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Amazon Stops Giving Refunds When an Item's Price Drops After You Purchase It (recode.net)
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.
Yeah.... no.
to ask for the refund, however, when a larger number of customers started asking for the refund, then it was no longer cost-effective.
Why are you contracting them by email? You want a better response, start a chat window to have a conversation with a human being.
If you bought before a price drop, deal with it.
No kidding. I wonder what a stock broker would tell you if you tried that.
I haven't used Newegg in years. Their return policy is terrible.
If I get a defective product from Amazon, they send me a new one before asking for the return. Newegg wanted their product first, charge me return fees since it's not their fault it's defective, and charged me shipping for the replacement.
Only had to have that happen a few times to say to hell with them. Plus, their prices are not very competitive anymore.
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.
When I buy something with my credit card, the warranty is doubled, it is insured against loss for 90 days, and I get price matching for 60 days (from any retailer).
Admittedly there are some exceptions, but it's great. Many other credit cards offer similar perks.
If you bought before a price drop, deal with it.
I agree- unless we're talking a huge drop, just suck it up. I mean, you were willing to pay for it then, but you're going to have a meltdown and your kids will starve because now it's 50 cents cheaper?
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
I am still waiting for Apple to have a 50% off sale on sales of their shares..
If it was a computer, it wouldn't be pausing to find the appropriate script and making stupid mistakes.
I haven't used Newegg in years. Their return policy is terrible.
Amen. I bought a board from them a few years back. Got the PC all built and running, but something was causing lock ups. Turns out several individual pins were bent in the CPU socket. There's no way I'm good enough to just bend a single pin in several different places, so it had to have come like that. I didn't want to wait a week+ without a PC while I shipped it back and they shipped me another one, so I purchased the same one overnight from Amazon and had it up and running the next day. Newegg's return policy for mobos is "No". Just "No". Even if they shipped it to you in three pieces, you cannot return for a refund under any circumstance. It took several days for them to at least agree to give me store credit. After spending thousands with them over the years, I found this to be an exceptionally poor way to handle a $150 purchase. I haven't been back to their site since, and I spend every opportunity I can advising people not to shop with them.
If you bought before a price drop, deal with it.
Too many price drops and your storefront starts to look like Steam: people will only buy when the product is on sale for 50% or more.
Depends on the return policy. Many B&M stores will price match for the same period as their return policy, otherwise people would just return the item and repurchase it anyway. Amazon charges return shipping if it's not due to a problem on their part (damaged, DOA, wrong item, etc) so it's got a bit of an advantage there.
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
slave-like worker conditions in warehouses
If you can legally quit, then it is not "slave-like". Slavery is not synonymous with "requires hard work".
If I get a defective product from Amazon, they send me a new one before asking for the return.
Well, they used to at least. Last week I received a defective SD card reader. Amazon didn't even offer a replacement - they merely emailed the shipping label and told me my card would be credited when they received the item. That I have Prime and have been a customer for more than 15 years makes this response not very encouraging, especially in conjunction with the increasing number of items that don't get two-day shipping.
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
You mean a large number of robots. Once again, assholes ruin it for everyone else.
It took several days for them to at least agree to give me store credit... I found this to be an exceptionally poor way to handle a $150 purchase. I haven't been back to their site since..
So can I have your store credit?
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
Since your comment is the most visible of this thread, I'll hang this here. I'm not affiliated with these guys and I don't make a dime from them but for computer parts, I've found superbiiz.com to be a good replacement for Newegg. Haven't had a problem yet and their prices are often lower.
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
You should lobby for better consumer protection laws, rather than relying on retailers being good to you.
In the UK you get two weeks to return the item for any reason (including that the price dropped). Beyond that, you have strong protections if it is faulty, such as not having to pay return shipping.
Make it the law.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Once I bought an "OEM" cpu, and it came in a box about 12"x6"x2", pretty huge for a single CPU (no fan, just the CPU). Whomever packed it put a few pieces of brown paper "stuffing" in it, enough to fill it up about 1/4. In shipping the plastic holder had come open, the chip had come out, and at least 1/2 of the pins had gotten bent over. But since this was about ten years ago, I got them to cross-ship me a replacement. Honestly, though, nothing I've bought from them recently has had any issues.
That's some low quality bait
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
What are these items that can only be purchased if you have Prime?
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.
