Non private mode on left. I am not logged in but have cookies enabled. Right is private mode.
On the right it has a rough shipping location (LA with zipcode), are you sure that’s not the change?
You know maybe it’s because I’m on a VPN. Testing out anti-botting methods?
Anti-botting or rough shipping calculations being factored in, both fairly plausible. I notice on the left it even prompts to “select delivery location” near where the price would be.
I tested putting it in my cart and it showed me the price. No location needed.
Or trying to filter out price scrapers
This has been common for ages. In lots of stores.
I can’t actually visualize what Amazon looks like at the moment I don’t currently have a way to check, but I’m positive if it shows me prices.
I know it does because I use it to filter out the cheap crap that infests Amazon. If something is too cheap it’s not worth buying. So I always order cheapest to most expensive and then scroll down a little bit but I definitely can see the actual prices.
I wonder if the a/b testing this if they are then anybody who doesn’t see prices should point blank refuse to actually buy anything. We don’t want this becoming common
That’s because of restrictions/contracts with the manufacturer. Sometimes there is a clause about the minimum advertised price. If it’s being sold below that price, that’s what you’ll see.
However, that clearly isn’t what’s happening- or if it is, then Amazon is violating those terms. They are showing the price in some circumstances, but not others. That leads me to think it’s a smokescreen, using the above as an excuse.
More likely, the price changed between screenshots.
We don’t know what the price is on the left.
Yup. Or minimum advertised price is location bound. So the one on the right which has a location set can show it but the one on the left can’t.
This is actually a common thing and has been around for awhile. I see it on amazon mostly. Seen it on Microcenter’s website a number of times as well. Newegg was big on doing it when they were more PC focused and not a chinese website. Was more prominent in the early 2000s as there were more competing online stores back then.
Yeah, like, decades. It basically means whatever agreement they have with the supplier says that they can’t advertise for under MSRP. This is not a thing that’s unique to Amazon.
I’ve never seen it either. Might be a regional thing, as in better/worse consumer protection…? I’m from the EU.
US thing. It’s a loophole vendors will use to get below contracts with manufacturers so they can clear stock and not actually be publicly displaying the sale price. Keeps them from getting sued by the manufacturer and the consumer ends up with a better deal.
Except now the consumer has no reference for the price, which is illegal in most if not all EU member states. Not to forget that now the seller can hide the prices of products and make it impossible for a consumer to make an informed purchase. If any store, physical or otherwise, were to pull a stunt like this to me (EU as well), they’ll be talking to a regulator.
Not sure what you mean uninformed. They will see the price in the cart before checkout. Also the price here is always cheaper for the customer. This is one thing we don’t need the EU to regulate to stop these kind of discounts. They can go after “convenience fees and surcharges” on other websites, like $40 fee for a $100 concert ticket.
Again, that would not sail in the EU. As a seller, you must list your price up front.
Plus, again, it makes comparison at a glance impossible. It’s a hassle to take multiple items with unlisted prices and compare their qualities for cost-effecticeness if you don’t see the price, and have to add items to cart before making any assessments.
Your comment reads like false exclusivity. Go after unlisted prices or convenience fees and surcharges? How about we go after both?
The prices are not shown outside of the cart because the companies are using loopholes to sell it at a lower price than they are allowed to as per their contract. It’s always lower and not higher. Going after this loophole means they will stop selling at a lower price. No need to make an assessment when the price will be lower at checkout. I have never seen any complain about getting additional discounts at checkout. This is one thing American consumers benefit from. 😂
It’s different when the prices are higher like for concert tickets as you will see a massive difference at checkout.
I have never seen any complain about getting additional discounts at checkout.
That is a very edge case scenario that, to be honest, I find improbable. What incentive does a seller have to charge less? Especially if they are not required to tell you what they’re charging? It’s in a seller’s interest to try to get as much money from their customers as possible, and if they hide the price until they inform the buyer at the moment of purchase, that gives them all the power to charge as much as they can get away with.
Amazon is a big POS
No. The manufacturer has a minimum advertised pricing policy in place. Amazon has the item priced below this point. So they can only display the price after it’s been added to the cart.
The neat part is - amazon is still a POS
Yes, that is the purpose of s shopping website. One big Point of Sale
Go to bed Dad
Sometimes there are vendors or distribution rules that require that they don’t post discounts publicly so people can’t price match or other retailers can’t demand a discount to match.
That’s a weird logic. If I cannot find it on price comparison sites, the offer doesn’t exist.
It’s not too uncommon for PC equipment. Back when Newegg was a good company, before they were bought out over a decade ago, there would be quite a few items on there that were like this.
Well you’d be in the minority so they don’t care.
That’s an odd definition of non-public if the information is available to everyone. More like annoyingly public.
