Did you know that Amazon has sales and deals happening all the time? Of course, you did – they have a big “Deals Store” category right on the homepage.
Unfortunately, it tends to be filled with a lot of overpriced junk (or just plain junk). Electronics and other high markup gadgets, along with items such as cheap jewellery, often dominate the deals section. They regularly boast 50%-70% savings on products with already high, artificially inflated prices. A lot of garbage to wade through…
Now, what if I told you there were regular sales on the GREAT items – the items you want and are actually looking for? Everyday items and other quality products.
Not only that, but that the prices on these items change ALL THE TIME, and you can actually TRACK THEM to see if you’re getting a good deal. Yep, that’s right – Amazon prices change frequently and often wildly.
Interested in hearing more and how to score the best deals? Want to know what Camel’s have to do with Amazon prices? Read on…
Amazon Price Volatility
It’s probably not huge news that Amazon prices ebb and flow, but do you know how often the prices actually change, or if you’re getting ripped off at the time you buy?
Many times, what appear to be good deals really aren’t. That sale price you paid might not have been such a great deal. That is if you knew the historical prices of that product you just purchased.
Prices on Amazon, depending on the item, can change frequently and drastically. Amazon is not as forgiving as other retailers either, where if you come back to find a better price a week later, they’ll adjust it or refund the difference.
Thinking I got a great deal on my purchase, only to see the same item 10 or 20% cheaper less than a week later, leaves me frustrated and annoyed. Not to mention disgraced as a self-proclaimed value-shopper and bargain hunter.
So how do you mitigate this risk and know you’re getting a good deal? How do you figure out if you’re overpaying for a product at the time of purchase or how long you potentially have to wait for a reasonable sale?
Enter CamelCamelCamel, the Amazon price-tracker with a weird name.
So Why CamelCamelCamel?
Yeah, it’s definitely a weird name and has nothing to do with Camels – and maybe that’s why you’ve never heard of the website. Unknown to many, CamelCamelCamel is a 3rd party price-tracking tool that aggregates Amazon data – but as mentioned, it is not called something obvious like “Amazon Price Tracker.”
For some reason, I always thought that the three camels and their humps were a visual representation of the ups and downs of changing prices. Logic might agree with that premise, but apparently not true!
According to the creator of CamelCamelCamel, the current website name was the result of an online project that had no domain name and an interesting domain name that had no website. This strange fusion of ideas resulted in a big and unusually-named success.
So why should you be interested in CamelCamelCamel? Well, as mentioned above, the site tracks prices on Amazon of pretty much every product imaginable! This tool can be used to your advantage for huge accumulated savings over time.
Price History Chart and Graph
For starters, you can copy URL’s (the website address at the top of your browser) of any page on Amazon and paste them into the CamelCamelCamel website search bar. The CamelCamelCamel site will then load up an ‘Amazon Price History‘ graph and table. The graph displays historical prices of products over time, and the table shows the Current, Highest, Lowest and Average prices for the item.
This is incredibly useful since it lets you see where the price is now versus where it has been in the past. You can also see what the best historical prices are for that product and when. Based on this information alone, you can pretty easily determine if you’re getting a good deal or not.
The graph is even more helpful in analyzing the dates an item went on sale and at what prices. Although there is no guarantee it will go on sale again in the future, it can give you a pretty good sense of how likely or often an item will go on sale and what price range the sale will usually be.
And while 20% off certainly might sound good, sometimes you’ll find certain items that often go on sale for 50% off or more – so it can be worth it to take a moment to check and possibly wait for the additional savings.
The graph can usually help you determine how long you might have to wait (or if it’s worth the wait) to purchase something based on your interpretation of the graphs’ prediction of future potential savings.
Amazon versus 3rd Party
There does seem to be much more data for products sold or shipped by Amazon directly vs. items listed by third-party sellers. This isn’t a huge deal, as most common products are sold by Amazon directly, but worth noting that some more obscure items are harder to track sales. Many times there will be no data at all on 3rd party items.
CamelCamelCamel will disseminate these price differences in its’ data tables, displaying a breakdown of the best prices from Amazon (Direct), 3rd Party New, and 3rd Party Used items. It can be noted that 3rd Party sellers often have more unique or hard-to-find items, but they can also be more expensive than their Amazon equivalents.
Account Pages & Tracking Item Prices
Once you find an item (or multiple items) on the CamelCamelCamel website that you want to track, you can add your email address along with the desired purchase price to a form on the tracking page. CamelCamelCamel will send you an email alert if the item you’re watching ever goes on sale at your pre-specified price or lower.
After you’ve created an account, you can track multiple items at a time or even import your entire Amazon Wish List into the CamelCamelCamel tracker. Using this method, you will get notified anytime an item on your wish list goes on sale – it’s one of my favourite features!
This method can be extremely useful if you have things you want to buy on sale but don’t necessarily need right away. I have gotten into the habit of adding all items that I want to my Amazon Wish List, things such as potential gifts, children’s toys, general household staples and more.
