How online shopping makes suckers of us all

The Atlantic:

Will you pay more for those shoes before 7 p.m.? Would the price tag be different if you lived in the suburbs? Standard prices and simple discounts are giving way to far more exotic strategies, designed to extract every last dollar from the consumer.

This is the part of online shopping that pisses me off the most – the blatant price gouging and fluctuations based on factors not found in brick and mortar stores.



13 thoughts on “How online shopping makes suckers of us all”

  1. No one forces you to buy online.

    We see price variations everyday for gas and food items.

    If anything, this article should help you be a better shopper, rewarding your efforts with more money left so you can consume even more. ?

  2. Amazon 1.0: lower prices than the competition to buy mindshare.
    Amazon 2.0: premium service (Amazon Prime) for a fee.
    Amazon 3.0: higher prices because the competition is gone.

  3. Dynamic pricing is as old as commerce itself.
    Looking at you, airlines and Vegas hotels.

  4. Managing director of Google!, is explaining to users to start off “Work at home” method, that People have been doing for about one year now. These days alone, I generated close to $36,000 until now with no more than my home computer as well as some spare time, despite that i have a fulltime 9 to 5 job. Even everyone not used to this, can make $89/per h easily and the earnings can go even higher over time… This is how i started
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  5. Amazon is good for that quirky sh*t. If Best Buy has the same item I’m going in for a price match and taking the item home that night. Online shopping is like Starbucks …people are still misty eyed over the supposed convenience until someone rational tells them that people used to buy products and take them home that day and they also made their own coffee.

  6. On the flip side, though, if I don’t need something today (especially if I don’t have time to set it up or whatever until later), I don’t need to get it today. And the time spent driving to the store, finding the item, waiting for a manager to price match, and then driving home, can be spent on much more productive (or relaxing) endeavors.

    If I need something immediately, I’m going to the store to get it. And I might get something that I don’t need immediately, since I’m already there. But if it’s just something I want and don’t care when it arrives, Amazon (or another online vendor) is king.

  7. Consumers have always been suckers and retailers have always played tricks on them. Amazon is no worse than any brick and mortar retailer. On the flip side, I get what I want rather than what a sales person wants me to buy.

  8. My last paycheck was $22500 for working 12 hours a week online.Start earning $97/hour by working online from your home for few hours each day with GOOGLE… Get regular payments on weekly basis… All you need is a computer, internet connection and a litte free time… Read more here
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  9. Amazon and others are not different from the strategies employed by other retailers of the past.Corner the market with service and cut throat prices.Lull your customers into a comfort zone. Gouge them at every opportunity.

    Sears did it. Kmart did it. Walmart did it. And now, Amazon does it.

    They are not your buddies. They are corporations.

  10. “Do you think the price provides good value for your purchase” is far more important than “did someone else pay any lower price?!?!?”

  11. Online shopping gets me much better variety than any local store ever has had.

    It’s incredibly convenient to be able to order supplies when I think of them rather than arranging a string of trips to get The One Thing Here, etc.

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