A Change For Amazon?

[dvd-fanman]

Did anyone else notice that the "Amazon.com = low prices. Did you find this ITEM priced lower than $XX.XX somewhere else? Let us know!" feature is now showing up on DVD item pages?

Could this mean that Amazon is seriously starting to think about becoming competitive with their DVD pricing?

Has anyone ever submitted anything via this route and actually seen the price change whether it was for DVDs or something else?

[Groucho]

I wonder if they'd accept submissions from Amazon.ca?

[LASERMOVIES]

Doesn't exactly look like a price matching program when you click the link on the item page. Cut and pasted the following information.

Found a lower price?

At Amazon.com, we're committed to offering you low prices, so we'd love to know if you found a better price for this DVD at another retailer. This is not a price-matching program, but we may use this information in making future pricing decisions for this DVD. Please be aware that we do not provide individual follow-up responses. After you submit your lower price, check back in a few days to see if our price has changed as a result.

I just tried this to see if Amazon will match DDD price for Metropolis. DDD has this title listed for $17.93, while Amazon has it priced for $22.46 on their site. I will check in a few days and see if it's lowered.

[LASERMOVIES]

I put in a few more requests to see what happens. Submitted lower prices from FYE for Twilight Zone Collections 2-5 at $61.96 each. Driving Miss Daisy(SE) at $13.99 from DVD Empire. It didn't say anything about Canadian sites so I just used U.S. stores to play it safe. If they lower the prices this could make a great deal with available coupons, free shipping, and STL program combined together.

[eau]

They should then seriously revise the price on most of their DVDs. Any price higher than 25% off is rediculous

[Swampster]

I don't see any real benefit for a customer to take the time to inform Amazon.com about what someone else is selling the same product for. It's like doing free market research for them. Amazon.com can look up competitor's prices just as easy. I imagine the gimmick is that if "x" number of people respond to a given item, then there is a possibility they might lower their priceson that item. But I doubt there will be many price reductions.

[sracer]

Exactly my sentiments Swampster...

I'm of the opinion if I find a disc cheaper elsewhere, that's where I'll buy it. I'll always go for the one who took the lead and put their low price "out there" for all to see. It's the reason why I don't fall into B&M "price matching" nonsense.

[Wolf Husky]

Originally posted by dvd-fanman

Could this mean that Amazon is seriously starting to think about becoming competitive with their DVD pricing?

Are you saying they aren't competitive? If you add Free Shipping, STL, and a possible coupon, they have some of the best prices around. Sure, you may have to buy two DVDs at a time to get the Free Shipping and a $5 coupon, but they are EXTREMELY COMPETITIVE after these discounts.

Add the fact that their customer service is superior to any other site I have used, and I don't mind paying an extra $1.

* Their website will tell you exactly when something is going to ship
* They provide tracking numbers without needing to ask
* They give you shipping estimates that are accurate
* If for some reason an item arrives later than the estimate, they refund shipping.
* You can change/cancel your order easily without hassle with customer service.
* You are always aware of backorders or delay of shipping

Those 6 reasons are enough for me to pay a $1/DVD extra at Amazon.

An example... you can buy Signs and Minority Report with the discount trio for $34 shipped. I couldn't search DDD due to an error it was giving me, but I'd assume you will spend about the same at DDD.

How is that not competitive?

[Wolf Husky]

Originally posted by dvd-fanman
Has anyone ever submitted anything via this route and actually seen the price change whether it was for DVDs or something else?

I submitted prices from DDD for Queer as Folk S2 (preorder) and Signs about a week or so ago and as of 35 seconds ago, they haven't changed their prices.

As long as there are 10s of 1000s of people buying at the current price, I can't imagine they would change it. Why would they? It wouldn't make good business. I don't know what their motivation for implementing their system is, but they still don't give credits deserved on STL unless you call customer service and ask for it, and STL has been around for months. I'm guessing this is a marketing ploy, but who knows.

Truth of the matter is, Queer As Folk 2 is already the best current deal at Amazon. $71 shipped with STL and $10 coupon. I think DDD's price is around $85.

[Wolf Husky]

Originally posted by Swampster
I don't see any real benefit for a customer to take the time to inform Amazon.com

Two words... CUSTOMER SERVICE.

IMO, Amazon has customer service far superior to any other site out there. Buying at someone else's price with Amazon's customer service would be the ultimate.

[dvd-fanman]

Originally posted by Wolf Husky
Are you saying they aren't competitive? If you add Free Shipping, STL, and a possible coupon, they have some of the best prices around. Sure, you may have to buy two DVDs at a time to get the Free Shipping and a $5 coupon, but they are EXTREMELY COMPETITIVE after these discounts.

...snip...

How is that not competitive?

To me for a site to be competitive price wise, I shouldn't have to use all kinds of coupons, free shipping offers and "Share The Love" email discounts.

Now, don't get me wrong, I do take advantage of those offers, and I have bought extensively from Amazon in the past, but I wouldn't call them "competitive" when it comes to pure prices alone.

If they started having DVDs priced like some B&M stores (40%-50% off list price the first week) then I would call them competitive and wouldn't mind shopping with them all the time.

[dvd-fanman]

Originally posted by LASERMOVIES
Doesn't exactly look like a price matching program when you click the link on the item page. Cut and pasted the following information.

Yes, I read that as well, and didn't mean to suggest that it was a price matching program when I posted. I just wondered if their attitude toward pricing in general has started to shift.

I was thinking along the line of, "Perhaps they have noticed a drop in DVD sales or something and thought they should add this feature to their DVDs as well." Although, I'm sure Amazon does extremely well on DVDs anyway though.

