Amazon loses money on me, so I have no problems with the 3rd party fees - I always check before going that way.

BUT - the way Amazon makes up for it is FREE Prime shipping APO! My brother, who is stationed in Baghdad gets the Amazon Prime shipped items, usually in a week - and I don't even worry about shipping costs. The way Amazon handles APO makes up for it all. I usually ship something to him this way at least once every week or so.

For Christmas I sent him 3 books, the X-Files DVD, and the complete DVD collection of the Three Stooges - no shipping fees. I ordered them last wee, he's already opened the packages!

SJR
The Pink Flamingo

So Amazon isn't screwing you.

First, this item was being offered by a third party, so shipping isn't free. Amazon Prime only gets you free two-day shipping for select items sold by Amazon.

When I'm logged in to my prime account, it shows as $17.13 with free two-day shipping.

When I'm not logged in to my prime account, it shows as $10.45 + $6.68 shipping (regular shipping, not two-day).

$10.45 + $6.68 = $17.13

I pay the same price as everyone else, but I get a free upgrade to two-day shipping.

In Eszter's own screen shot, it says "$14.14 + $2.99 shipping"

Hey, what do you know... that ALSO comes out to $17.13!

There doesn't appear to be anything nefarious going on here.

Since writing this, the vendors offering this product have shifted around (nothing unusual). Now both Prime and non-Prime are offering it for $17.13 with free Super Save Shipping, sold by a third party.

As JJ's post concludes, that's not very plausible.

BUT - looking at your screenshots, you’re comparing the price from two different vendors – the $17.13 price is if you buy from a seller whose sales are “fulfilled by” Amazon (and $17.13 is the price for non-Prime members also), and the second is if you buy from “Eek Technology” (as a third party seller, they don’t participate in the Prime program).

I suspect what is going on here is that all of the options are available for all buyers, but that Amazon figures that Prime members would rather place an order that’s eligible for Prime shipping.

It appears Amazon's algorithm is selecting the best price which includes expedited shipping for Prime customers, but some other price (either based on marketing or "lowest shipped," no matter what speed) for non-Prime customers.

Yes, I did.

I am also aware that amazon has, in the past, to put it mildly, 'annoyed' their customers when word got around that they were testing out regional pricing, and yes, that meant that someone in NY might find widget y was $1 more than widget y in a CA shopper's cart. This is not a conspiracy to screw prime members, as I have not noticed prime/non-prime quotes (and I lighten my wallet on a regular basis shopping on amazon).

Another scenario, sometimes I look up an electronic item / accessory, and notice that the price looks good, but then I do a double-take because the quote is if you purchase from one of their 3rd-party vendors, and off to the right side of the screen I notice the price amazon charges for the item, along with other quotes from different vendors selling the same item. Usually, the quote I pull up is from a 3rd party that is offering for less than amazon, and amazon's price is higher, but often worth the extra $, due to savings from free super-saver shipping.

It is very technically feasible to present different prices to different viewers. I think I've seen it elsewhere, and I actually have some vague memory of Amazon admitting it.

Flush your caches, and use lowest price search engines. If this is an e-war, you can fight it.

The shopper might even have the advantage here, if he uses the price searches.

Amazon's prices change all the time, I got lucky just this morning, some blu-rays I ordered this past Friday had not entered the shipping stage yet, so I checked their price, and noticed one item was cheaper by $3, and another $1 from when I placed the order, so I canceled those two items from my original order, and simply re-ordered at lower price. If they had shipped already, then oh well, I could have save $4 if I could see into the future and know the price would go down.

Another example, I was excited to order a Brother all-in-one printer on Amazon when it hit a certain price (I think I pulled trigger when it was $223), and literally, a few hours later in the day, the printer was now priced at $199.99, so I quickly canceled my original order and got in at the lower-price point. The price for this item seemed to change on an hourly basis.

Amazon tends to tell you that X item sitting in your cart (maybe you have had an item in your saved to buy later section of the shopping cart there for weeks) has gone up or down in price since you added it to the cart.

I honestly think the person who feels that amazon is charging more for prime members encountered a situation similar to the ones described above.

Regards,

Christopher H.