Many items are vastly overpriced on Amazon
Amazon shoppers should be on their guard when buying presents this Christmas, with third-party sellers pricing up very ordinary CDs for thousands of dollars.
The online retail giant has dozens of items marked up at ludicrous prices. Take, for example, this Gloria Estefan Karaoke CD, which was being sold on Amazon UK for £2,526 ($3,414).
That's one expensive CD
Or this CD of Serb & Croat Folk Music, priced at only £2,581 ($3,488) - although the MP3 version is clearly a bargain at only £7.49 ($10).
The Vujicsics Ensemble clearly come at a price
There are dozens of such vastly overpriced listings on Amazon, and it’s not only CDs that are subject to ridiculous price hikes, either. This now discontinued Nikon Coolpix S560 camera - worth about $50 on the second-hand market - is priced at more than £10,000 ($13,500) by one Amazon seller:
The Coolpix has a price that's anything but cool
Why the high prices?
Why these items have such ridiculously steep mark-ups is something of a mystery. Even a couple of internet security experts we spoke to admitted to being baffled.
There are a few theories floating around in online forums, where similar sky-high listings have been discovered.
One theory is that the scammers are hoping to capitalize on careless buyers, who simply don’t notice the high price on the item they’re ordering, assuming Amazon’s prices to be typically keen. That theory is somewhat undermined by the niche products many of these overpriced price tags are attached too, however. Unless I’ve missed a cultural revolution, there’s not a huge demand for Serb & Croat Folk Music this Christmas. Probably not even in Serbia or Croatia.
Another theory is that it’s a ruse to get better seller fees on Amazon. Amazon charges sellers a per item fee if they list fewer than 35 items per month. The vastly overpriced items have little or no chance of selling, so the seller is never punished by Amazon for failing to fulfil an order, but they get away without paying the additional fees on items they genuinely want to sell.
The final theory is that it’s some sort of money laundering scam, where criminals use Amazon’s marketplace to legitimize, say, money from sales of drugs.
I asked Amazon what measures it was taking to prevent customers being caught out by these outrageously priced listings. An Amazon spokesperson said: “We work hard every day to provide customers with low prices, vast selection, and fast delivery. Sellers set their own product prices in our store and we have policies to help ensure sellers are pricing their products competitively. We actively monitor our store and remove offers that violate our policies.”
Whatever the reason for the vastly overpriced goods, just take a little extra care when you’re rushing through your last-minute Christmas shopping.
