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Amazon Stops Giving Refunds When an Item's Price Drops After You Purchase It (recode.net)

Posted by msmash on from the make-your-peace-with-it dept.

Amazon has for years issued refunds to users when the price of an item drops after they've purchased it. But lately the e-commerce giant hasn't been doing that on a number of products, except for televisions, according to price-tracking companies. Recode reports: The move may have something to do with the rise of startups that track prices for Amazon customers and automatically request refunds when appropriate. One of them, a Santa Monica-based startup called Earny that is backed by the startup incubator Science, first pointed out the change. Earny scours a customer's email inbox for digital receipts, and then continuously checks the price on a retailer's website to see if it drops.

4 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. What? by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Earny scours a customer's email inbox for digital receipts...

    Yeah.... no.

    1. Re:What? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm sure lots of people do, though. Heck, look at all the people who don't even blink an eye before allowing Facebook full access to the contact list they have on their personal computer - and that's not even promising to save them a few cents.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
  2. Re:So, Amazon was counting on only a few customers by Cajun+Hell · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If Fuck You is why, then why did the previous policy exist?

    Either Amazon suddenly got a little eviller, or some other condition changed.

    I think the "this is costing us more than it used to" explanation fits the facts pretty well. It used to be segmented marketing, where they charge people depending on how much they care/complain. If you're a squeaky wheel, you get oil. If you're a silent wheel, no oil for you. Then robots came in to automate squeaking, independent of how much the user cares. You can't do segmented marketing when the segments all merge.

    --
    "Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
  3. Re: welcome to the club, amazon.. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

    None of that applies to today's race to the absolute bottom in wages and working conditions.

    Working in a modern warehouse is nowhere near the "absolute bottom", and claiming that it is worse than 19th century plantation slavery is idiotic.