BudsGunShop's fluctuating prices leaves me high & dry......

[MIL-DOT]

Yeah, I thought it might,but couldn't make a legitimate case either way. One of the posts above recommended clearing the cookies and trying again, so i did, but no joy. Besides, the girl I spoke with on the phone this morning confirmed the new price. So at least in this case, it was just a price hike.

 

[fallout mike]

Im more opened minded to conspiracies than most people. But im realistic. And this site is not the one to try and convince people of something like that. I frequent other sites for that fix. You just have to remember which site you are on.

 

[mgkdrgn]

After spending the week researching and hand-wringing over the decision to get the CZ 527 in .223 or 7.62x39, I decide come Monday morning,I'm going with the .223/5.56 I wanted in the first place.
I didn't want to place the order on-line over the weekend, since my VISA debit account didn't have the funds,so I was going drive down into town and put the money in first thing Monday (today), and then place the order.
Well, first thing this a.m. I see that Buds went and jacked the price from $552 delivered, to $604 .
So I decide to give them a call, explain my situation and hope they'd work with me. The lady on the phone was as nice and helpful as she was able to be, short of honoring the earlier price. While I was on hold ( caller #17) the pre-recorder jabber mentioned that their prices are adjusted every 20 minutes, and recommended customers keep checking for the best possible price.
I don't check their website frequently enough to know, so can anyone tell me what kind of "fluctuation" I can expect? Would you guess there was any chance at all that they'd drop the price $50+ back to where it's been ?
BTW, if you Google "CZ 527 .223 carbine" the Buds website pops up with the price still at $552.
I was really on the fence about dropping a big chunk of change on yet another toy I really don't need,so this $52 price hike pretty much made the decision for me.

There ARE reasons your LGS is still in business ...

There is absolutely nothing wrong with picking pennies off the street ... but you gotta accept you're gonna get hit by a bus now and then.

 

[MIL-DOT]

There ARE reasons your LGS is still in business ...

There is absolutely nothing wrong with picking pennies off the street ... but you gotta accept you're gonna get hit by a bus now and then.

While you make a valid point,I wouldn't call it "pennies" I've saved by buying this one from Buds. My best LGS quoted me about $667, PLUS about $47 tax, and I STILL would've had to not only wait for them to get it in, but make another nearly 2-hour round trip to go get it.
I just gave Buds my card number over the phone,cost me around $560-something, including shipping and the 3% CC fee. After a $25 transfer fee,I will have saved well over a hundred bucks, and saved a 2 hour road trip.
That's a lotta pennies .

 

[Ledgehammer]

It's no conspiracy - It's a fact companies track your ip and how many page views items get. I've worked in e-commerce for years and the most basic of websites has all of that info and more readily available to their administrator. Heck buds website tells you the last item you viewed, and what other people also bought who viewed the same item. What they do with that info - well we will never know for sure. I suppose you guys also think Facebook was built for our social pleasure as well right ?? lol

 

[MAKster]

The airline ticket companies like Orbitz do this as well. If you check a certain flight and then come back later it is usually more expensive. They figure you really want to make a purchase now if you come back.

 

[mgkdrgn]

The airline ticket companies like Orbitz do this as well. If you check a certain flight and then come back later it is usually more expensive. They figure you really want to make a purchase now if you come back.

Orbitz doesn't do that ... the airlines do. Orbitz only reports the prices, they don't set them.

The airlines play all kinds of airfare 'chicken' games with each other, often changing prices on a specific route several times a day, just to see who, if anyone, will follow them.

 

[TennJed]

I wouldn't call it an outlandish "conspiracy theory" at all. It's widely documented that buisnesses are going to incredible lengths to track their market, and if the technology exists to do this ( and it does) then it would be pretty naive to dimiss this put of hand.
I've noticed that when I'm considering something like a Spyderco knife on Amazon, the price will be the same for weeks, but when I get serious, and check the same item several times in a short period, the price miraculously jumps. I've also had Amazon drop the price on something just after I purchased, several times, in fact.
I can't state that this that is intentional, but considering the attitudes and actions of retailers, and the fact that the technology is there,it's hardly implausible.

Are you saying Amazon or buds would raise the price of the item to everyone because of your particular interest. The fact you said the price drops after you purchase it seems to indicate that. The price you are paying is the same one everybody sees. They cannot adjust the price just on your IP address. Both buds and amazon gets some much traffic your individual ip address means nothing to them.

