Misleading Amazon price cuts on tools

[blueman]

I almost got fooled on this, so I wanted to share this with others :)

Amazon is heavily promoting the message: "Lowest Prices of the Season -- Prices dropped on thousands of items in the Tools store"

Actually, this is misleading if not deceptive given that in truth the total cost to the consumer on many tools has actually increased substantially.

While Amazon has indeed dropped the "price" on some tools by an average of about 3-10%, it is has more than made up for it by:

1. Eliminating free shipping over on many items (including some that I saw with shipping charges of .99)

1. Expiry of the earlier off 0 and off 0 promo codes (in fact to add insult to injury, the off 0 code that was supposed to end 10/3/05, was cut short to end 9/12/05

For example, previously, the Bosche 3915 SCMS was $347 with free shipping and $50 off for a total price of $297. It now is priced at $304 (which seems like a substantial price drop) until you read that shipping is now $49, for a total cost to the consumer of $353! or a total price INCREASE of 22%

Now, I know that shipping costs have increased, but just be honest about it and don't talk about price cuts when you are really increasing total price to the consumer.

Not saying this is illegal, just misleading and deceptive...

[wood_newbie]

Ditto this!!

I just looked up the JDS Dust-Force dust collector to see if they ever corrected the drastically inaccurate, misleading, and overstated specs for the machine.

Not only had they not corrected them, but the price had been lowered a total of -$30. That's right...it used to be $299, and the "New Lower Price" advertised with a big red and yellow banner is $329.

Nice.

[TomL]

I agree that their tactics suck. However, look closely at that banner. It reads "New Low Price".

[wood_newbie]

Good point...never noticed that I guess...the price is higher than before, but still "low" in their minds.

That's repellent, repulsive, repugnant, and reprehensible. (I miss Jackie Chiles, I do...)

I'm glad I didn't buy it from Yahoo...I buy my machines locally now, and never regret it. This is just one more reason why.

[Roger Taylor]

Another common scam, related to this, on internet sales: Online retailers will hide their "shipping" costs and offer things at outrageously low prices, pre-shipping, so when you use a price finder such as shopzilla or priceline, their company comes out on top. Then they gig you

*after* you have made an order. When shopping for a shower radio, all the online price offers were about 70 bucks for a particular model on Sony. A NY store offered same at 50 bucks, and of course I bit on it. Somehow they had the shipping costs disguised from the online invoice, so after I rec'd VISA bill, there was a hidden 22 dollar shipping cost, making the item 70 dollars, more expensive than all other offers, who had either cheap or free shipping. Shipping for that item, at most, should have been 5-6 dollars. Live and Learn!

[loutent]

This may be true for some items, but the one that I have been keeping an eye on (Bessey

24/40 clamp set) has actually come down in price about $10. (Was $140 now $130). Of course, it was $130 up until about 6 months ago.

Still offering free shipping on it too.

Now, when I get some kind of coupon or $off deal to go with it, I may "pull the trigger".

Last (and only) time I got it for $99!!

Lou

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Shipping and handling charges are often a racket anyway. Seversl years ago we ordered (by phone, not on line) a replacement stirrer for a Hitachi bread machine. The S&H charge was $6 or $7, but the part came by US Mail in a padded bag with a 57c. stamp.

But one thing I do hate about some online vendors is that you can't find out the shipping and handling charges until you've entered you name, address, phone number and card number. At that point you can still bail out, but that information has all been entered for no good reason.

Perce

On 09/15/05 01:40 pm Roger Taylor tossed the following ingredients into the ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

[nailshooter41]

Then screw 'em. I buy lots of supplies and tools online. If they require that for a simple shipping quote, then something is not right. If they have a phone number, I will call that if it is toll free; if I have to pay for the call, forget it.

If I have to give them personal, monetary information just to find out the final cost I always move to the next vendor.

Robert

[BillyBob]

You certainly got an online or emailed receipt for the total. If they later billed you for an amount different from the receipt, you have grounds for a refund. Attorneys general get really itchy about fraud.

Bob

>

[BillyBob]

I just got a flyer with an order from Lee Valley. They give notification that Bessey is going to have a national promotion in October, but they cannot quote prices yet. So watch for announcements from all the Rocklers, Woodcrafts, Amazons, etc.

Bob

[John Flatley]

Don't confuse the price of the product Amazon is selling with what the transaction will cost you when shipping, handling, tax, are added in. From my view as a consumer, price and cost are not the same thing.