Amazon's pricing isn't that sophisticated. They do yo-yo prices on a very regular basis, often-times in concert with changing which 3rd party vendor is sells no the item.
If you can legally quit
It's unclear whether or not you can...
He might tell you that he gets his commission whether you're buying or selling.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
In state where we've essentially outlawed any attempts at subsistence living? Yeah, go ahead and try to "quit" working and see how long before they drag you into court for something you've violated.
> Newegg's return policy for mobos is "No". Just "No".
Here's a randomly selected motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128859
"GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 R5"
"Return Policies
Return for refund within: 30 days
Return for replacement within: 30 days
This item is covered by Newegg.com's Standard Return Policy."
Here is Newegg's Standard Return Policy: http://kb.newegg.com/Policies/Article/1167#44 and their rules regarding restocking fees: http://kb.newegg.com/FAQ/Article/1755
(The money quote on restocking fees: "Newegg does NOT charge restocking fees for returns of defective products. If you have received the wrong product or it doesn't match what was shown on our site or we have made some other shipping error, there will be NO restocking fee and NO charge for a return label, provided the item is within its return policy period.")
> Even if they shipped it to you in three pieces, you cannot return for a refund under any circumstance.
That is damage from shipping and is eligible for return for replacement. Read http://kb.newegg.com/Policies/Article/1167#overall and http://kb.newegg.com/FAQ/Article/1403 (starting at "FULL INSTRUCTIONS").
If your replacement item is undamaged and is not to your liking, it is covered by the original item's return policy. In the case of nearly every new motherboard, you can return for refund or replacement within 30 days.
I have had to return a few items to Newegg for replacement or refund over the years. The process has been universally quick and hassle-free.
Newegg may not have the lowest price for every item in their inventory, but they -unlike many Internet retailers (including Amazon)- absolutely will not settle with patent trolls under any circumstance. I'm willing to pay a bit more to help fund a company that refuses to feed the trolls.
Earny, by automating it (and siphoning off a percentage), spoiled it for the rest of us.
This is why we can't have nice things.
You should lobby for better consumer protection laws, rather than relying on retailers being good to you.
In the UK you get two weeks to return the item for any reason (including that the price dropped). Beyond that, you have strong protections if it is faulty, such as not having to pay return shipping.
Make it the law.
While such a law is appealing it ads to the initial,purchase price as manufacturers and retailers need to factor those costs into the price.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
...until Earny-BestBuy starts tracking them, automatically requesting thousands of refunds every day, and then gets Best Buy to change their policies as well.
Amazon has also begun closing accounts of people who "abuse" the return policy, in Amazon's opinion
Meanwhile, they encourage you to subscribe to Prime and use it to buy items like clothing and shoes, which you obviously can't try on until they've been delivered. But heaven forbid stuff doesn't fit and you want to return it, now you're "abusing" the system and your account is terminated; by the way, thanks for all the Prime payments! Nice racket they have going.
"If there was a gay Afro-Puertorican Linux distribution, I'd give it a try" ~lucm
Working in a modern warehouse
Where amazon was paying paramedics to pick people up after they collapsed rather than fix or address the root problems...
I'm still not going to go as far as to say it compares with plantation slavery; but the conditions amazon was imposing were WAY out of line; and there was real basis for the comparison:
Amazon 'modern warehouses', where you are worked until you collapse.
Depends on the return policy. Many B&M stores will price match for the same period as their return policy, otherwise people would just return the item and repurchase it anyway. Amazon charges return shipping if it's not due to a problem on their part (damaged, DOA, wrong item, etc) so it's got a bit of an advantage there.
Right up until the cost of returning the item is less than the price difference.
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
I remember emailing them over 5 years ago trying to get a price match after they dropped the price on an item a few days after I ordered it. They said they no longer had a price matching policy.
That's why I use extensions like keepa, that show the price history of a product on amazon and also lets me set target price alerts. Its like stock trading.
well, the next move for Amazon will be to charge you the higher of the two prices [the price when you clicked "buy" and the current price when the order is fulfilled], using the claim to charge the higher amount later being that the contract was only entered into/accepted once the order shipped. And that you agreed to it via clause 18.3.6.b.12 of their TOS, which they notified you that they had updated via their email to you saying "The TOS for Amazon has been updated. Log into your Amazon account to accept the new TOS and then read the 427 page document".
