# Amazon Is Quietly Eliminating List Prices



## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

_"In a major shift for online commerce, Amazon is quietly changing how it entices people to buy.

The retailer built a reputation and hit $100 billion in annual revenue by offering deals. The first thing a potential customer saw was a bargain: how much an item was reduced from its list price.

Now, in many cases, Amazon has dropped any mention of a list price. There is just one price. Take it or leave it." - David Streitfeld, NY Times_

Continue reading...
*http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/business/amazon-is-quietly-eliminating-list-prices.html?_r=0*


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

According to the article, list prices don't necessarily mean anything. Even the manufacturer may be selling the product for much less. If you're careful enough to check Amazon's prices against prices obtainable elsewhere, it doesn't matter whether you know an official "list price" or not. If you're not that careful, then who cares what you pay?


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Does this affect classical music on amazon too?


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

I've noticed Amazon CM new 'n used CD prices have risen considerably over the past year or two. CDs getting scarcer due to hoarding? C'mon, folk, it's important to periodically cull your collections.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

"$19.99? Hmm, that sounds expensive. And I don't really need one."
"Well, the MSRP was $30, so you'll be saving 33%."
"Oh, in that case, I'll take two."


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Vaneyes said:


> . . . C'mon, folk, it's important to periodically cull your collections.


Never! More characters


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I only buy from the third party vendors. But mostly I buy CDs from the importcds website, and Barnes & Noble. And if I want Japanese editions I buy direct from CD Japan, rather than get ripped off at Amazon. And for year end classical bargains, Presto Classical is my go to vendor.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

starthrower said:


> I only buy from the third party vendors. But mostly I buy CDs from the import cds website, and Barnes & Noble. And if I want Japanese editions I buy direct from CD Japan, rather than get ripped off at Amazon. And for year end classical bargains, Presto Classical is my go to vendor.


Amen to this :tiphat:


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Vaneyes said:


> I've noticed Amazon CM new 'n used CD prices have risen considerably over the past year or two. CDs getting scarcer due to hoarding? C'mon, folk, it's important to periodically cull your collections.


Funny, but I sell a lot of used CDs on Amazon and find it's hard to get much for most of them now. There was a temporary flood of used CDs a number of years ago when people were ripping their collections and getting rid of hard copies. It was a good time to hang out at thrift stores and garage sales. That wave crested, and now used classical CDs aren't so easy to find, but I don't feel the prices have risen. I have opera sets that are now worth only a few dollars.

Used books have plummeted in price too, and booksellers are hurting.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Woodduck said:


> Used books have plummeted in price too, and booksellers are hurting.


Why would this be? The rise of eBooks? You can't easily rip a book digital format. Or is it that less people read?


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## Guest (Jul 7, 2016)

As to books, I'll admit that I am, more and more, moving to eBooks. I have had a Kindle for 5 years, and absolutely love it. Only for particularly well-regarded books, that I know I will turn to over and over, mostly for reference, will I go buy a nice hard copy. But for stuff that I just want to read, my Kindle is so much more convenient.

As to CDs, I have read that Classical Music, in particular, is seeing some of its lowest sales ever. But I rarely buy CDs any more. I do most of my listening while working at my desk. I don't have a CD player. I don't even have a CD/DVD-ROM on my computer (these are becoming ever more scarce as everything is moving towards cloud storage and other more portable media storage devices - a USB drive has a larger capacity than a CD or a DVD). So all my music is digital. Mostly from iTunes. I used to buy CDs, but the only place I have to listen to them is in my car. I can't rip them to my computer anymore. When I did buy them, I mostly bought used from a favorite catchall used entertainment store, which sells used books, movies, and music. But yes, I noticed that even used prices were slowly rising, and while I found some great deals there initially, the selection has not really changed in the last couple of years.

Classical Music isn't going away, but the way we purchase it, along with most other entertainment media, is going through a revolutionary change. CDs are going to become novelties, much like LPs now are. There will always be a dedicated niche market, and some level of production, but I don't think it will be the dominant media form for music anymore. 

