Amazon halts all post-purchase price matching, except for TVs
Detailed by Techcrunch this week, Amazon has changed their price matching refund policy on all products with the exception of televisions. Prior to the policy change during early May, Amazon customer were able to request a refund on a product within seven days of purchase (assuming the price dropped). Of course, the customer would have to catch the price drop and email Amazon.
This may be due to the automation process offered by companies like Paribus and Earny. While the majority of customers are unlikely to go back to a product page to check pricing over the course of a week, apps like Paribus and Earny would do that job for you and request refunds. Assuming that Amazon requests are a large part of their business, both apps are considerably less useful for consumers.
This policy change doesn’t apply to televisions though. Amazon will continue to price match televisions up to 30 days from the purchase date. Assuming you can match to a qualifying store, that refund will come in the form of an Amazon gift card. Interestingly, this is a further shift away from competitors. Walmart offers price matching up to 90 days from the purchase date, Best Buy offers 15 days of price protection and Target offers two weeks.
Charles Book
May 24, 2016 at 6:10 pm
Between the Prime service being so poor, and this sort of price matching refusal, Amazon doesn’t offer enough to justify the fee for Prime. TVs? Really? Lame-o.