• MrJameGumb@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    This reminds me of the ads for cheap drop ship garbage where they have 60,000 units in stock BUT THEY’RE ONLY AVAILABLE FOR THE NEXT 2 HOURS THEN THEY’RE GONE FOREVER! YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO MISS THIS GREAT OPPORTUNITY!!!

    • aeronmelon@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Or the dramatic price slashing on home shopping channels.

      My mom called to buy something very early in its presentation and they sold it to her for a much lower price than what was on the screen. We kept watching and the presenter eventually slashed the price down to the amount she paid. Everyone got to buy it for that amount, regardless of when they called. It’s just a gimmick to make people think they’re getting a deal.

      This also happened when the head of Apple Retail left and went to work at JC Penny. He did away with sales and discounts and just listed everything for the reduced price. Sales plummeted. People were buying the same stuff elsewhere for more just because it shown as being on sale or having been discounted from an even higher amount.

  • gila@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    For me that number is only what’s left at the Amazon warehouse in my city. There’s always more stock or listings when I deselect ‘Delivered within 2 days’. Because Amazon warehouses in other cities can’t ship to me within 2 days, we’re too remote.

    • slazer2au@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I remember booking.com getting slapped by that a while ago so now they say ‘X available on our site’ because there could always be some on another site.

  • Marcbmann@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    It’s completely accurate. Thos is crazy, I know, but you can have a shit ton of things but only 3 of one specific thing.

    Sometimes sellers get more inventory in when stock is low. Sometimes they don’t. Amazon is just letting you know how many units they have on hand. Actually, they even let you buy units that are still on their way to the Amazon warehouse.

  • leanleft@lemmy.ml
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    7 months ago

    maybe it means the product is bad and they intend to discontinue their inventory. lol

  • foggy@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    I’ve had a >$1000 product In my buy later for over a year. I’m actually planning on buying it really soon.

    It’s gone from “only 11 left” to “only 15 left” to “only 5 left” to “only 11 left” and like, that isn’t how the word “only” works.

    Edit: read no further. You will lose brain cells.

    • Patches@sh.itjust.works
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      7 months ago

      But it is how it works. There are literally Millions of people buying stuff on Amazon on any one day.

      Amazon and in fact no store just buys 7 widgets, and that’s all they’re ever going to own. They have a constant supply going in from suppliers, and a constant supply going out in the form of purchases.

      Anything that doesn’t - isn’t selling and it’s costing someone a huge amount of money to sit there, taking up space.

      • foggy@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Saying there are only 3 of something suggest that…there are only 3 of them.

        If they are sold, then there is 0.

        You’re thinking of having “3 items available” not “only 3 items available.”

        • Sludgeyy@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Only doesn’t change anything.

          You can only buy 3 items when it says “only 3 items available”

          Now if no one buys the only 3 items and Amazon gets 3 more in stock. They only have 6 items to sell. You can only buy 6 items at that time.

        • Patches@sh.itjust.works
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          7 months ago

          They are the same thing. I have 3 dozen eggs for sale. Buy em or don’t. I might get more. I might not.

          How do you expect them to know how many of an item physically exists in the world?

          It’s just a store like every other store. The seller sends their inventory to Amazon. Amazon stores it, and then ships it. The Seller doesn’t tell Amazon how many total it has.

          You don’t see how many the seller has. You don’t see how many the manufacturer has sitting in their warehouse. You don’t see how many of this item were ever made. You don’t see if the manufacturer can make more, or how many people they will potentially make in their entire existence.

          You just see how many Amazon has in stock for sale right now.

    • mipadaitu@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      In case you haven’t seen it.

      camelcamelcamel.com tracks prices on Amazon, and you can see the price history, to get a good idea if it’s a product that jumps around at all.

      You can also set price alerts, so if it’s something that goes on sale a lot, you can take advantage.

      • Patches@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        Does anyone else have problems with the alerts?

        I put in for them, and then nothing happens. I’ll check back in 2 months and see the price dropped myself but I never get any ‘alerts’.

      • Spookyghost@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        Scamazon uses the coupons “click to save $5.00 applied in your cart” to hinder the accuracy of price tracking websites now. Don’t trust scamazon.

        • Patches@sh.itjust.works
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          7 months ago

          Why would Amazon want to hinder the accuracy of the price tracking in that way? I would imagine Amazon wants their 30% cut (Depending on Category) and they want it as fast as possible. Their entire business is predicated on Churn, and Logistics.

          In that way - I would imagine CamelCamelCamel increases conversion.

          I wonder if the Coupons were shown to increase conversion for the ‘Coupon’ ladies that everyone sees in their local grocer. They only buy when they get a ‘Good Deal’. They’re willing to spend 9 hours to save $0.76 and they never “pay sticker price.”

          • Spookyghost@sh.itjust.works
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            7 months ago

            They want tracking sites to show higher prices than people actually pay as the “lowest price” so people think they are getting a deal. Scamazon does not want their prices tracked, it is disadvantagous for them for customers to be informed about their price adjustment trickery. Scamazon uses more dark patterns on their website than anyone.

          • pokemaster787@ani.social
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            7 months ago

            Why would Amazon want to hinder the accuracy of the price tracking in that way?

            Accurate price tracking leads to people saying “Oh well it was 50% less a year ago. I’ll wait on a sale, not paying full price on that” and waiting on a sale, leading to less conversions. Amazon has pressured Camelcamelcamel into agreeing to not track specific low prices (i.e., Prime Day, if that actually had any good sales). I’m unsure if they track coupons or not, they were not clear about what the criteria for not tracking a price are.

            Camelcamelcamel is unfortunately compromised by Amazon, it’s probably mostly accurate but there are price points they do not accurately log at Amazon’s request.