For many consumers, Amazon is nothing short of a godsend. With just about everything you could ever need being sold along with lightning quick shipping available in most cases, and typically great prices, it’s really no wonder that the online shopping destination has grown into the behemoth its become. However, frequent Amazon shoppers might notice one frustrating thing about the site: the fluctuating prices. Luckily, there may be a solution to this problem that can help ensure you get a good deal.
CamelCamelCamel.com not only has a ridiculous name but also appears pretty bare bones when you arrive at their landing page. Don’t let this trick you though — the site holds some powerful tools that can save you some big money. To start this savings process, the first thing you’ll want to do is drop the Amazon URL for the item you have your eyes on into the site’s search bar. Doing this will then launch a page that will let you view a bit of pricing history for the product, including what the current price is compared to the all-time high and low. You can also elect to include new or used items sold by third parties in this data or stick to just Amazon itself.
As cool as the graphs and charts CamelCamelCamel (or CCC from here on out) provides are, the best part comes next. Armed with this pricing data, the site allows you to set a target price for an item and have the site inform you if/when your stipulations are met. You can either check in on the product’s price using a special URL that CCC provides or have them send you an e-mail when your target is hit.
Obviously this all sounds great in theory, but I wanted to try it out for myself before recommending it. So, just a couple of weeks ago, I used CCC to help me score a case of K-Cups at a decent price. At the time, the item was going for upwards of $45 dollars but, as I could see from CCC’s analytics, had gone as low as $27, with $32 being a common price point. Given the odds, I set a price alert to e-mail me when my delicious coffee hit $32. Sure enough, one fine day that fateful e-mail arrived in my inbox and yada yada yada I’m drinking that java right now. Incidentally, I’ve seen that the price has moved up by a few dollars in recent days, so I’m glad CCC let me know it was time to pull the trigger.
Despite its silly name and unassuming web design, CamelCamelCamel has quickly become my new favorite site. No longer will I have to worry that Amazon is ripping me off with its sometimes sneaky pricing schemes! It goes without saying that I look forward to using the site for future purchases and I hope this awesome tool works as well for you as it did for me.