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
The thing is, the prices usually drop almost immediately after you buy something from Amazon. Also if you add something to your Cart, go away for a few hours and come back, the price is usually higher.
The prices change a lot over time. You can use camelcamelcamel to track the historic prices of items. I suspect that this is actually becoming a problem for Amazon: I held off buying something recently for two weeks waiting for Amazon to lower their price back to where it was when I first looked. They didn't, but one of their competitors did in this time so I bought it from them instead.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
I haven't used Newegg in years. Their return policy is terrible.
Also their prices are garbage now, on most items anyway. Maybe 1% of the time they have a good price.
If I get a defective product from Amazon, they send me a new one before asking for the return.
We have Prime and they still don't do this. The return has to get there before they will send me anything.
Actually, my best experience was with Computer Geeks, AKA geeks.com. When I have a problem with something I've bought there, which doesn't happen too often any more because their prices aren't that great either as a rule, they make it right faster than anyone. A super-cheap case I bought from them experienced power supply failure, a 450W. They sent me a 480W that was worth more than the whole case...
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
If you can legally quit, then it is not "slave-like". Slavery is not synonymous with "requires hard work".
Strongly disagree. If the work takes a greater toll on you than it pays off, and you don't have skills for better work and/or there is no better work available, then it is slave-like. If the work doesn't actually pay enough to live on with proper health, then it is slave-like. This is actually a better deal for employers than slavery, because they don't have to buy the workers and they don't even have to pay them enough to live on. An actual slave owner had at least a slight motivation to keep his slaves alive and healthy. Amazon and Wal-Mart have little to none. They have no reason whatsoever not to use once and discard.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Why would you buy that kind of stuff through anyone who doesn't make their return policy a major part of their plan, e.g. Zappos? I will buy shoes from Zappos even though they do not have the best prices because if I don't want them, I don't have to keep them. Oddly enough, Zappos has been owned by Amazon for some years now...
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Amazon has said (when they were trying to get publishers to agree to lower/variable prices) that their prices are set to generate maximum income, i.e. max profit x volume. You lower the price if you feel more people will buy it to justify the lower price, and Amazon apparently has great algorithms to do that. Now, if people can retroactively get the difference it is still doable if they are just a few so that you can ignore them and "eat" the difference. If many people started to do this with automated services, then it either becomes pretty much impossible to calculate the optimal price-drops, and/or you result in smaller price-drops to account for the refunds, meaning you end up with a smaller volume as well (due to the less desirable price), so overall it starts hurting Amazon sales.
I've been a heavy Prime user for many years (first in the US, now in the UK) and apart from the refunds, Amazon has been really great with me in numerous occasions (when the manufacturer was unhelpful, long after Amazon's return window), so I won't mind these refunds going away.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
I'm not sure why people haven't figured out that businesses adapt their model whenever government tries to force something on them. Government regs usually end up hurting employees and consumers. (Obama Care - reduce everyone to under 30 hours. Raise minimum wage - see an increase in automation at restaurants. For employers to pay salary overtime - promote less people to manager and hire a few more under 30 hour employees.)
Business exists to sustain themselves and the larger ones are able to work around any regulation that comes along. The smaller ones die or get absorbed by the larger one (just look at the insurance companies and banks for examples.)
I bought a moto 360 watch about a few months ago and they shipped me a new one at no charge. I eventually got a charge because I never gotten around to shipping it back (even though they had given me a paid shipping label.) As soon as I saw the charge, I remembered I never returned it and sent it back. I was credited back the charge without any interaction needed on my part.
Any suggestions for a good Newegg replacement?
I've used Newegg on and off since 2006 to buy parts for my machines but I haven't upgraded any of them recently beyond a GPU in late 2014. Always enjoyed the experience but I wasn't a fan of their becoming another Frys.
While using apps to compare prices on groceries while shopping, it occurred to me that it would seem to be the sort of task an AI would be good at. Right now Siri tries to take you to iTunes when you ask about music, and I imagine Alexa offers to let you order all kinds of things from Amazon, but an AI not tethered to a vendor would be much more useful. It would be extremely disruptive to retailers and advertising would be extremely difficult. Imagine dictating a shopping list to an AI that could compare price per unit, have a whitelist of brand names that you consider interchangeable, and would be able to target 'free shipping' price minimums.