This is super common with niche hobby products I buy. Doesn’t make any fucking sense. Vendors will send out an email saying “hey we have a sale but we can’t tell you the dollar amount just the percentage until you put it into your cart.” I think it’s also common with some lines of luxury goods. You’ll find a few different reasons online if you Google “luxury brands hide price.”
I reloaded the page and it showed up.
Sometimes there is a minimum advertised price that manufacturers will allow vendors to sell at publicly, and the price in cart is a way that vendors get around it. If that’s what’s happening here, OP might be getting a really good price. I don’t think this is a sinister plot by AMZN.
If you assume everything’s a sinister plot by Amazon, you’ll be right most of the time.
I’m so glad amazon is useless in my country due to high delivery times and fees. Local stores never vanished and their online stores are so much better.
That is just to condition you to get accustomed to eventually having to buy it first before they let you know the price.
Which again is just to condition you to accept the fact that next they will be able to increase the price on your existing completed purchase each month for rest of your life.
It’s only in the best interest of the consumer, it’s not an evil tactic.
/s
I’ve noticed convenience stores in my area just stopped putting out price tags.
I’m pretty sure that’s illegal in a lot of places. I know some stores have the “if you have to ask you can’t afford it, boutique” vibe going on, but they do actually have to put the prices somewhere.
Sounds more like an inconvenience store to me.
Oh, that’s illegal here. Nowadays they mostly transitioned to those wireless e-ink tags anyway.
The Lowe’s website has this too. It’s fucking asinine.
Dude it’s $3 an ounce. Totally worth it.
lol I didn’t notice that.
I would straight up rather not have most things than give money to Amazon at this point. They’re only going to get worse.
Im proud I still never bought anything from Amazon (except indirectly their stock … which just as bad, but super hard/expensive to avoid - at last until they dont give it a dogshit ESG score).
Don’t feel bad about owning their stock, as you say they’re basically in every big ETF, and the price discovery mechanisms for ETFs are lousy anyway so you never affected their shareholder value in any case.
Yeah, its weird, I was kinda tech oriented anyway, but now just by market weight a few stocks with pretty stellar few years of growth hold kinda a lot of concentration risk. Especially funny, bcs eg nVidia isn’t as widely known relatively to how big it has gotten (market cap).
Don’t get that card. I used to have it but it would randomly output max volume static… Not a fun experience.
MM yes. Thanks.
I’ll offer that I’ve had the DX for probably a decade and had zero trouble, but of course YMMV.
Had the same thing with a Xonar DX, probably got some permanent hearing damage from that.
What’s the price when you add it to your cart? Websites do this when they are selling something for “less than what ASUS allows us to advertise”. If it’s less than $43.25 when you add it to your cart, that’s why.
Still dumb, but at least there’s a reason.
Wtf is a gaming sound card!
Back in the day, they were the only way to get sound out of machine, except the internal speaker but that only said beep
A sound card is a device you add to your motherboard if for some strange reason your motherboard doesn’t have the ability to play sound already. I have literally never heard of anyone needing one since about 1995.
Maybe it’s for a retro system? It’s not exactly expensive.
I literally have a modern system that does not have any audio onboard.
I put in a USB connected mixer that also functions as an audio interface for my PC… But I could have easily gone this way too.
I had a board that the onboard audio was causing crashes. I disabled it and installed a PCI sound card and everything was fine.
I actually had to add a dedicated sound card to my PC because the onboard one shat itself and died somehow, and it was way cheaper than a new motherboard.
Apparently having a dedicated sound card and high end audio equipment can improve the quality of the sound. You can chalk it up to audiophile stuff.
I’m not really an audiophile but switching to an external usb amp dac was a good decision.
A lot of motherboards cheap out on their audio. I had one that had a lot of EMI in the line in and swapped it out for a 30$ card like this and it cleared it up so people would stop telling me my mic sounded like shit lol.
It means that there is a MAP (minimum advertised price) from the manufacturer. It is not an Amazon thing.Never mind, i see changing browsing mode allows it to appear.Without giving Amazon too much of the benefit of the doubt here, I’ve noticed they love to offer you “coupons”, generally with a midnight expiry.
I expect it’s 100% a tactic to get you to commit to something you’ve looked at a couple of times but might be on the fence about buying.
I get the same as OP’s logged-out price (nothing hidden) while logged in, perhaps if they are offering a coupon it would take it below the minimum advertised price.
Definitely stupid, but it’s the only way I can see of arriving at this situation.
america is winning and winning and winning. so much like damn stop it. u devalue gold by being so great!america is winning and winning and winning. so much like damn stop it. u devalue gold by being so great! turbocapitalism has proven to be soooo resiliant against humanity…cant beat that. make stupid great again!
