Amazon’s iPhone dynamic pricing prior to the Apple keynote

Is this clearly a result of Amazon's own dynamic pricing or simply third party sellers undercutting each other which is common on close out or soon to be replaced items?

In the case of third party sellers, I don't believe Amazon directly controls the pricing.

Currently, the best price for the iPhone mentioned in the article is offered by a company called "TRUE DIGITAL" and isn't even fulfilled by Amazon.

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

#5

Post by nickm12 » Tue, Sep 16, 2014, 4:14 PM UTC

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://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00F3J4B5S/ref=dp_olp...

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

#6

Post by discardorama » Tue, Sep 16, 2014, 4:15 PM UTC

dhbanes wrote: post #4

Is this clearly a result of Amazon's own dynamic pricing or simply third party sellers undercutting each other which is common on close out or soon to be replaced items? In the case of third party sellers, I don't believe Amazon directly controls the pricing. Currently, the best price for the iPhone mentioned in the article is offered by a company called "TRUE DIGITAL" and isn't even fulfilled by Amazon.

> Is this clearly a result of Amazon's own dynamic pricing or simply third party sellers undercutting each other which is common on close out or soon to be replaced items?

Bingo! Monitoring prices on Amazon without using their API is a Sisyphean task. They can show a price from any of a bunch of sellers; and which one they pick depends on the overall price, the stock at hand, etc.

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

#7

Post by nickm12 » Tue, Sep 16, 2014, 4:16 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://…

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

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

#8

Post by mgdo » Tue, Sep 16, 2014, 4:22 PM UTC

discardorama wrote: post #6

dhbanes wrote: post #4

Is this clearly a result of Amazon's own dynamic pricing or simply third party sellers undercutting each other which is common on close out or soon to be replaced items? In the case of third party sellers, I don't believe Amazon directly controls the pricing. Currently, the best price for the iPhone mentioned in the article is offered by a company called "TRUE DIGITAL" and isn't even fulfilled by Amazon.

> Is this clearly a result of Amazon's own dynamic pricing or simply third party sellers undercutting each other which is common on close out or soon to be replaced items? Bingo! Monitoring prices on Amazon without using their API is a Sisyphean task. They can show a price from any of a bunch of sellers; and which one they pick depends on the overall price, the stock at hand, etc.

Good points. But on the US store we can still clearly see the general trend showing that the price has been falling for weeks.

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

#9

Post by WildUtah » Tue, Sep 16, 2014, 4:34 PM UTC

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 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.

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

#10

Post by thrush » Tue, Sep 16, 2014, 4:34 PM UTC

Many customers sell their iPhone around the time the new one comes out (using services like iCracked and Gazelle). Basic economics dictates that as supply increases, prices will go down. This is a guess as to what could cause the prices to go decrease so rapidly.