Many of these wish list items are just things I would normally purchase throughout the year anyway. By having them on my wish list, I always get notified by CamelCamelCamel whenever price drops occur, so I can usually buy them on sale and save money.
The Camelizer
CamelCamelCamel has also developed and built a browser extension called “The Camelizer” for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge to track prices as you browse.
This super-handy tool will pop-up with a single-click as you shop on Amazon. Want to check the historical prices of an item you’re on? Just click the Camelizer! How convenient is that?
Overall the Camelizer basically functions similarly to the website. It provides you with a useful graph and table reflecting the price history of the item or page you’re currently viewing. A convenience over having an additional browser or window open and flipping between CamelCamelCamel and Amazon.
Other Features
Besides the price-tracking pages, the CamelCamelCamel website also offers a couple of other sections, notably “Top Drops” and “Popular.” These are essentially any recent Amazon product listings with the highest price drops (based on the largest percentage discount). Popular is similar but features the top price drops on currently trending (or popular) items.
I’m not exactly sure how it determines the current popular items, but I find that section is often full of fairly good deals. It filters out many junk sale items that most people don’t care about anyway.
The Top Drops section is less intriguing, in my opinion, as it contains a lot of overpriced nonsense and unnecessary electronic gadgets. Most of these items have very high markups, so the appearance of a large percentage discount isn’t actually as great of a deal as they appear.
In some cases, they’re just large discounts on ridiculous items you’d never need or want to buy in the first place. Think Black Friday waffle makers, but replace the waffle-makers with a stuffed cartoon kitty cat slurping ice cream.
Good Things Come to Those Who Wait
The saying is true, and the good thing about CamelCamelCamel is that it can give you some sense of how long you will likely need to wait for sales and how much of a sale to expect.
I’ve managed to get many great deals using a combination of Amazon’s Wish List feature, CamelCamelCamel and the Camelizer. Here are just a few examples of typical items I’ve saved a good deal of money on thanks to CamelCamelCamel price drop alert emails:
Energizer AAA Max Alkaline Battery, 24 Count
Regular Price: Average $23.70 / Highest $29.88
Purchased – $11.97 (49% Savings)
Lodge Cast-Iron Combo Cooker
Regular Price: Average $94.54 / Highest $107.98
Purchased – $50.99 (46% Savings)
DEWALT 6-Gallon 165 PSI Pancake Compressor
Regular Price – Average – $223.87 / Highest $346.68
Purchased – $174.30 (22% Savings)
Fisher-Price Thomas & Friends Super Station
Regular Price – Average – $90.86 / Highest $231.50
Purchased – $39.14 (57% Savings)
These are just a handful of examples of savings off the regular average price. So savings off the normal retail prices are likely much more! I’ve been fortunate and, with the help of CamelCamelCamel, been able to take advantage of so many more great deals on everything from very specific purchases to everyday essentials.
The savings over time can make a big difference in your budget. That extra money in your pocket can be put towards important things like your groceries, emergency fund, investments or even a family vacation!
More Strategies for Saving on Amazon
While CamelCamelCamel is a great tool, there are some cases where I won’t use it exclusively or rely on it at all.
Amazon’s Wish List feature does actually show price drops and the percentage drop within it, whereas CamelCamelCamel assists you by emailing alerts if you don’t check your wish list frequently.
When relying on emails for updates, I find they are fairly timely but not always reliable to arrive as quickly as you might hope. If there are products you are waiting for specifically to go on sale, for example, during popular sales events like Boxing Day, Black Friday or other time-sensitive periods, you are better off checking Amazon directly and frequently so as not to miss out on a great price.
I’ve had instances where items went on sale and by the time I received the email alert a couple of hours later, the deal had already sold out. So in the case of big sales events, if it’s a specific product you want, be vigilant and check Amazon often.
Summary
Overall, CamelCamelCamel is an amazing tool I’d highly recommend, and it still shocks me how few people are aware of it. Maybe it’s just the value shopper in me, but it now drives me crazy to purchase something on Amazon without first checking the Camelizer!
Remember, you don’t always have to get the best deal possible, but simply knowing you’re paying a reasonable price and not buying at the top can definitely give you some peace of mind when completing a transaction.
So in closing, I’d strongly encourage you to build your Amazon Wish List, visit the CamelCamelCamel website and download the Camelizer. Begin playing around with the price-tracking features and familiarize yourself with the price graph chart and tables.
Then, the next time you’re looking for an Amazon deal, be sure to check CamelCamelCamel first – your wallet will thank you.
It’s amazing how much money you can save with 3camels. My best purchase this season was getting 30% off a Kitchen Aid food processor for my wife. She loves it – and I Ioved the savings!
That’s a sweet deal. Funny enough, I literally just bought a replacement dough hook for my KitchenAid stand mixer at 37% off yesterday.