Amazon Prime Day is an exciting day for Prime members, who can look forward to great deals and discounts on typically more expensive items. However, as users have discovered, these so-called deals appear to be orchestrated by Amazon.
Many have accused the brand of inflating prices days before its biannual sale, then discounting them back to their original price and advertising them as “bargains.”
TikTok user Caitlin Montalban ((@kb.montalbano) She took to her account and shared in a trending video why she won’t be ordering during Amazon Prime Day.
Amazon Prime Day is a shopping event offering great deals exclusively for Prime members, running from July 16, 2024 at 12:00 AM PST to July 17, 2024 at 11:59 PM PST.
Inside her videoMontalban says she had about 25 items in her cart before Amazon Prime Day, and she claims she took screenshots of the items and their prices, but when she checked her cart this morning, she noticed something strange.
“When I got in this morning I noticed all they did was raise the price and then leave it at the original price and say it was on sale,” she said.
She then tells the Amazons to “try harder.”
Black Friday is here again
This isn’t the first time Amazon has faced this Scrutiny The company has come under fire over its special offers, with the giant coming under fire last month for price gouging on Black Friday.
This past Black Friday, Amazon offered 36% off TVs.
“This 56-inch TV is apparently 36% off,” said TikTok user Sam Thibault (@samthibault04). explanationDuring the Black Friday sale, the item was on sale for $289.99, marked down from $449. “Technically it used to be $449, but it wasn’t always $449,” Thibault explains.
As a result, a class action lawsuit was filed against Amazon in 2023 over this particular issue.
The plaintiff Kinney et al. v. Amazon.com Inc. et al.“Amazon.com lists false prices that are not consistently used and then discounts off those prices,” the lawsuit alleges, in violation of FTC guidelines.
of Proposed Class Action Lawsuit This includes Amazon customers who purchased products at discounted prices of $500 or more that had not used the original listed price for at least six months in the previous year.
Lead plaintiff Ben Kinney alleges that he purchased an LG TV on Amazon for $1,496.99, marked down from $2,499.99 and labeled “40% off.” After the purchase, the price of the TV was changed to $2,199 and labeled “$700 off,” according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs alleged that the TV normally sold for $1,500 on Amazon, but later learned that the price had risen to $2,000 for about a month.
However, this incident Fired February 2024.
How Amazon prices its products
according to Amazon siteThird-party sellers set the price, and Amazon also provides tools to help you offer competitively low prices.
For other products, Amazon claims to compare prices between brick-and-mortar stores and online competitors.
Amazon’s Pricing Model “We are focused on providing the most competitive prices to our shoppers.” Amazon’s prices are not constant and can change multiple times a day.
Lowering your prices will help maintain brand loyalty and customer retention, but increasing your prices and offering steep discounts will slowly alienate customers.
Online backlash against Amazon Prime Day sales
@kb.Montalbano Disappointed with Amazon Prime. Don’t put it on sale on price day if you’re just going to “discount” it by increasing the original price. Disappointed. This is not a good deal. #AmazonPrime #PrimeDeal is gone #AmazonFraud ♬ Original Sound – Katelyn B. Montalban
Montalban’s comments in the video were an agreement that such misleading transactions have taken place before.
One user commented, “Amazon is messy! My cart just went up by $7!”
“I did this too! Some items were more available today than yesterday,” commented another TikTok user.
Another user provided specific details: “Yes! I had a spiral notebook there that was normally $8. Today it was “discounted” to $8 even though it was marked up to $14.”
Another TikTok creator, Martha Losey,Follow) created a similar video about Amazon’s cart. clipShe wrote: “Tell me why I spent $400 on an entire Amazon cart and it cost me $540 on Prime Day.”
The comments on her video were very similar to those on Montalban’s video.
“The best thing about Prime Day is that other stores are actually competing with each other with sales,” one user wrote.
Another user added: “I made a cart of 300 and on Prime Day it was down to 296. I didn’t buy anything.”
“But keep it in your cart. Last year I waited until a week after Prime Day and some things were discounted,” one TikTok user suggested.
Follow They raised the prices of everything and put everything “on sale” #AmazonPrimeDay ♬ Original Sound – Elijah Ybarra
Amazon Prime Day price hikes
Online shoppers are calling out Amazon for its Prime Day sales, with X (formerly Twitter) user Kristian Marie (@GoofyKriss__) claiming that Prime Day is a scam, showing screenshots of the price of a projector that he waited until Prime Day to buy.
In the post, she said, “Yesterday the regular price was $89.99 with a 40% off coupon (which would have made it $54 total)…. Now magically the ‘list price’ is $116 and the ‘sale price’ is $69.”
Prime Day is a SCAM!
I was going to buy this projector but…wanted to wait until Prime Day!
Yesterday the regular price was $89.99 with a 40% off coupon (total was $54) ….
Now magically the “list price” is $116 and the “sale price” is $69
I was very disappointed 😞 #PrimeDay pic.twitter.com/mhY4ihVJAt
— Christian Marie (@GoofyKriss__) July 16, 2024
How to Check the Price History of an Amazon Product
Sites like Keeper and CamelCamelCamel.com There are two places where customers can check the price of Amazon products.
Originally priced at $159.99, the Ninja Air Fryer is on sale for $89.99 during the sale, a 44% discount. Keeperwe see that this Ninja Air Fryer was originally on sale for $89.99.
Amazon Prime users are threatening to cancel their Prime memberships in response to price discrepancies on both Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day.
The Daily Dot reached out to Amazon for comment on Marie’s screenshots. Amazon has not yet responded. We reached out to Montalban via email.
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