If you want a good deal, you are going to have to do what you always should have done. Don't just trust one site - they are only posting information if it is self-serving. You need to shop around. At least now, with the Internet, that has become so much easier, rather than having to go to numerous stores.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Weston said:


> Why would this be? The rise of eBooks? You can't easily rip a book digital format. Or is it that less people read?


People don't read books as much since so much information is available online. Internet book sales, particularly Amazon, put innumerable brick and mortars out of business. Booksellers had to put inventory online to survive and it was a decent living for a while. Then along came eBooks. Now everybody and his dog is selling online, and used books have flooded the market and aren't worth much. The CD situation is similar. Take your used CDs to your local music store and you'll be lucky to sell half of them at a dollar each.


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## Antiquarian (Apr 29, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> People don't read books as much since so much information is available online. Internet book sales, particularly Amazon, put innumerable brick and mortars out of business. Booksellers had to put inventory online to survive and it was a decent living for a while. Then along came eBooks. Now everybody and his dog is selling online, and used books have flooded the market and aren't worth much. The CD situation is similar. Take your used CDs to your local music store and you'll be lucky to sell half of them at a dollar each.


I have to concur with this, as regarding booksellers. Unless you have a niche bookstore that is reputable, you will find selling books to be tough business, and you will find yourself doing it for the love of it, and not through any hope of financial remuneration. About the only types of book that i see as impervious to the E-book invasion is the large format art book, and the prestige bound volumes (leather/vellum) that people buy more as a work of art than something to read. CDs don't really have this option. True, there are those 24k gold limited edition CDs, like Compact Classic Discs (Polygram), that command prices in the hundreds of dollars, but they are usually bought by collectors. If you bought your classical music CDs as an "investment" I hate to say that they will underperform.


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## gardibolt (May 22, 2015)

The big boxes of CDs (like the Karajan 1970s) do seem to hold their value pretty well used---and yeah, weirdly you can sell those used for $2 per CD but try to sell the same music as a single factory CD and you're lucky to get a dollar.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

As well as no list prices, I just noticed in a small sampling at *Amazon US Marketplace*, that there no longer appears to be a uniform price for shipping CDs to foreign countries. Previously, a fixed $14.95 for Canada and Europe shipments. I've now seen it as low as $6.00. This can be a long-deserved benefit for foreign buyers, if these aren't mistakes. And of course (as always), if the CD price isn't inflated.

Please feel free to confirm, correct, or supply additional CD shipping and/or pricing information regarding any Amazon Marketplace. :tiphat:


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

It seems to me that many CD and book prices on Amazon sites are cheaper than ever but only if you buy from their "marketplace" - the independent sellers who use Amazon's platform. This is certainly true if you are willing to buy used.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Enthusiast said:


> It seems to me that many CD and book prices on Amazon sites are cheaper than ever but only if you buy from their "marketplace" - the independent sellers who use Amazon's platform. This is certainly true if you are willing to buy used.


The problem : the shipping cost from those sellers to Europe are ridiculous high.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Pugg said:


> The problem : the shipping cost from those sellers to Europe are ridiculous high.


£1.80 for a CD or DVD, if I remember rightly. I have seen sellers complaining bitterly that this cannot cover the actual postage for a single disc and to be woefully inadequate for sets of discs. With so many sellers now there are many perfectly good CDs, DVDs and sets that sell for under £1 - or under £2.80 including P&P if you are buying on Amazon.co.uk from Europe. Amazon does charge more for the P&P for books but I can't remember how much this costs (and being in UK I cannot see it on the site).

Of course, if you are buying a relatively recent disc the prices of the discs tend to be quite high and close to the prices of new discs.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Enthusiast said:


> £1.80 for a CD or DVD, if I remember rightly. I have seen sellers complaining bitterly that this cannot cover the actual postage for a single disc and to be woefully inadequate for sets of discs. With so many sellers now there are many perfectly good CDs, DVDs and sets that sell for under £1 - or under £2.80 including P&P if you are buying on Amazon.co.uk from Europe. Amazon does charge more for the P&P for books but I can't remember how much this costs (and being in UK I cannot see it on the site).
> 
> Of course, if you are buying a relatively recent disc the prices of the discs tend to be quite high and close to the prices of new discs.


