Amazon’s iPhone dynamic pricing prior to the Apple keynote • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon’s iPhone dynamic pricing prior to the Apple keynote

#11

Post by saosebastiao » Tue, Sep 16, 2014, 4:43 PM UTC

nickm12 wrote: post #5

This article implies that it is Amazon that is changing the prices. Many people don't understand this, but Amazon is a marketplace where sellers compete to sell products. There are currently ~120 sellers with offers to sell a new iPhone 5s (space gray) all with different prices and Amazon just picks one to be the default. So this graph is really showing something more akin to a market price for the iPhone 5c. http://…

Its a correct point, but the purpose of dynamic pricing is to emulate a market where none exists, so they are going to look pretty similar.

Re: Amazon’s iPhone dynamic pricing prior to the Apple keynote

#12

Post by pidg » Tue, Sep 16, 2014, 5:09 PM UTC

nickm12 wrote: post #7

nickm12 wrote: post #5

This article implies that it is Amazon that is changing the prices. Many people don't understand this, but Amazon is a marketplace where sellers compete to sell products. There are currently ~120 sellers with offers to sell a new iPhone 5s (space gray) all with different prices and Amazon just picks one to be the default. So this graph is really showing something more akin to a market price for the iPhone 5c. http://…

In fact, Amazon doesn't even sell the iPhone 5c.

Indeed, I just read an article entitled 'Why doesn't Amazon sell iPhones'. Who's right?

http://www.cnet.com/news/why-doesnt-amazon-sell-iphones/

Re: Amazon’s iPhone dynamic pricing prior to the Apple keynote

#13

Post by chrisBob » Tue, Sep 16, 2014, 5:16 PM UTC

WildUtah wrote: post #9

The Apple store price for the iPhone 5c 16GB for the period in question was US$650. But Amazon sellers were asking and frequently getting, according to the chart, US$670 and seldom less than US$650. But you could just get on from Apple at the store or with free shipping for US$650. Why would the buyers pay more? Maybe the Amazon sellers making a profit by not paying sales taxes. I thought that Apple sold iPhones at a…

> I thought that Apple sold iPhones at a wholesale discount to retailers, so shouldn't they be able to make a profit at even lower prices? Competition doesn't appear to have brought prices down to marginal cost here.

I think Apple restricts the price their products can be sold at. If you sell at lower prices then you won't sell them anymore. Often agreements like this restrict the advertised price which is why you see things where you must add it to your cart to see the price [1].

[1] http://www.virginmobileusa.com/shop/cell-phones/iphone-phone...

Re: Amazon’s iPhone dynamic pricing prior to the Apple keynote

#14

Post by bezierc » Tue, Sep 16, 2014, 6:06 PM UTC

saosebastiao wrote: post #11

nickm12 wrote: post #5

This article implies that it is Amazon that is changing the prices. Many people don't understand this, but Amazon is a marketplace where sellers compete to sell products. There are currently ~120 sellers with offers to sell a new iPhone 5s (space gray) all with different prices and Amazon just picks one to be the default. So this graph is really showing something more akin to a market price for the iPhone 5c. http://…

Its a correct point, but the purpose of dynamic pricing is to emulate a market where none exists, so they are going to look pretty similar.

Does anyone know why all of a sudden this post got to the 2nd page?