This Clever Trick Can Tell You If Amazon Items Are Really On Sale (Or If They're Lying)

The Amazon experience has come to represent a cornerstone in consumer behavior. It seems that no matter what you're buying, it's likely that you can find the exact item or a reasonable alternative (and often both) in Amazon's expansive marketplace. The eCommerce giant has grown from a simple online bookstore into a retail goliath that sells over 350 million products, including those from third-party sellers. Amazon has even become a manufacturer of a huge range of goods, giving buyers plenty of options when it comes to getting the things they need for all kinds of everyday use.

But Amazon doesn't deliver what might be considered a straightforward shopping experience. When searching for items, you'll encounter all manner of goods that may or may not be directly related to your search parameters based on Amazon's algorithmic prediction tools. On top of all this data-driven posturing, Amazon constantly shifts its pricing (just one of many ways Amazon seeks to get buyers to spend more). Sometimes these changes shift by just a few cents. Other changes are far more substantial. 

Even more to the point, with major price changes there is frequently a price drop note that highlights the listing, attempting to position it as a bargain. But how can you be sure that Amazon isn't lying to you? After all, many brands have been known to raise prices ahead of sale periods or deploy "fictitious pricing" in order to reduce listings down to a threshold near regular price while touting it as a major savings opportunity. Fortunately, because things posted to the internet live forever, there are actually a few great options available to track price changes, ensuring you actually get a bargain you're looking for.

There are plenty of things you pay too much for, and the first tool you can deploy when seeking to make sense of sometimes wild price fluctuations can help limit this. The "Saved for Later" list allows you to bookmark items and their prices to keep track of changes. This list exists beneath your Amazon basket in both app and web page storefronts. This gives you the ability to return as frequently as you like to the basket page to check if an item has been discounted recently. Amazon also provides updates at the top of this list to show that price increases or decreases for items saved here.

Keeping an eye on things that you want to buy and adding them to your cart when the price drops is a great way to take charge of your savings strategy (this is similar in spirit to shopping deals offered at your local grocery stores). Staying on top of price discounts gives you agency in the process. However, it's not the most efficient way to track Amazon's price movements. By doing it yourself, you'll have to frequently check back to ensure you're getting the best deal when you do make a purchase. Moreover, it's impossible to look back on an item's long term price history when approaching the task this way. Fortunately, there is an even better option available to Amazon shoppers that requires just a simple search.

Price tracking sites like camelcamelcamel do all the work for you. This online tracker allows you to search for anything listed on Amazon, and it returns a lengthy price history for almost every item you'll find. Going back much further and automating the tracking process gives you the ability to see a price movement's change in the context of the wider picture. By just adding an item to your saved list, you'll see when the price is reduced, but you'll have no way to compare it to earlier pricing models. A notable reduction might seem like it's giving you a great bargain, today, but that price reduction may be part of a larger trend of increases that actually doesn't provide much savings.

Camelcamelcamel also tracks some of the largest movers in the Amazon marketplace. This can be a helpful tool if you're looking for a certain type of item but don't have a specific brand or product in mind (or perhaps you're seeking a gift for a loved one and don't know where to start). Looking through some of the items that have seen the biggest price drop in recent weeks or months may yield a great discount on an item that serves your needs but wouldn't have come across the screen for you in a typical Amazon search.