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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.

3 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. I have noticed this as well... by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I buy a TON of things from Amazon, I'm a heavy Prime customer...

    That being said, my last three price adjustment requests in the past two weeks have all been denied, which is very odd.

    I do it manually, just when I notice things... I buy at least a half a dozen items a week from Amazon.

    This change will make me think twice before buying as much.

    1. Re:I have noticed this as well... by jittles · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I buy a TON of things from Amazon, I'm a heavy Prime customer...

      That being said, my last three price adjustment requests in the past two weeks have all been denied, which is very odd.

      I do it manually, just when I notice things... I buy at least a half a dozen items a week from Amazon.

      This change will make me think twice before buying as much.

      You're doing this manually but noticed three price adjustments in a two week period? Are you unemployed? I buy something on Amazon because I don't have the time to go to the store and pick it up. The last thing I am going to do is keep my eye out for price adjustments. If it's something like a TV that will deflate in value over the next year then I just watch the price myself until it's time to pull the trigger - or better yet - use a website to watch the price for me. If I needed it so badly that I couldn't wait for a price I was happy with, well what's a few dollars, then?

  2. Re:What? by EvilSS · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Just setup a gmail account specifically for amazon.

    --
    I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.