Are there price adjusting bots on the amazon marketplace?

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ninja dog

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So I've got this item up and, as usual, a competitive seller undercuts it by a buck. that's normal.

but every time I adjusted, his was right there under me a few minutes later. That's not normal. So I experimented and dropped it pretty low, and sure enough, the guy is right down there with me. I know for a fact that there's a delay on amazon's servers before seller and listing pages update, so this seems unnatural. Especially when it's one of those guys with a million feedback and hundreds of items up.

Anyone think the guy is using some kind of script or bot?
 
It is definitely fishy. Have you done these drops at different times during the day? If so, then your suspicions are probably right.
 
Yea they are using a bot. I think someone posted a link once and they charge a certain amount to use it.
 
Use it to your advantage! Find a game you want to buy and list it $1 lower than the lowest price. If another seller automatically goes lower, drop your item some more. Keep going until their item is at your purchase price.

I haven't tried this, but I wonder how the seller would react. I'm sure they can enter a minimum on the item, but I think it's worth a shot.
 
[quote name='thelonepig']Use it to your advantage! Find a game you want to buy and list it $1 lower than the lowest price. If another seller automatically goes lower, drop your item some more. Keep going until their item is at your purchase price.

I haven't tried this, but I wonder how the seller would react. I'm sure they can enter a minimum on the item, but I think it's worth a shot.[/QUOTE]

Hah. That seems like that would a pretty good way to strike back, buy up some of their stock for super cheap.
 
[quote name='thelonepig']Use it to your advantage! Find a game you want to buy and list it $1 lower than the lowest price. If another seller automatically goes lower, drop your item some more. Keep going until their item is at your purchase price.

I haven't tried this, but I wonder how the seller would react. I'm sure they can enter a minimum on the item, but I think it's worth a shot.[/QUOTE]

That's an evil, awesome plan :twisted:
 
I think with those programs there are a limit that the seller can set. I've always wanted to try to buy a cheap item from a seller who uses those programs though. I hate that advantage they have.
 
Yes, get the price low, announce it on here, and before you know it he will be bought out of stock and lose his ass in the process.
 
[quote name='thelonepig']Use it to your advantage! Find a game you want to buy and list it $1 lower than the lowest price. If another seller automatically goes lower, drop your item some more. Keep going until their item is at your purchase price.

I haven't tried this, but I wonder how the seller would react. I'm sure they can enter a minimum on the item, but I think it's worth a shot.[/QUOTE]
How delightfully evil.
 
If it makes you feel better, I often don't make my purchases from the lowest seller- usually I have to 3 or 4 down to find feedback/product description I'm comfortable with. I'm sure I'm not the only one who does that (although I suspect it's the definite minority.)

[quote name='thelonepig']Use it to your advantage! Find a game you want to buy and list it $1 lower than the lowest price. If another seller automatically goes lower, drop your item some more. Keep going until their item is at your purchase price.

I haven't tried this, but I wonder how the seller would react. I'm sure they can enter a minimum on the item, but I think it's worth a shot.[/QUOTE]

I like it! :twisted:
 
[quote name='ninja dog']So I've got this item up and, as usual, a competitive seller undercuts it by a buck. that's normal.

but every time I adjusted, his was right there under me a few minutes later. That's not normal. So I experimented and dropped it pretty low, and sure enough, the guy is right down there with me. I know for a fact that there's a delay on amazon's servers before seller and listing pages update, so this seems unnatural. Especially when it's one of those guys with a million feedback and hundreds of items up.

Anyone think the guy is using some kind of script or bot?[/QUOTE]

LOL. Why don't you drop yours to an unreasonably low amount, like $.99, and see how low his drops. If it drops to some ridiculously low amount (say for a rare or high demand game) then maybe you can get it from him for way under value, then turn around and resell both copies. And if anyone buys it from you at the low price, just cancel/refund the amount.

EDIT: basically what everyone else said. Fight fire with fire. Oh, and one method I use is, to list the game under the "Collectible" section, since the vast majority of sellers do not use it...they use the "Used" section instead. And the "Collectible" section normally has prices set ridiculously high, so it makes your listing look that much better. I've sold a bunch of stuff for good money I wouldn't normally get this way. It helps to have clear descriptions, and usually my stuff is in excellent condition, non greatest hits/players choice, complete etc.
 
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From what i know, NorAm International / pieceofmindbooks uses a bot. I dropped my pikmin 2 before to 11.01 bnew and theirs became $11.00. I think, the same thing happened when they had nip/tuck blu-ray for below $5 - a merchant which is not on their repricer's exclusion list might have dropped their price.
 
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fucking NorAm -- the bane of my existence. the one I'm dealing with on this other item isn't them, but I would bet my left nut that NorAm will list 20 copies of it tonight and completely fuck up my profit margin.


I found the limit and it's not too low for the item...I'd prefer not to say which one since I don't want to post my amazon account. It's not a great deal though.
 
I find that sometimes the only way to get your item sold if theres a seller who's botting, is to match the price and hope someone who's closer to your state will buy it. Usually though, the various items I do sell are older items which they dont have a bulk amount of so Im not worried that I have to wait for 20 copies to be sold.
 
Same with DVD and book sellers. I was selling some box sets and novels I had picked up in a big lot and they would be like ONE cent below my price.

When I changed it, it changed instantly.
 
I like the collectible category idea, karkyco. Based on prices, I've written that section off as ComicBookBuy selling his greasy unopened packages for 5x what they're worth...

If you really want your item to sell, the most important thing you can do is make a specific, accurate, and detailed description.

Nothing turns me away from an Amazon/Half.com purchase more than seeing the description consist of: "All of our DVDs/CD/Movies are guaranteed. May or may not have some scratches", or even worse: the blank description. It's amazing how lazy some people are to not take 10 seconds to describe the condition of their item.
 
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I wish more people were like you Kerig. Most buyers just go for the one cent less guy.

I do the same as you-- if the "one cent less" guy has a generic description and the one above is detailed and not canned, I buy that.
 
I always make a detailed, accurate description. If a cart has some label wear, I say it. If it's cart only but looks flawless, I tell them.
 
[quote name='62t']the worst part is NorAm is known for selling resealed games. Bad if you are selling a new copy too[/QUOTE]

Yep, they sent me a couple PS2 reseals recently, though I got my money back.
 
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