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Thread: Price difference??

  1. #1
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    Price difference??

    Can anyone explain to me the massive price difference between Amazon.ca and Amazon.com? Since I live in Canada and LOTS of items on Amazon.com won't ship to Canada I usually look on Amazon.ca for the same product. Time and time again I find it no problem but the price is absurd compared to the same item on Amazon.com. You would think that since it is coming from Canada it would be less. Here's an example of Transtint dyes....
    Here's the price on Amazon .com https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...=transtint+dye

    and here's the same item on Amazon.ca https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_no...=transtint+dye

    I'm looking at about 4 or 5 times the price for the same item....certainly isn't exchange rate and shipping is not in it yet. I've seen this on many items and cannot understand why there is such a crazy difference..... anybody have and thoughts???

  2. #2
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    Insane pricing on some items is not that uncommon on Amazon. One explanation I have heard is that Amazon uses an algorithm to adjust prices based on what is selling and what is not. Maybe Amazon.ca sold a lot of dye so the price went up and Amazon.com wasn't selling much so the price went down.

  3. #3
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    I find that some of the 3rd party sellers have outrageous prices for their products.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Barry McFadden View Post
    I'm looking at about 4 or 5 times the price for the same item....certainly isn't exchange rate and shipping is not in it yet. I've seen this on many items and cannot understand why there is such a crazy difference..... anybody have and thoughts???
    Mabye there is general confusion on Amazon about those particular products.

    I notice the product details for this version of the dye: https://www.amazon.com/TransTint-Dye...tint+dye&psc=1 state its volume is 2 liters, but its weight is only 0.32 oz.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stephen Tashiro View Post
    Mabye there is general confusion on Amazon about those particular products.

    I notice the product details for this version of the dye: https://www.amazon.com/TransTint-Dye...tint+dye&psc=1 state its volume is 2 liters, but its weight is only 0.32 oz.
    Both items are 2 fluid ounces but can be diluted with water or alcohol to make 2 liters....

  6. #6
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    I'm looking at about 4 or 5 times the price for the same item....certainly isn't exchange rate and shipping is not in it yet. I've seen this on many items and cannot understand why there is such a crazy difference..... anybody have and thoughts???

    It is likely that the item isn't being supplied by someone in Canada, but is actually being shipped from the U.S. through a broker. You would have to check and see who the supplier "Giving Stone" is and where they are located.
    Last edited by Jim Becker; 07-09-2018 at 5:28 PM. Reason: fixed quote tagging
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  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Damm View Post
    I find that some of the 3rd party sellers have outrageous prices for their products.
    I thing that is probably it. I have seen some sellers asking several times market on items.

    OTOH I have bought climbing gear in Canada for a third of the cost in the US; but had to pick it up in Canada because the store had agreed not to ship the brand to the US. Don't think that's the issue here though.
    Last edited by Wade Lippman; 07-09-2018 at 5:28 PM.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Schierer View Post
    It is likely that the item isn't being supplied by someone in Canada, but is actually being shipped from the U.S. through a broker. You would have to check and see who the supplier "Giving Stone" is and where they are located.
    I get what you're saying but if that is the case then the same item from both websites are shipping from the US but one is 4X the price... that's what I don't get....
    Last edited by Barry McFadden; 07-10-2018 at 1:26 PM.

  9. #9
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    They are being sold by different suppliers. Furniture Supply is selling the first/cheaper bottle. "Giving Stone" and other suppliers are supplying the other more expensive bottles.

    I agree that price differences shouldn't be that great but retailers can charge what ever price the market will bear. If it's too high, you might have it in stock a long while.
    Last edited by Ken Fitzgerald; 07-10-2018 at 12:25 PM.
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  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Doug Garson View Post
    Maybe Amazon.ca sold a lot of dye so the price went up and Amazon.com wasn't selling much so the price went down.
    That is entirely not true!

    If .ca had sold more dye than .com, the prices would have gone down for a Canadian buyer. That is simple economics.

    May be when more warehouses are built in Canada for them to keep more US stocks there, the inflated costs of some products would dip.

    Woodcraft and Rockler's have similar skewed pricing strategy for some of their products for Canadian customers.

    Simon

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    Quote Originally Posted by Simon MacGowen View Post
    That is entirely not true!
    If .ca had sold more dye than .com, the prices would have gone down for a Canadian buyer. That is simple economics.
    Things are not that simple with Amazon. Amazon is known to deeply discount items when it is the last one or two they have in stock. The price goes back to normal after they are out of inventory.

    I bought a $100 air filter for my motorhome for about $25. Brand new in the box. Others have often reported the same type of thing.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Simon MacGowen View Post
    That is entirely not true!

    If .ca had sold more dye than .com, the prices would have gone down for a Canadian buyer. That is simple economics.

    May be when more warehouses are built in Canada for them to keep more US stocks there, the inflated costs of some products would dip.

    Woodcraft and Rockler's have similar skewed pricing strategy for some of their products for Canadian customers.

    Simon
    I agree normally prices go down when volume goes up, the rule of economies of scale. But I was told on a past thread about Amazon's pricing algorithm which tries to maximize profit by boosting prices on popular items and dropping prices on slow selling items. When you think about it, it makes sense. If no one is buying a product you put it on sale to boost sales, nobody puts an item on sale if they can't keep it on the shelf because it's always selling out. So why not boost the price when sales are high and take advantage? Economies of scale are more applicable to the manufacturing side than the selling side.

  13. #13
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    As a Canadian, Barry, I feel your pain.

    The bottom line is that Amazon does this because it can.

    Leaving out the costs of transborder shipping of goods and the involvement of third party sellers, Canadians are still badly served by Amazon. There are several distribution centers in Canada now, and they are building a new one here in Ottawa, to open next year. Even when the goods I order are shipped from one of these Canadian distribution centers, there are frequently crazy price differences between .com and .ca.

    One "excuse" put forward by some online retailers is that the costs to do business in Canada are much, much higher than in the US. Our taxes are much higher, our minimum wage is much higher, our overall labour costs are much higher. Somebody has to pay for all these higher costs and it sure as hell is not going to be the Amazons of this world.

    It's not just a .ca/.com thing either. Others have reported buying from the .de for example. Frequently, they say that you can order woodworking stuff from the German site and have it delivered to Canada for cheaper than you buy it on the .ca site.
    Grant
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  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Doug Garson View Post
    Economies of scale are more applicable to the manufacturing side than the selling side.
    The law of demand says an increase in demand will cause an increase in the equilibrium price and quantity of a good, which is not the same as what you are suggesting. You are suggesting .ca sells more than .com and hence the price is higher on the .ca site. You are looking at two platforms and making a relationship between their sales prices. Where is proof that such relationship exists at all? If I saw the same product asking for the same price on both sites, could I suggest that the product had the same demand from both American and Canadian consumers? Of course, not.

    As I pointed out, you often see cheaper prices on an American platform, not because its overseas site is selling more (it certainly would have helped reduce the trade deficits if it were!), but sometimes because of higher costs of selling/attending to those transactions/allowance for currency fluctuations.

    Simon
    Last edited by Simon MacGowen; 07-11-2018 at 9:17 AM.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Grant Wilkinson View Post

    It's not just a .ca/.com thing either. Others have reported buying from the .de for example. Frequently, they say that you can order woodworking stuff from the German site and have it delivered to Canada for cheaper than you buy it on the .ca site.
    Just for interest sake I looked up the same item on Amazon.de.... WOW.... price ranges from 60 euros to 133 euros..!!!!

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