Insane Amazon Price Changes

[Caedmon]

How can a game like Scurge: Hive for the DS go from $9.97 to $28.99 on Amazon?! It was $9.97 for months and months and then BAM, all of a sudden, Amazon jacks up the price by $19. Unbelievable.

 

[morningstar2651]

Want insane? Look up Valkyrie Profile for PS1 (not PSP) or Suikoden II.

Supply & demand at work.

 

[Caedmon]

Want insane? Look up Valkyrie Profile for PS1 (not PSP) or Suikoden II.

Supply & demand at work.

I know about those. What I don't understand is the huge price jump for no apparent reason, other than greedily exploiting the Christmas season to jack up the price on a game that was formerly a $10 budget title. Combine that with the fact that Amazon is no longer offering refunds for the difference in price should you buy a game that is subsequently lowered in price. In other words, until a month or so ago, if you bought a game for, say, $30, and a week later they reduced it to $20, you could contact them and ask for a $10 refund, and they'd give it to you. They have very recently revoked that policy entirely and indefinitely.

 

[Isambard]

I similar thing is at work with their book prices. 20 items in my cart jumped (and continue to jump) in price :S. Its been doing that for months now, so I figure it has more to do with the economy than the festive season.

 

[Cool_Hand_Luke]

Ya, we have an Amazon.com cart on our site:

The COD4 was $49.99 and now it is $79.99

What in the world happened???????????

Did Amazon become Unionized?

 

[peanutbutter12]

This is why it's good to shop around. It keeps all the business from going to one place and giving them the ability to control pricing and raise them.

 

[Caedmon]

Well what's a good alternative site for games then?

 

[peanutbutter12]

I usually start with a google search and check out the shops and prices from their store. Then I can do something like run a check through something like http://www.pricespider.com/

Always make sure you're buying from high rated shops before you buy.

 

[Breetai]

Well what's a good alternative site for games then?

www.playasia.com

 

[Caedmon]

www.playasia.com

Does this site sell only Japanese-compatible games, or do they sell ones that work on American region consoles too?

 

[Breetai]

Does this site sell only Japanese-compatible games, or do they sell ones that work on American region consoles too?

This site is based from Hong Kong, not from Japan. It offers games from all regions as far as I know; PAL, NTSC-US, NTSC-J and NTSC-Asia, and I'm sure others if others exist.

It's a great site that isn't affected by American holiday price hike scams so much.

Some of the current consoles are region-free, or at least partially, so games from other regions will work on American consoles. The PS3, PSP and DS, as far as I know, are fully region-free (although DSi games will not be). Both the original X-Box and the 360 are sometimes region-free. Some games are and some aren't. The PS2, GC and Wii are region-locked.