Seattlest: Amazon Wants to Haggle

Jeremy M. Barker

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 16:57:20 -0800

And another point--18,000 in sales is the polar opposite of obscure; that's huge in terms of the app. 3 million books on sale for the site. "Obscure" would describe things around a million; "reasonably obscure" maybe 100,000. If you're in the top 10K, you're making good money.

Pete

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 14:14:13 -0800

Amazon and Dynamic Pricing? This is old news....

Seth

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 11:59:27 -0800

"I don't want you to leave here today without the book of your dreams. You see that baby over there? Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals? Imagine how thrilled your mother-in-law will be when she sees it. You tell me--how much do you want to spend? Whoa! You are one tough negotiator! I can see I've met my match today. *I* want to sell you that book for $11.07, but I might get fired! You wouldn't want that, wouldya buddy? Let me...let me go talk to my manager, I'll see what he says. I'm on your side, buddy, I swear it."

Steve Winwood Fan

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 11:54:31 -0800

This guy is a fucking whiner. Amazon discounts price below retail and the discount amount is always in flux. You dont like it, buy Steve Winwood related merchandise somewhere else, bro.

Courtney

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 11:25:59 -0800

Being someone who used to use Amazon a lot (okay fine, I worked there) I was prone to using my cart as a wish list of sorts. I left all kinds of crap in there, and was notified every time I revisited it and the price of any item changed. It changed in both directions, and the prices on Amazon stuff was always in flux. Yes, bookstores do set one price and generally stick with it, or put it on sale. They don't usually go up at bookstores, but most bookstores don't discount their stock as much nor do they have the kind of hair-trigger sensitive supply-chain system that Amazon does (early on, that was going to be their big advantage). I'm not necessarily trying to say that everything going on in his Amazon cart is 100% innocent, but I'm not convinced it is as nefarious as Streitfield thinks. Especially since he used obscure books--if he put in something that sold better, he might actually see the prices change for the positive.