That's fine. Just do a price match via your credit card. Most of them offer this service for free.
Eat more bacon!
In the U.S., law is made by the elected representatives of the people, who are then bought and corrupted by the corporations and do what their new corporate masters command.
Exactly. And what's worse, the People are so dumb they're happy to vote for a candidate who's obviously sold out to Goldman Sachs and various other corporate masters.
I feel more comfortable buying stuff off eBay.
I buy a fair amount of stuff from Ebay still, and honestly I have really good experiences with it mostly. The secret is to not blindly buy from just any seller, but instead to look carefully at the seller's record and feedbacks. When I see a seller with a score of 500, they've been on there for more than a decade, and their feedback score is 100% (not a single negative), that's someone I feel safe buying from. When you see some guy with a new account and little or no feedbacks (and none as a seller), assume the worst. If you're buying something from China, be prepared for it to not show up or to be crappy, but you might get a really good deal too, so don't buy anything expensive from there but for small, cheap stuff it's a good alternative.
> Business exists to sustain themselves
There's a missing piece that seems to regularly be skipped out by Libertarian/Conservative /.ers - businesses exist by the grace and will of society.
Don't we all?
While such a law is appealing it ads to the initial,purchase price as manufacturers and retailers need to factor those costs into the price.
Not the case. For most of the products an existing manufacturer warranty applies anyway. The problem with that is the manufacturer may have no or little presence in the country in which you currently live. Case in point I had to return a camera lens I bought in the USA after I moved overseas. The store wanted nothing to do with me so I eventually managed to get it FedEx'd to the company in Japan and they sent me a new one.
In countries like Australia the only thing that changes is that the point of sale is responsible for the base warranty. This does not affect cost of returns at all since the mandated minimum warranty is often shorter than what many companies offer anyway. What it does do is move the burden of logistics onto people who can handle the logistics. The cost of a store handling thousands of products, from hundreds of vendors, with existing distribution channels and agreements in place; returning a product dwarfs the cost of a consumer attempting to do the same thing. Bonus points that they normally have one on the shelf and can do an on the spot swap eliminating the "cost" of lost time.
While such a law is appealing it ads to the initial,purchase price as manufacturers and retailers need to factor those costs into the price.
Not the case. For most of the products an existing manufacturer warranty applies anyway.
In some cases local laws mandate a longer warranty period which adds to the warranty costs and thus prices are raised.
The problem with that is the manufacturer may have no or little presence in the country in which you currently live. Case in point I had to return a camera lens I bought in the USA after I moved overseas. The store wanted nothing to do with me so I eventually managed to get it FedEx'd to the company in Japan and they sent me a new one.
That makes sense because the company you bought it from in the US may be a separate subsidiary from the one overseas and thus the overseas one is not liable for the warranty and doesn't want to absorb warranty costs for an item they did not sell. Not all companies do that, some offer world wide warranties.
In countries like Australia the only thing that changes is that the point of sale is responsible for the base warranty. This does not affect cost of returns at all since the mandated minimum warranty is often shorter than what many companies offer anyway. What it does do is move the burden of logistics onto people who can handle the logistics. The cost of a store handling thousands of products, from hundreds of vendors, with existing distribution channels and agreements in place; returning a product dwarfs the cost of a consumer attempting to do the same thing. Bonus points that they normally have one on the shelf and can do an on the spot swap eliminating the "cost" of lost time.
All of which are costs factored int the price, and if the consumer has more rights in B than in A, items generally cost more in B to compensate for the extra costs. As for the store, a swap ,means one less item to sell which also has a cost of a potential lost sale. TNSTAAFL
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
In some cases local laws mandate a longer warranty period which adds to the warranty costs and thus prices are raised.
Agreed, but in most countries where this has happened the legally mandated warranty is minimal and quite frankly when it comes to electronics pretty much all companies offer something close to or exceeding this anyway unless they are also in the "value adding" business of selling you insurance on top of their shit products.
That makes sense because the company you bought it from in the US may be a separate subsidiary from the one overseas and thus the overseas one is not liable for the warranty and doesn't want to absorb warranty costs for an item they did not sell. Not all companies do that, some offer world wide warranties.
No it was a supply chain issue. There was always a world-wide warranty on the lens but the process is the same as it is with most companies; the device needs to come back through the local distribution chain. A chain which is built on solid relationships between vendor - distributor - seller - customer, which completely breaks down when the customer needs to talk to someone else.
