Amazon Marketplace) They sell stuff from other stores, but you are on your own. (For instance, when you are "on your own", you are not eligible for super saver shipping, and have to pay whatever shipping the store asks.)

When you buy from an outside store, you can click on a link that shows feedback about the experience that other people have had with the store, so that you can make up your mind as to whether you want to deal with them.

In some cases, Amazon will offer an item, and show various ways that you can buy the thing. Once in awhile I see an item that is cheaper at another store than Amazon, although the item is advertised on the Amazon website.

I buy a lot on Amazon, and find that, in general, they are a reputable outlet, and do their best to satisfy a customer.

1 Reply

@Phoenix32890,

I shop there a lot, too, especially now around the holidays. Their customer service has always been first class, IMO. That's amazing, considering the volume they probably do. The other thing I like is that once an item ships, they'll notify me of a refund or credit if the price of that item is reduced within a certain amount of time. Always nice to find out you got an even better deal that you'd thought. I've always only ordered directly from them, though -- not any of their outside stores yet.

1 Reply

It's not necessarily shady business - I don't mind a business selling a product for whatever price they like.

What happens is that Amazon sells items like this themselves; when they run out of stock, their item page automatically brings up their 'marketplace seller' who has the lowest price. Oftentimes these other businesses really do only have one or two in stock. When those are sold out, the next lowest price is offered. And so on.

This happens all the time with rarer or out-of-print books that I like to order.

Cycloptichorn

0 Replies

@Irishk,

Irishk wrote:

I shop there a lot, too, especially now around the holidays. Their customer service has always been first class, IMO. That's amazing, considering the volume they probably do. The other thing I like is that once an item ships, they'll notify me of a refund or credit if the price of that item is reduced within a certain amount of time. Always nice to find out you got an even better deal that you'd thought. I've always only ordered directly from them, though -- not any of their outside stores yet.

I've never had a real problem ordering from a third party there, but I have heard of it. Amazon is not bad about kicking the shady ones off the site if enough people complain.

Occasionally Amazon has shipped me the same order twice - three times now in the last two years. Every time they told me just to keep it Shocked

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

A fluke or a scam?

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