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
> > 
>