Last Friday night, I suddenly decided that my 6yr old $18 Wal-Mart tripod needed to be replaced by something a lot better now that I plan to start using a tripod more often. I spent the next 2 hours here and on Amazon researching my options before finally deciding on Manfrotto 055XPROB legs and a 498RC2 head.
The 055XPROB was listed on Amazon at $118. The "Invisible Hand" ad-on in my Google Chrome (auto-searches product prices across the web) said that Adorama was also selling it for the same price. I ordered from Amazon.
Yesterday, I noticed that Amazon had raised the price to $143 and so had Adorama. I then noticed the $25 mail-in rebate from Manfrotto listed on both sites, and also remembered I had read about it here on POTN a few days prior. $25 also happens to be the difference between $143 and $118. But why did Amazon charge me the lower price upfront?
Here's what probably happened:
- Adorama often lists the 'after rebate' price of a product instead of the actual selling price (which is in the small print). The Chrome invisible hand reports it all the time when I'm looking up products on Amazon. They must've had these tripod legs listed at $118 on Friday night.
- Amazon's robo web-crawlers match (or get close enough to) competitor's prices in real-time. They saw the $118 on Adorama and automatically set Amazon's price the same, not realizing the rebate.
- I placed the order (not knowing any of this myself).
- Adorama changed their price sometime over the weekend to show the full upfront cost.
- Amazon followed.
- By then, my order was already in.
So not only did Amazon charge me the post-rebate price upfront, I will also get to submit my rebate reimbursement, making my cost for 055XPROB legs effectively $93.
