Proceed To Final Checkout To Display Price

[lifeinhd]

I was shopping online for HDTVs the other day, and I noticed a couple of retailers-- such as Amazon and Buy.com-- now require you to proceed to the final checkout before they'll show you the price on some items. Before you only had to add it to your cart, a minor inconvenience, but not the end of the world. Now they want me to create accounts with them, enter all my deets, address, payment... no ****ing way am I going to do that to comparison shop. I find this ridiculous-- it's clear they're just phishing for my information. I won't even consider purchasing from a retailer who does this (I hope other retailers decide to not be morons and not follow suit).

Sorry, had to rant.

 

[bruinsrme]

That used to bother me until I realized I had accounts with such web stores.

 

[ucfgrad93]

That used to bother me until I realized I had accounts with such web stores.

Agreed, it doesn't bother me.

 

[lifeinhd]

That used to bother me until I realized I had accounts with such web stores.

But for those of us that don't... it's one less reason to make one imho

 

[Firestar]

It doesn't really bother me. Making an account isn't really a big deal.

 

[Apple OC]

I agree ... some companies are losing business while data mining

 

[paolo-]

Totally agree, I find it very sleazy. Not a huge annoyance to deal with but it's just the thought that some corporate knucklehead thinks it's one step closer to a sale. I find it to be bad practice.

 

[Firestar]

Here's an explanation from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=map_popup?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200339100&pop-up=1

 

[Darth.Titan]

Here's an explanation from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=map_popup?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200339100&pop-up=1

And that answer actually makes perfect sense.

 

[184550]

I can understand not having a Buy.com account (I certainly don't), but, really, not having an Amazon account?

 

[steve2112]

Here's an explanation from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=map_popup?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200339100&pop-up=1

I've seen that explanation before, but I call BS. "Our price is SOOOOO low, the manufacturer won't let us show it!!" I don't buy it. I think it's just another marketing gimmick, and it annoys me.

 

[Surely]

There are places to get things cheaper than Amazon? News to me!

 

[aristobrat]

I've seen that explanation before, but I call BS. "Our price is SOOOOO low, the manufacturer won't let us show it!!" I don't buy it. I think it's just another marketing gimmick, and it annoys me.

Marketing gimmick? How so? "We're going to purposefully piss you off by making the price difficult to determine, because pissing you off is a known marketing gimmick of increasing our sales". Not.

 

[appleguy123]

There are places to get things cheaper than Amazon? News to me!

Not unless it's some mistake that they won't honor.

 

[Surely]

Not unless it's some mistake that they won't honor.

Well, when they canceled that $40 PS3 deal/mistake, it did suck, but at least I got a credit on my account as an apology ($30 I think?).

 

[appleguy123]

Well, when they canceled that $40 PS3 deal/mistake, it did suck, but at least I got a credit on my account as an apology ($30 I think?).

I was actually talking about the $200 iPad 2 from Sears. They didn't offer me any compensation.

For the Amazon PS3 I got $20.

 

[Surely]

I was actually talking about the $200 iPad 2 from Sears. They didn't offer me any compensation.

For the Amazon PS3 I got $20.

Well, it could be because I buy a crapload of stuff from Amazon. Good customer and all......

 

[appleguy123]

Well, it could be because I buy a crapload of stuff from Amazon. Good customer and all......

I think it was random. I didn't get anything until I chatted up their online customer service reps.

 

[imahawki]

Minimum advertised price isn't some made up BS by Amazon. It's especially prevelant in consumer electronics. Its a PITA for consumers and big retailers but protects smaller high-margin, low-volume retailers.

 

[Surely]

I think it was random. I didn't get anything until I chatted up their online customer service reps.

No, I called them to discuss my cancelled order, and they offered it to me as an apology.


See: https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/11750397/

 

[appleguy123]

No, I called them to discuss my cancelled order, and they offered it to me as an apology.


See: https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/11750397/

I see. I love Amazon too. They might be my favorite company. It's between them and Apple.

 

[neko girl]

I like Amazon's website, but:

If you buy things with gift cards, it forces you to go to the point of purchasing an item just to see if you got free shipping or not. You can't back out, and the cost is not broken down by line item. There is only a button that says "Pay this amount now" or something to that effect until you add enough to pay for whatever amount it is. This page also doesn't have any link back to Amazon.com.

Buying subscriptions is confusing. No summary of what your shipping options are, no link back to Amazon.com. Does not return you to similar items of sale after purchase.

I don't know why things are designed that way. Making pages where you can't inspect exactly what you're buying is not good..

 

[Surely]

I

Buying subscriptions is confusing. No summary of what your shipping options are, no link back to Amazon.com. Does not return you to similar items of sale after purchase.

There are no shipping options with Subscribe & Save. Because you get a 15% discount, they only use regular shipping for S&S orders (although I still get my orders within a couple of days).

 

[neko girl]

There are no shipping options with Subscribe & Save. Because you get a 15% discount, they only use regular shipping for S&S orders (although I still get my orders within a couple of days).

Yeah I see that, but it's not clear if your final order ended up with free shipping or not - I think just letting us know that you didn't make it for free shipping (or did) would be a good idea.

 

[steve2112]

Marketing gimmick? How so? "We're going to purposefully piss you off by making the price difficult to determine, because pissing you off is a known marketing gimmick of increasing our sales". Not.

It just reminds me of the junk I see on those annoying car dealer ads. "Our prices are SO LOW, we can't show you!" It just seems like the places doing this are just trying to point out how much cheaper their price is than other places, even when they aren't. I have seen Amazon, for example, doing this when their price ended up being about the same as say, Newegg.