It is reasonable though they would price items my the total number of views it gets, but that is the same price to everyone

 

[nazshooter]

The price you are paying is the same one everybody sees. They cannot adjust the price just on your IP address. /QUOTE]

They probably wouldn't do it based on your IP (cookies would be the most obvious method) but they certainly can offer different prices to different customers based on how interested they seem to be. To be clear, I don't know if Bud's does this but some retailers do.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

 

[tarosean]

I just gave Buds my card number over the phone,cost me around $560-something, including shipping and the 3% CC fee.

Not so High and Dry eh???

 

[gym]

Whenever you go to sites like "buds" or "amazon" you can expect that they are depositing a tracking cookie to keep them aware of your intrests, so they can target email you and show you what you have been searching for when you return. If I look at fishing rods, and go to amazon the next day, there will be a fishing rod on the page that comes up. It works like the amazing Creskin.

 

[stubbicatt]

I must have been on the lucky side of this cookie digestion, as the rifle I just ordered went down in price $47 during the time I was looking at it.

 

[captain awesome]

there is something to the IP address tracking and raising prices the more you search around on the site. The airline CO's have been doing it for years. I figured out a way to beat it though. Clear out your cookies and web history on your browser for that day. Then renew your IP address, do anther search, and walla! prices are back down to where they started.

 

[mj246]

Well I just did an informal test. Looked at a particular gun on the Buds website about 10-12 times over the past half hour (I should probably get more of a social life), sometimes just for several seconds a couple of times left the page open for a few minutes, and the price did not change at all. I know that several looks over only half an hour might not be enough to trigger a price increase due to interest in a product, but I'm inclined to think that this is not the formula used by Buds for their automatic pricing system. Feel free to prove me wrong, but I can't sit here looking at the same gun anymore tonight.

 

[michaelbsc]

They probably wouldn't do it based on your IP (cookies would be the most obvious method) but they certainly can offer different prices to different customers based on how interested they seem to be. To be clear, I don't know if Bud's does this but some retailers do.

I also cannot say if Bud's does this, but not only is it possible, it's actually fairly trivial with dynamic web pages.

 

[HOOfan_1]

I know Amazon tracks page hits on items and adjusts the prices accordingly.

I was looking at a Bushnell Elite 4200 scope and had my browser set to open to that page every time I opened it. Over a few days, the price shot up from $650 to $750. I stopped opening that page for a week or so, and then the next time I went to the page, it had dropped to $550. I jumped on it

 

[Davek1977]

Well....My only experience with Buds was a good one, which resulted in me purchasing a Doublestar AR-15. Not only did the price not fluctuate over the weeks I was contemplating my purchase, but the price remains the same to this day, over a year later! I don't buy the conspiracy theories regarding IP tracking and cookies affecting Bud's prices, and think like the OP stated previously, it was simply a matter of bad timing.

 

[Halal Pork]

There ARE reasons your LGS is still in business ...

There is absolutely nothing wrong with picking pennies off the street ... but you gotta accept you're gonna get hit by a bus now and then.

Yes, where I live it is because they enjoy having a hobby business. Buds is far better than anything in my immediate area. Even though the local gun shops suck, in my opinion, I still stop over to at least one of them every now and then to see what's available. If you know what you want, Buds is going to be a better deal 9 out of 10 times. If my local shops had inventory or service to offset their higher prices, Buds wouldn't be so tempting. I have driven a couple hours to visit gun stores outside my immediate area, and though some of them are pretty good, it's not exactly convenient.

One odd thing to me about Buds is the confusion IRT product reviews. People sometimes rate based on service, sometimes based on product, and sometimes a combination thereof. For example, "this is a great gun but Buds screwed up the shipping...1 Star!" Or "this is a terrible piece of junk that will need to go back to the manufacturer but Buds service is top notch...5 Stars!" Just an observation.

Be patient and when you see the right price, whatever that is for you, don't hesitate. That goes for Buds or anywhere else.

 

[Queen_of_Thunder]

And people wonder why I don't buy guns. ver the internet. The above experiences are the reason.

 

[Robert]

Too much bickering and whining, and now we are talking about internet tracking...nope.

OP glad you found what you want at a price you are happy with.