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Book prices on Amazon
Mar. 17th, 2017 06:21 pm Sometimes, you can find really silly prices on Amazon. It's to do with the way pricing algorithms are set. It usually happens when robots when they think they have a rare book.
If you put "Uncle Hunkle" into Amazon, you will find prices varying by around £20 for the identical book. It used to be far worse - I remember when one of them was priced at several hundred pounds.
Why does this happen for IDENTICAL books?
It's because the robots don't realise they are identical.
The cheapest copy, at 1+postage is
The middle price, £11.94 +postage is
and the expensive one, £29.42+postage, is
If you look at each of these, and look at the number of copies available, you'll see that price has an inverse correlation with the number of copies. If there's only a few copies, the robot decides it is rare and prices higher.
Note that they ARE all the same book, but they have been entered differently. Different use of commas and brackets makes them look different to a robot pricer.
When searching for a book to buy, enter KEY WORDS only. That way, you get all the versions of the title. The more precisely you enter the title, the more likely you are to end up only seeing an expensive copy.
If you put "Uncle Hunkle" into Amazon, you will find prices varying by around £20 for the identical book. It used to be far worse - I remember when one of them was priced at several hundred pounds.
Why does this happen for IDENTICAL books?
It's because the robots don't realise they are identical.
The cheapest copy, at 1+postage is
My Uncle Is A Hunkle Says Clarice Bean
The middle price, £11.94 +postage is
(My Uncle is a Hunkle, Says Clarice Bean) By Lauren Child (Author) Paperback on (Jul , 2009)
and the expensive one, £29.42+postage, is
My Uncle is a Hunkle, Says Clarice Bean by Lauren Child (2009-07-02)
If you look at each of these, and look at the number of copies available, you'll see that price has an inverse correlation with the number of copies. If there's only a few copies, the robot decides it is rare and prices higher.
Note that they ARE all the same book, but they have been entered differently. Different use of commas and brackets makes them look different to a robot pricer.
When searching for a book to buy, enter KEY WORDS only. That way, you get all the versions of the title. The more precisely you enter the title, the more likely you are to end up only seeing an expensive copy.