All of which are costs factored int the price, and if the consumer has more rights in B than in A, items generally cost more in B to compensate for the extra costs. As for the store, a swap ,means one less item to sell which also has a cost of a potential lost sale. TNSTAAFL
Agreed, all the costs are factored in, including the cost of inefficiency. That's ultimately what has changed by a lot of these regulations. It just moves the process back into the most efficient path, and the additional cost is offset by the increased efficiency of having an existing contractual relationship, something which a customer does not have with a distributor or vendor.
Simple example:
- RMAing a Seagate HDD in the USA involved a call to the distribution centre, filing out paperwork, having the drive delivered to the distribution centre, paying a service fee, being without the drive for 6 weeks, and then having it delivered back.
- RMAing a Seagate HDD in Australia involved going to the store I got it from with receipt in hand and having it exchanged. The store then went through the same process, except back when I worked at the store instead of manually moving things around and paying a service charge, and filling out paperwork we would: Scan the barcode on the drive and throw it in a pile. At the end of the month run an RMA report with a click of a button. Return RMA equipment in bulk, regardless if it was a customer returned or defect on arrival or damaged during shipping, and the service cost to the distributor was the same as was the shipping costs regardless if we had customer defects or not.
There's no such thing as a free lunch. But we don't need to make that sandwich in the most expensive and labour intensive way either.
In some cases local laws mandate a longer warranty period which adds to the warranty costs and thus prices are raised.
Agreed, but in most countries where this has happened the legally mandated warranty is minimal and quite frankly when it comes to electronics pretty much all companies offer something close to or exceeding this anyway unless they are also in the "value adding" business of selling you insurance on top of their shit products.
It really depends own location; in general that is true. The EU has a longer mandated warranty period for some items and thus they pay more to cover those added costs.
That makes sense because the company you bought it from in the US may be a separate subsidiary from the one overseas and thus the overseas one is not liable for the warranty and doesn't want to absorb warranty costs for an item they did not sell. Not all companies do that, some offer world wide warranties.
No it was a supply chain issue. There was always a world-wide warranty on the lens but the process is the same as it is with most companies; the device needs to come back through the local distribution chain. A chain which is built on solid relationships between vendor - distributor - seller - customer, which completely breaks down when the customer needs to talk to someone else.
I really wouldn't consider that to be a world wide warranty if you have to return it to the region purchase for warranty work; to me a worldwide warranty is one where you can get warranty service anywhere there is a repair facility regardless of where you purchased the item. Apple does that for example.
All of which are costs factored int the price, and if the consumer has more rights in B than in A, items generally cost more in B to compensate for the extra costs. As for the store, a swap ,means one less item to sell which also has a cost of a potential lost sale. TNSTAAFL
Agreed, all the costs are factored in, including the cost of inefficiency. That's ultimately what has changed by a lot of these regulations. It just moves the process back into the most efficient path, and the additional cost is offset by the increased efficiency of having an existing contractual relationship, something which a customer does not have with a distributor or vendor.
Simple example: - RMAing a Seagate HDD in the USA involved a call to the distribution centre, filing out paperwork, having the drive delivered to the distribution centre, paying a service fee, being without the drive for 6 weeks, and then having it delivered back. - RMAing a Seagate HDD in Australia involved going to the store I got it from with receipt in hand and having it exchanged. The store then went through the same process, except back when I worked at the store instead of manually moving things around and paying a service charge, and filling out paperwork we would: Scan the barcode on the drive and throw it in a pile. At the end of the month run an RMA report with a click of a button. Return RMA equipment in bulk, regardless if it was a customer returned or defect on arrival or damaged during shipping, and the service cost to the distributor was the same as was the shipping costs regardless if we had customer defects or not.
There's no such thing as a free lunch. But we don't need to make that sandwich in the most expensive and labour intensive way either.
It may be more efficient for the buyer but not for the seller. In your first case Seagate has no added cost beyond answering a phone call and receiving and repairing the item. In the second case both the store and manufacturer have the added costs of handling the item in their supply chain from receipt of item from customer at store until on the receiving dock at the repair center. The cost different may be negligible but depending on the quantities can get expensive; however I really doubt ei
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
I love them. When I want something but don't care when I get it then I just set an alert with camelcamelcamel with a price near the historic low.