UK is no problem U.S.A shipping way to high .


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Pugg said:


> UK is no problem U.S.A shipping way to high .


Ah, OK. Fair enough but the UK-based sellers I know would love to see Amazon offer a better P&P for international sales. Many have given up on selling on Amazon's non-UK sites from UK as too many of their transactions involve a loss. I believe Amazon UK's response to these concerns is that such sellers should increase their prices to cover what they will lose on international P&P but this doesn't work as many sellers use software that tracks the current prices of other sellers. So when a CD's price falls to, say, £0.25p a seller will either lose money on an international sale or will be priced above the big sellers who can afford the losses.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Enthusiast said:


> Ah, OK. Fair enough but the UK-based sellers I know would love to see Amazon offer a better P&P for international sales. Many have given up on selling on Amazon's non-UK sites from UK as too many of their transactions involve a loss. I believe Amazon UK's response to these concerns is that such sellers should increase their prices to cover what they will lose on international P&P but this doesn't work as many sellers use software that tracks the current prices of other sellers. So when a CD's price falls to, say, £0.25p a seller will either lose money on an international sale or will be priced above the big sellers who can afford the losses.


I used to ship many books and CDs all over the world from the US. US international rates increased so sharply a few years ago that when Amazon raised its shipping allowance to (partly) cover my costs, people from overseas simply stopped ordering. And who can blame them? I now find it profitable to ship nothing heavier than a single CD, and I rarely sell even those. I went quickly from having a decent little retirement business to a minor sideline to help with the groceries. In this business, the "good ol' days" isn't just a fancy of the senile.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Woodduck said:


> People don't read books as much since so much information is available online. Internet book sales, particularly Amazon, put innumerable brick and mortars out of business. Booksellers had to put inventory online to survive and it was a decent living for a while. Then along came eBooks. Now everybody and his dog is selling online, and used books have flooded the market and aren't worth much. The CD situation is similar. Take your used CDs to your local music store and you'll be lucky to sell half of them at a dollar each.


This is really sad. I like eBooks if only so people on the bus may think I'm reading "Jane Eyre" when I may really be reading "Tarzan and Doc Savage in the Jungles of Venus: A Novel" or some such. But I still love my paperbacks. I'd give almost anything to have a used paperback store in the neighborhood as we once had. I guess this explains even their demise. That and rising rent.

Same with mp3s vs. CDs.

But what I don't understand are the on line highway robbery prices for CD's or books out of print. It's certainly not always a buyer's market.


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## acitak 7 (Jun 26, 2016)

I bought Saint- Saens Symphony no 3, Carnival Of The Animals and Danse Macabre, from Amazon for 1 penny plus £1.26 postage bargain


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Weston said:


> This is really sad. I like eBooks if only so people on the bus may think I'm reading "Jane Eyre" when I may really be reading "Tarzan and Doc Savage in the Jungles of Venus: A Novel" or some such. But I still love my paperbacks. I'd give almost anything to have a used paperback store in the neighborhood as we once had. I guess this explains even their demise. That and rising rent.
> 
> Same with mp3s vs. CDs.
> 
> But what I don't understand are the on line highway robbery prices for CD's or books out of print. It's certainly not always a buyer's market.


Out of print items are a different matter, but the prices we see may represent optimism more than realism. Online sellers are often inexperienced people who have no idea what anything is really worth, so they ask ridiculous prices and their stuff sits unsold until they come to their senses - usually when someone else comes on with the item at a realistic price. It can be frustrating for a buyer waiting for that to happen.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

acitak 7 said:


> I bought Saint- Saens Symphony no 3, Carnival Of The Animals and Danse Macabre, from Amazon for 1 penny plus £1.26 postage bargain


But.....I do think you used Amazon in your country?


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## motoboy (May 19, 2008)

I don't care about the list pricing or any of that. I just wish this Prime Day would end. My phone has been pinging all day with Amazon notifications!


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## Marinera (May 13, 2016)

motoboy said:


> I don't care about the list pricing or any of that. I just wish this Prime Day would end. My phone has been pinging all day with Amazon notifications!


Everything's a deal, but what I really need. Or want.


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