Amazon.com Discontinued 30-day Price Guarantee Policy

WOW! is all I can say as when I have gone there. There prices are higher then anywhere else so I try to avoid then if I can unless I have a gift certificate. other wise I just go to the store. and they ended it right before the shopping started. Your friend onlydia

i thought i saw it the other day when i preordered dark knight?!?! i doubt it will make them lose money/customers since i know its only happened to where we got money back on 1 item and we shop there a lot.. if they had never had the 3o day thing to begin with would you stop shopping there now? as far as them shipping things different every business is finding a new way of cutting back and unfortunately its hurting the customers

I hadn't heard about this but I don't use Amazon.com as frequently as I use Amazon.co.uk. I just checked the UK site and it says: "[i]Pre-Order Price Guarantee Amazon.co.uk's price for not-yet-released items sometimes changes between the time the item is listed for sale and the time it is released and dispatched. Whenever you pre-order a book, CD, video, DVD, software or video game, the price you will pay will be the lowest price offered by Amazon.co.uk between the time you place your order and up to and including the release date. Pre-order Price Guarantee applies only to items displaying the Pre-order Price Guarantee offer ("Offer") message on their product detail pages. Items that do not display the Offer message do not qualify, regardless of the nature of the items. Please note that our Pre-Order Price Guarantee applies only to items sold by Amazon.co.uk, and not to items (or prices) offered by third party sellers on Amazon.co.uk Marketplace or at any of Amazon.co.uk's Trusted Partner sites, or from Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.co.jp, Amazon.ca or Amazon.com or any of its affiliates. If your order enters the dispatch process before the release date and the price is lowered on the release date, we will automatically refund the difference between the price you were charged and the release-date price. Terms and Conditions apply.[/i]" This is subtly different from Amazon.com though it appears that if you put an item in your basket but don't buy it immediately, you will pay the current price, whatever it is, when you buy it. Unfortunately, companies may change their policies at any time. They generally have a disclaimer to that effect in their Terms and Conditions. It is also possible that they did have a notice clearly displayed announcing the removal of the 30-day price guarantee before September and for a period afterwards. As with all sites, it is your responsibility to check Terms and Conditions before buying. I find it quite understandable that Amazon should remove the 30-day price guarantee. They exist, like any business of course, to make a profit and not to be philanthropic. As it is, their pricing is often very competitive though they don't guarantee lowest prices. I understand your dismay, of course, but remember that feeling angry about something like this is not productive (although very natural!). As you suggest, your best course of action may be to apply to return the product and to re-order it, though I suspect that you will have to pay the return shipping. Read the Returns Policy carefully http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_navbox_lnret_pol?nodeId=15015711 Note that, if the item was bought from an Amazon Merchant rather than Amazon themselves, different conditions may apply. To paraphrase a common quotation: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the ones I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Good luck ... and I wish you serenity and happiness!

ooh that would make me mad! i shop at Amazon fairly often, but ive never pre-ordered anything. and ive never tried to use the 30-day price guarantee thing. i certainly dont recall being sent any kind of email notice or even seen a spot on their site saying anything at all about them not offering that guarantee anymore. course its probably somewhere on the site..just buried as deep as possible. gonna have to keep this in mind, cause i have been seriously considering ordering 2 books that finish series that im dying to read but arent released for a month or so longer..they are offering that pre-order and i want them, but figured it would drive me nuts knowing ive paid for them and still having to wait lol! thanks for the heads up!

A lot of businesses are cutting down on shipping and price guarantees in an effort to survive and make a little profit. Things are changing and we're just going to have to suck it up or shop elsewhere. That's unfortunate for those of us who favor certain retailers but that's how it is when the economy is bad. If Amazon loses enough business and gets enough complaints, they may go back to their former policy.

I think the reason they are doing this is because they are not making as much of a profit as they used to be making. They have to cut corners somewhere and this is a place where they can do that. If I were you I would wait until an item goes on sale and THEN buy it, not before. I know I have contacted them for the price guarantee too in the past. I had no idea it had changed as I have not bought from amazon in a few months now.