I'm not a big fan of Amazon, but don't hold them responsible for the cost of shipping.

Jack

-- Any tools or woods purchased or any time or money spent in the pursuit of woodworking that employs our evolutionary advantage of opposing thumbs needs no further justification.

[Larry Bud]

Do you think monkeys are hired to process the order and ship it and that Hitachi gets the padded envelope for free?

[Dave Hinz]

I sell things on eBay and other auction sites from time to time, and my minimum shipping cost is $1.00 - yes, that might be just putting the item into a hard paper envelope and driving it down to the post office with a 37 cent stamp, but it's shipping _and_ handling. It's hardly a racket - you're free to choose not to buy, after all.

[MTLnews]

Truth is, YES most of them are monkeys... And secondly, all the handling and stuff is part of your normal markup and cost of doing business... When I get a request for quote to a customer, it cost me time and money to prepare it, and nothing tells me I will get the job, and there is raerely a cost associated to the potential customer for it.. However that time/money and effort is calculated into my price, and not added as a handling/quoting charge. They choose to be an online business, they know they will need to factor in the labor fees for the people/materials to prepare/pack and ship the items... However as someone said before, they try to make it look like they are giving you a sweet deal, and then they nail you on the handling fees (which is thier real profit/markup), which they could have easily put in the price, but that would make them look uncompetitive to the search engines.. :)

But I agree, that buying stuff, an not checking what the TOTAL cost you will be paying, is outright ridiculous... Everything plays a roll in your final price.. Shipping, handling, taxes, and any duties/brokerage if it is an international order like for canadians... I rarely continue an online checkout if I can't get a shipping/handling charge amount before I enter my personal info. There is too much competition out there to bother dealing with the ridicuous systems out there...

For large orders, I will frequently place orders online from the neighbouring province, sincely because I can save an extra 7% provincial tax, which they don't have to charge me...And for orders accross the border, I will frequently insist on USPS instead of UPs, simply because UPS insists on charging some criminal brokerage fees, which Fedex and USPS include in thier shipping fees. Even my ISP is in a different province, and it saves me an extra $5/month... hey why not save it, if it is not causing me any inconvenience to do so.

L8r..

[Dave Hinz]

Hm, you need a better search engine, I think. froogle and pricewatch both sort by _shipped_ price, not just retail item price.

If that includes your zip code, then you're being a bit unfair there, I think.

[Percival P. Cassidy]

On 09/15/05 03:55 pm Dave Hinz tossed the following ingredients into the ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

When they said that S&H was $6 or $7, we assumed that it would come by UPS or some other faster and more expensive carrier than USPS. I've paid that much shipping (or less) for much larger, heavier items that *have* come by UPS or FedEx.

Perce

[Dave Hinz]

(I love your attribution line...)

Well, assuming gets you what you deserve, doesn't it? I welcome questions, myself, but I'm hardly in business or anything, I'm just selling stuff from one hobby to finance other hobby purchases. But, if a vendor won't tell you who they use to ship for that type of item? Leave 'em alone.

[Ron]

Another 'discounted' item, even has a 'new low price' label..

The Delta 22-580 13" planer

Two days ago it was $349.99 w/ free shipping Now, $368.99 + 49 S/H

The local Rockler's has it for $379 and they having an anniversary sale this weekend w/10% off power tools.

Guess where I'm getting mine Saturday ;)

Ron

[John Thomas]

Dave Hinz wrote in news: [e-mail]:

It depends .. some companies (LV comes to mind ;-) ) charge either a flat rate, or an incremental rate based on order total rather than by zip.

Others I've seen (and don't remember off the top of my head) will allow you to get to the shipping rates prior to entering any *financial* information -- which is how I interpreted the OP's post (yeah, I know, not *exactly* what the OP said ...)

Regardless, I won't do business with anyone I have to give information to, to find s/h data (other than at most, zip code) ... It's just not needed.

Personally, I generally don't use mail/web/phone orders to get a "deal"

-- usually, by the time you factor in the s/h, any savings are lost. The real benefit to me for m/w/p is better selection. LV doesn't have a store in PDX, so I'm happy to do business with them - and I've used all three modes. I've done other business with, eg, Amazon, because they had something I couldn't find locally either at all, or easily enough.

But I won't do business with companies that make finding s/h a chore.

[Mortimer Schnerd, RN]

But then you won't get the special Amazon cardboard box. They put a lot of work into making it look so beat up.