I know I said Iwas going to talk about pricing on my last blog but I don’t have time today to write a long post. Sorry so long since the last one…I took a leave of absence. This one will be short. Long one next time.
Many sellers on Amazon.com have some type of automatic repricing engine or program attached to their inventory. Basically, what this does is, everytime another seller lists below what this seller has listed as the lowest price, the automatic repricing program takes effect and lowers the price of their own book by a penny. This ensures this seller has the lowest price listing at all times.
This is Horrible for everyone. Why? Because the next time someone list an item on that page at lower than the lowest price the same thing happens. On a popular item these programs start a spiraling price war and the value of the item that anyone can list it for eventually goes down dramatically. Especially if there is more than one seller on that listing with an auto repricer.
How to fix this problem: The best way to fix this problem is list an item at the same price as the lowest price. This does not set off the machine. The machine only works if you list lower than the lowest price. Price matching therefore is the responsible way to go. That way there could be several sellers listed with the lowest price. There is still competition and now it based more on description accuracy and feedback of each seller instead of a penny difference in price. Buyers will enjoy having several sellers to choose from at the lowest price point. Everyone loses with this thing in action.
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