Anyone else noticed prices on Amazon jumping lately?

[WLJ]

Been noticing prices on items I regularly order on Amazon like batteries, soap, coffee, clothing, household appliances, etc...  doing a bit of a jump lately to the point it's actually driving me back to Walmart. Anyone else noticing this?

[zxcvbob]

Been noticing prices on items I regularly order on Amazon like batteries, soap, coffee, clothing, household appliances, etc...  doing a bit of a jump lately to the point it's actually driving me back to Walmart. Anyone else noticing this?

The prices prices jump up and down quite a bit; I have not noticed an upward trend, although the really low prices might be fewer and farther between than they used to be.  I have noticed that Prime shipping is sometimes a week now instead of 2 days.

I ordered a package of sprinkler heads a couple of weeks ago, I didn't realize they would be shipping from China!  (I did know they weren't Amazon Prime)  They should get here eventually.  The price was so good, if they work at all they'll be worth it.  The tracking says they made it through Customs 

[Ben]

For quite a while now, I have been careful when buying from Amazon, especially when buying stuff that doesn't cost a lot. Amazon was always cheaper on a lot of inexpensive mundane items to the point I always just went to Amazon, bought the thing, and knew I got a good deal. At some point, maybe because of all the third party sellers, those prices started to fluctuate a lot.

Let's just say as an example I want to order a cleaning product like Soft Scrub. I might go to Amazon and see quantity "X" for $15, but then find it for $5 at Walmart. It used to be that the Amazon price on that was always competitive, if not cheaper, plus it came to my front door. I can't count on that anymore, to the point that it might be double or more at Amazon.

Same with stuff like water filters, vacuum filters, toothpaste, whatever. I still find Amazon prices on those things that are competitive, but I no longer trust that they are. I always verify. I don't find such discrepancies with higher dollar items. Whether a TV or a red dot sight, Amazon will be somewhat competitive.

[MechAg94]

I have been trying NOT to buy stuff from Amazon that I can just drive down the street to buy.  It is still a good way to shop and get an idea on prices.

[Ben]

Here's a great example regarding the "inexpensive stuff" from this morning:

The stupid cows busted another gate, and I need a new male hinge for it. Both the farm stores only had female hinges, so I checked Amazon. Plenty available, would arrive tomorrow, $11 each. Sounds reasonable for a heavy duty cattle gate I guess.

Just for the heck of it, I just now checked the Home Depot website. They have the exact same thing (only in their chain link fence dept) in stock at my closest store for $4.98.

This is just the perfect example of what I was talking about. It's something relatively inexpensive that I don't buy a lot of, so $11 sounded just as reasonable to me as $5 would. It's too low of an amount for me to bother doing a bunch of research. Eleven bucks? Sure, why not? Ship it. Makes me wonder just how much stuff I have paid double for at Amazon over the years.

[Lennyjoe]

They’re also going up at Walmart and other grocery stores like Kroger’s here as well.

[WLJ]

One common Amazon oddity I'm noticed is when looking at muti packs of certain items. Take coffee cans for example. 1 12oz can - $7.50. 3 pack of the same 12oz can - $55.00. Noticed this pattern with a bunch of things on Amazon.

[Bogie]

Amazon's stuff includes delivery - if you would spend two gallons of gas, and time, running to the store to buy that $5 hinge, you're ahead with Amazon.
 
If you are doing other stuff, then it evens out.
 
What gets me is that their prices seem to go up after a test purchase - I bought some pants for work. They were nice, and an excellent buy. Okay - went back to buy more, and they were up damn near 150%...

[Ben]

Amazon's stuff includes delivery - if you would spend two gallons of gas, and time, running to the store to buy that $5 hinge, you're ahead with Amazon.
 
If you are doing other stuff, then it evens out.

That can go another way too. If I buy five items that are $10 at Amazon, but $5 semi-locally, that's $25 in shipping on top of my annual Prime membership which is supposed to include "free" shipping. If I'm paying the $100/yr for free Prime shipping, then I shouldn't be charged extra for an item to cover shipping.