J.D. Hodges

Traditionally Amazon has offered a 30-day post order price guarantee:  if you order an item and Amazon lowers the price within 30 days, you could contact them to receive a refund of the price difference. They then stopped honoring the guarantee around September 1st 2008 only to reinstate it again at various times, the latest being early 2013*. One thing has been fairly consistent: the 30 day time period.

However, they have modified the program once again and it is now valid for only one week after delivery. Here is the initial email response that I received from Amazon:

A Message from Amazon Customer Service

Hello,

We’ll refund the price difference if the price drop occurred within 7 days of the delivery date. Since your item was delivered 21 days ago, I’m not able to refund the price difference.

Thank you for your understanding. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Best regards,
B.R.

This ‘7 day’ rule was new to me, so I followed up and received this response:

Your Amazon.com Inquiry:

Hello,

Thank you for writing back to us about Order#002-0662156-XXXXXXX

I understand your concern regarding the price change on the item “Olympus E-PL5 16MP Compact System Camera Kit“.

The post order price guarantee on our website is only valid for 7 days after the order has been delivered.

We are unable to honor the price change since its been 21 days after the order was delivered.

I’m so sorry, but we are unable to offer any additional insight or action on this matter.

You can always return the item for a full refund and place a new order for the same item at the lower price.

We appreciate your business and hope to see you again soon.

R.K.

Of course one week of price matching is better than none, but personally I am still a little disappointed that they have reduced the timeframe by 23 days (30 days vs 7 days). 🙁

Regardless, I do appreciate the innovations that Amazon has brought to online shopping and they generally seem to strive to satisfy their customers. 

*this history of the post order price guarantee is based on my personal correspondence with Amazon customer support as well as reports from commenters on my website.

Older links about the Amazon Post Order Price Guarantee and its history:

Is This True, “Amazon Ends Post-Order Price Guarantee?”http://askville.amazon.com/True-Amazon-Ends-Post-Order-Price-Guarantee/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=16541221True! Amazon will no longer price match orders placed. Not even for the 30 days like before. From what I understand, there was never a “policy” that was listed on the amazon.com page.…

Amazon Ends Post-Order Price Guarantee – Consumeristhttp://consumerist.com/2008/09/03/amazon-ends-post-order-price-guarantee/Amazon ended its post order price guarantee this Monday, according to an email a reader and deal forum members received from the online retailer.

Amazon Dropping Post-Order Price Guarantee Effective Sept 1sthttp://www.fatwallet.com/forums/deal-discussion/857424/“Only orders placed before September 1, 2008 are eligible for a price difference refund under the Post-Order Price Guarantee policy. As of September 1, 2008 we are no longer offering discounts if…

What is Amazon’s Return Policy on price drops? – amazon.comhttp://deals.woot.com/questions/details/60a0f9e3-6037-448d-9e19-223075196055/what-is-amazons-return-policy-on-price-dropsLast chance deals for hardcore cheapskates. Catch ’em before they – you guessed it – sell out. Go to Sellout.Woot

Finally happened: got burned by Amazon’s “no post-order price match”http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?1,1280137,1280140Apparently, since Sept. 2008 they only price match TVs.A non-TV item was purchased and the day after it arrives, it’s now $30 less.With having to pay return shipping and get it out the door it’s not…