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In another post someone mentioned the author Brandon Turner in reference to rental investments. I go onto Amazon, and there is the book I am looking for "The Book on Rental Property Investing" and I find a second book, "Buy Rehab Rent Refinance Repeat". I put both of them in the cart. Books are books, I didn't pay attention to price, but instead of hitting Buy Now, I hesitated. I decided what the heck, I'll drive a county over this afternoon to Barnes & Noble, and buy the books from them. So yesterday afternoon that is what I did.
I really like book stores, and there is a certain amount of pleasure just from walking up and down the isles searching for what you want, not knowing what you'll discover in the process. After about 15 minutes of wandering around the store, I found both of the books on the shelf picked them up and went to pay. On the way up to the counter I looked at the price, $25 and $30 each. That didn't seem right.
While the girl was ringing me up, I looked at the price on Amazon, $11 and $15!
I asked,"Ya'll match price right?" to which she responded "Yes we do".
I showed her the price for the same paperback books on Amazon and she said "Oh no we only match the price listed on our website". Their prices on line were $19 and $21.
Don't get me wrong, I order quite a bit from Amazon, but I consider them a necessary evil and try to limit my purchases. When able I try to keep my dollars local. But does Barnes & Noble really expect me to pay double for a pair of financial books?
I told the girl I'd have to pass, and she more than understood.
So I am left wondering what sort of business model charges twice the competitor's price, has different prices for their website than they have in the store, and refuses to match prices. Maybe I've lost some of the magic, but I did save about $25!
I really like book stores, and there is a certain amount of pleasure just from walking up and down the isles searching for what you want, not knowing what you'll discover in the process. After about 15 minutes of wandering around the store, I found both of the books on the shelf picked them up and went to pay. On the way up to the counter I looked at the price, $25 and $30 each. That didn't seem right.
While the girl was ringing me up, I looked at the price on Amazon, $11 and $15!
I asked,"Ya'll match price right?" to which she responded "Yes we do".
I showed her the price for the same paperback books on Amazon and she said "Oh no we only match the price listed on our website". Their prices on line were $19 and $21.
Don't get me wrong, I order quite a bit from Amazon, but I consider them a necessary evil and try to limit my purchases. When able I try to keep my dollars local. But does Barnes & Noble really expect me to pay double for a pair of financial books?
I told the girl I'd have to pass, and she more than understood.
So I am left wondering what sort of business model charges twice the competitor's price, has different prices for their website than they have in the store, and refuses to match prices. Maybe I've lost some of the magic, but I did save about $25!
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