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Rip-off Amazon subscription pricing

8 points by prirun ↗ HN
I have an Amazon subscription coming up, so reviewed my delivery. The 5lb banana protein powder is $75.23 on the subscription delivery page - it says a 10% savings. But going to the item page, it is only $65.94 for one-time delivery, or $59.34 if I re-subscribe. And if I re-subscribe, I'd get it on the same day as the original subscription.

I did an online chat with an AZ rep. After explaining the problem:

--- AZ: The prices on our website are subject to change depending upon the inventories we receive from seller / manufacturer. If i have the option, I love to do price match. Unfortunately, we do not honor price adjustments / price match in Amazon,

Me: So the solution is to cancel the subscription and order it directly instead?

AZ: We regret any inconvenience this has caused you. In this case you can cancel the order and place a new order with lower price, according to your most appropriate and convenient. ---

This is a good way to boost someone's profits if people aren't carefully reviewing their subscriptions. Seems false advertising to say I'm getting a 10% discount when actually it's a 26.7% markup.

9 comments

[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 38.1 ms ] thread
PaulHoule
Amazon was the best online retailer 20 years ago. Today it could be the worst.

Amazon is mostly thinking you’ll buy stuff there because you’ve been subscribed to Prime for years and got in the habit. If you look around you will find many many retailers who will work hard to win your business.

leevee
Yeah, prices tend to be higher there and I think they have issues verifying the authenticity of some products. I think stronger competition is coming.
prirun
Here's are a couple of screen shots: https://www.hashbackup.com/alpha/
DigitalKNK
Screenshots show address and zip code? May want to blur those
prirun
Thanks. I thought about that before posting, but it's all on a whois for hashbackup.com anyway so I figure if someone wants to hunt me, I'm easy prey.
RealPlastic
We have noticed this happening lately too. Thanks for pointing out, I will pay more attention from now on.

Calling it "Subscribe & Save" is misleading. Customer aren't necessarily going to "Save".

vlod
I hate that I can't trust Amazon any more.

Now I have to double check what I paid for my last order and then look on camelcamelcamel.com to get a price history to see if anything fishy is going on. (Sometimes I see prices are jacked up temporarily).

databroker
That’s nothing. Every hour the price of a MacBook Pro direct from Amazon.com fluctuates $300. No, really, watch it and see.
qkucy
Does Amazon do an adjustment if the price moves up? This is already sleazy but if they wanted to be really sleazy they could adjust the price whenever it went up but never adjust it back down.