Or perhaps "middle-aged-male don't-wanna-be-bothered-to-comparison-shop"
consumer.  Hah!  I'll show 'em!  <harrumph>  I'll, um, let my wife do all
the shopping from now on...  <hangs head, slinks away>

:-)

When I went to cancel Mark's book from one of my outstanding orders at
Amazon (I had it combined with the Kim Rose book to save on shipping costs,
so I wouldn't have received it for a while) I found that the price listed on
my order was 33.75, which elsewhere (i.e. Barnes & Noble) is listed as the
retail price.  So I cancelled it at Amazon and re-ordered at Barnes & Noble,
since even with shipping it was cheaper to buy it at B&N.  The moral of the
story, I guess, is to maintain accounts at multiple bookstores, and shop
around.  (For those interested, CD's are about 50 cents cheaper at B&N than
at Amazon.  If you're ordering a bunch it could save you a few bucks).
Given that others are seeing the $45 price for Mark's book I guess I'm not
being "targeted" by Amazon (or else perhaps we all are - hang on...)...I
just had one of the guys I work with who doesn't shop at Amazon often check
the price on Mark's book and it showed up as $45 for him as well, so it
looks like perhaps Amazon is charging a premium on "hot" items.  (Hang on
again)...I also had my wife check on Marks book and she saw a price of $45
as well.  Thus it looks like Amazon really *is* charging a premium for some
items.  Caveat emptor!

Bob Jarvis
Compuware @ Timken

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pennell, David [mailto:DPennell at quallaby.com]
> Sent: Monday, February 12, 2001 4:27 PM
> To: 'squeak at cs.uiuc.edu'
> Subject: RE: various prices for Mark's book
> 
> 
> I believe I saw an article recently that explained Amazon's 
> "experiments" with adjusting the price on a case by case basis.
> I can't remember what the rules were, but Amazon admitted that
> they were indeed experimenting. I guess they must have profiled
> you as a high roller...
> 
> -david
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Jarvis, Robert P. (Contingent) [mailto:Jarvisb at timken.com]
> > Sent: Monday, February 12, 2001 4:27 PM
> > To: 'squeak at cs.uiuc.edu'
> > Subject: RE: various prices for Mark's book
> > 
> > 
> > Interestingly, Barnes&Noble reports that their price 
> represents a 20%
> > discount.  If that's so, then Borders price is probably "full 
> > retail", and
> > Amazon and Powell's prices represent a 32% surcharge (!!!) 
> > *over* retail!
> > Looks like Amazon is making a BIG push to get profitable!  
> > Can anyone with a
> > copy in hand report what the price on the jacket is?
> > 
> > (This is apparently an interesting strategy for Amazon - get 
> > consumers (such
> > as myself) accustomed to the idea that they're the low-price 
> > leader, then
> > jack up their prices.  Who's gonna notice, right?)
> > 
> > I'm canceling my order at Amazon and re-ordering through B&N. 
> >  AND I'm going
> > to check out my other outstanding orders at Amazon, and 
> > compare against
> > other places.  (Thank goodness for "ship when all items are 
> > available"!!)
> > 
> > Bob Jarvis
> > Compuware @ Timken
> > 
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Mark Guzdial [mailto:guzdial at cc.gatech.edu]
> > > Sent: Monday, February 12, 2001 3:40 PM
> > > To: squeak at cs.uiuc.edu
> > > Subject: Re: various prices for Mark's book
> > > 
> > > 
> > > I asked Prentice-Hall about this, and just got a reply: 
> > They have no 
> > > idea.  They charge the same price to all of these 
> > retailers.  Should 
> > > we take it as a positive sign that Powells and Amazon 
> > thinks the book 
> > > will be popular enough that they can raise the price so much?
> > > 
> > > Mark
> > > 
> > > >I checked the price of Mark Guzdial's Squeak book at 
> several online
> > > >bookstores.  Here is what I found:
> > > >
> > > >Borders.com	$33.95
> > > >Barnes&Noble	$27.00
> > > >Amazon.com	$45.00
> > > >Powells.com	$45.00
> > > >
> > > >I have no explanation for the considerable variance in price.
> > > >
> > > >-Duane
> > > 
> > > --------------------------
> > > Mark Guzdial : Georgia Tech : College of Computing : Atlanta, 
> > > GA 30332-0280
> > > Associate Professor - Learning Sciences & Technologies.
> > > Collaborative Software Lab - http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/csl/
> > > (404) 894-5618 : Fax (404) 894-0673 : guzdial at cc.gatech.edu
> > > http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/people/Faculty/Mark.Guzdial.html
> > > 
> > 
>