Retailers upset at Amazon for its price check app
Android tablet and phone to save money
I read an article that retailers are furious at Amazon for making the competition more difficult. I understand that because I do it every time I go shopping, even worse I teach my kids to use their android tablet and droid phones to do the same.
For example my oldest loves books, real paper books and when she goes to a B&M store she scans the book or its barcode with her droid phone to check the price on Amazon – very often she gets a better price with free shipping which allow her to save money thus buy more books. It’s easy and simple. Now and where I complain it’s when a sales person tell her that scanning is forbidden even illegal – funny to scare a teenager!
I have nothing against brick and mortar retailers, they generate local employment and sales tax nevertheless when the difference is too important I buy online directly from my android tablet while still shopping in the store. I bought a few weeks back a Brother MFC9970CDW I checked the price at local store and found it in stock at $699 + 7.25% sales tax, I checked on Amazon while in the store and got it at $549, no sales tax and as I’m prime member it got free shipping – I while still in the store I bought the printer and added the overnight shipping for $3.99 – it arrived the next day at a total cost of $552.99 compared to $749.67 – $196.69 saved on that one what would you do if you where in my shoes?
Sometimes the price difference is too small to justify the online purchase or I just need it right away but most of the time I buy it online saving some money here and there. I think that my android tablet paid for itself in a few month of comparing prices.
There is also another android app I use quite often, the Google shopping one which give me price comparison between local stores and online retailers. Many times I went from Best Buy to Wal-Mart because there was over 20% price difference between the 2 retailers. Twenty percent on a $200 item can make a big difference.
It’s true that I would be ok to pay sales tax on online purchase as I do in local store and in fact I report local use sale tax for all my purchase over $700 as it’s mandatory in Minnesota.
Bottom line, I save money with these android apps and I enjoyed it a lot for this holiday season