[Mr. Gore]

At the risk of asking a stupid question, could someone please explain what this not-quite price-matching feature is? Unless I missed it, I didn’t see it clearly defined here. I’m not sure that I have ever seen the lines: “Amazon.com = low prices” anywhere on their site. Where is this text and how does it work to submit a competitor’s price to them? Is it a link to click? Sorry for all the potentially bothersome queries. Perhaps this program is only regional for the time being or Amazon is only targeting select users or titles, as they have done with trial functions in the past.

[LASERMOVIES]

Originally posted by Mr. Gore
At the risk of asking a stupid question, could someone please explain what this not-quite price-matching feature is? Unless I missed it, I didn’t see it clearly defined here. I’m not sure that I have ever seen the lines: “Amazon.com = low prices” anywhere on their site. Where is this text and how does it work to submit a competitor’s price to them? Is it a link to click? Sorry for all the potentially bothersome queries. Perhaps this program is only regional for the time being or Amazon is only targeting select users or titles, as they have done with trial functions in the past.

As of this morning it appears Amazon removed this latest promotion from their site. Or at least it is no longer available to me. You should have been able to see this when you were on an item page. There was a link to click that would take you to a page for submitting a competitor's lower price information. Amazon wanted you to provide the price, store name, link to the item, a question if the price included shipping, and city, state, phone number of the store with the lower price. Amazon never promised to match a lower price but hinted to check in a few days and see if they lowered it for the item. I submitted 9 different iems to see if this was a legitimate offer from Amazon. So far not one item received a price reduction.

[LASERMOVIES]

Originally posted by dvd-fanman
Yes, I read that as well, and didn't mean to suggest that it was a price matching program when I posted. I just wondered if their attitude toward pricing in general has started to shift.

I was thinking along the line of, "Perhaps they have noticed a drop in DVD sales or something and thought they should add this feature to their DVDs as well." Although, I'm sure Amazon does extremely well on DVDs anyway though.

I was only trying to provide some additional information about the program that I thought was important to this topic.

I think it is a way for Amazon to find out what their competitors are doing, and if it will generate more business. I don't know if there will be a dramatic shift in prices. But if there is it could mean a reduction or elimination of STL, coupons, and free shipping.

[jiggyblau]

I submitted a price for something non-DVD related, a CF card which was cheaper at buy.com. Well, after a few days, not only was the price the same, but the "Tell us" button and entire mention of "Amazon.com=low prices" was gone.

I emailed them asking why they'd be so misleading. They said the discount was already the most they could give.

A couple days later, the button returned.

[hondo21]

I just noticed this button on a bunch of DVDs at Amazon tonight.

I submitted URLs to better prices (from DDD, BestBuy.com, DVDEmpire, etc.) for these:

Mildred Pierce
Spy Kids 2
An Affair to Remember
West Side Story SE
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Star Trek IV: SE
The Man From Snowy River (note - this gets a price reduction on 3/11/03 to $14.95 MSRP, but Amazon's price still doesn't reflect that, even though they show the 3/11 availability date. I pointed them to DDD's $10.98 price w/free shipping)

I'll check back and see if it makes any difference

[Mr. Gore]

Thanks, LASERMOVIES and hondo21. I had never seen this button before, and when I checked again after seeing hondo21's new post, some DVDs on my wish list now had it. I submitted several lower prices as well, but I'm not optimistic that Amazon will make any changes.

[LASERMOVIES]

Originally posted by Mr. Gore
Thanks, LASERMOVIES and hondo21. I had never seen this button before, and when I checked again after seeing hondo21's new post, some DVDs on my wish list now had it. I submitted several lower prices as well, but I'm not optimistic that Amazon will make any changes.

The button might not have been present when you first looked for it. For some reason Amazon removed it from my account soon after submitting DVD titles. I noticed today it is back again. So far not one DVD out of nine submitted has had a price reduction.

[hondo21]

I noticed today that it shows up on nearly every DVD when I log in to Amazon from home, but not at all when I log in at work.

Must have something to do with the cookies. (?)

I submitted some Criterions to them tonight. Pointed them to DVDPlanet's everyday regular prices of 35% MSRP, which puts their 10-15% discount to shame.

[Mr. Gore]

Originally posted by LASERMOVIES
The button might not have been present when you first looked for it. For some reason Amazon removed it from my account soon after submitting DVD titles. I noticed today it is back again. So far not one DVD out of nine submitted has had a price reduction.

Yes, that's absolutely right. The button had never been present in the past. I wouldn't have missed something as obvious as that.

Originally posted by hondo21
I noticed today that it shows up on nearly every DVD when I log in to Amazon from home, but not at all when I log in at work.

Must have something to do with the cookies. (?)

Something is definitely up. I've been getting the button on every DVD I've checked from my account today. When I log out and use another browser, the button doesn't show up at all.

[orion30]

Truth of the matter is, Queer As Folk 2 is already the best current deal at Amazon. $71 shipped with STL and $10 coupon. I think DDD's price is around $85. [/b][/quote]

Hey Wolf Husky!
Thanks for the above tip.
Where can I get an STL for QAF2? Thanks again

[LASERMOVIES]

Originally posted by orion30
Truth of the matter is, Queer As Folk 2 is already the best current deal at Amazon. $71 shipped with STL and $10 coupon. I think DDD's price is around $85.

Hey Wolf Husky!
Thanks for the above tip.
Where can I get an STL for QAF2? Thanks again

Here are two places to start getting STL for DVD titles that interest you.


http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...5&pagenumber=1


http://www.dvdtalk.com/stl/index.pl