In the early days of Amazon’s Prime Day, the sale was known as a time to pick up much-desired goods at incredibly low prices.
However, in the years since, many on the internet have begun to question how good those deals really are.
For example, one shopper claimed that the prices on her desired items actually increased on Prime Day, even though the site made it appear as though she was getting a significant discount. Another noted that her apparent Prime Day discount had an item being sold for the same price as the days before the sale.
Now, another user has sparked discussion after calling out Amazon for their alleged Prime Day practices.
Why Amazon Prime Day might not be the deal you think it is
In a video with over 2.3 million views as of Sunday, TikTok user Nat (@unraveledthreads) shares why she “personally can’t wait till the lawsuit comes out about Amazon Prime Day and all this false marketing, false advertising going on.”
“What they’re doing is, you think you’re getting a huge deal, but it was actually, in fact, always that price, and Amazon has become a master at understanding consumer psychology where you think it’s 50% off,” Nat explains. “But if we’re comparing for Amazon Prime Day, you aren’t saving anything.”
To emphasize her point, she includes several images of items that appear to be around the same price as they were before Prime Day, only being advertised as though they are being heavily discounted.
“If you are saving, it’s a very nominal amount,” she details. “They will slowly mark it up, put it [on] a red ‘Prime Day’ sale. You understand that there’s a limited amount of days for Prime Day, you’re encouraged to buy it, even though it’s pretty much the same price as it always was.”
She concludes by saying that Prime Day is “such a scam this year.”
Amazon responds to these claims
While not responding to Nat’s allegations specifically, MarketWatch reached out to Amazon to receive their response to similar allegations that were making their way through the internet.
“After investigating each of the above claims, Amazon disputed their accuracy, saying these shoppers had either missed a promo code, were comparing the Prime Day prices to lower prices that were not typical, or were simply citing the wrong prices,” writes author Venessa Wong. “An Amazon spokesperson said the company ‘works hard to provide clear and accurate pricing information to customers on our product pages every day.’”
“Amazon bases savings off of validated reference prices – such as the List Price or Typical Price – because these are prices that we can confirm customers have recently paid on Amazon or our competitors recently offered,” an Amazon spokesperson told MarketWatch. “Using verifiable reference prices is a standard practice in retail and we believe this is a clear way to show customers a validated price and the discount they receive.’”
@unraveledthreads Replying to @Chae Sunny D #greenscreen has anyone else noticed Amazon Prime Day has been SUCH a bust! They’ve raised prices just to drop them down to regular rates. They made up fake sales. Did you purchase anything this year? #amazonprime #amazonprimeday #amazon #tiktokshop ♬ som original – AV music
Commenters share their thoughts on Prime Day
Regardless of what Amazon says, many commenters shared the sentiment that Prime Day no longer offers the deals that it used to.
“I’m a habitual price tracker across different companies including Amazon, and I can confidently say Amazon is full of it,” said a commenter.
“Just checked my cart. Put a dehydrator in there 7/15 @ $33.99 and it’s still the same price with ‘15% percent off,’” alleged another.
“That’s why I just buy what I need when I need it. they have done this for over a decade,” declared a third.
The Daily Dot reached out to Amazon via email and Nat via TikTok direct message.
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