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Amazon Price Gauging Review


I am not one to leave reviews on websites. Normally, I have nothing to add from what others have already said. However, after discovering Amazon's price gauge issue on a Camp Chef bread pan, I figured it was important to warn shoppers about that. 

I purchased this product from Amazon on 10/31/2020 for $15.99. Then on 12/12/2020, I discovered that the price on Amazon had increased to $27.85. That's a 74% increase in 6 weeks! That day, I submitted the review in italics below. Then on 12/14/2020, I got an email from Amazon saying they could not post my review. Apparently, it did not follow the Amazon Community Guidelines, but after reviewing those, I did not see anything specifically that I did that violated that policy.

Meanwhile, Amazon continues to sell this item for $27.85 on their website while the product maker, Camp Chef, continues to sell it for $18.00 on their website. My review didn't even result in Amazon realizing this pricing issue and fix it on behalf of their customers.

It's disappointing that Amazon took this position regarding the review. They seem to be now be putting profits over customer price and experience. Hopefully for Amazon's sake, this is an isolated incident but if more examples and stories like this surface, it could start to erode brand trust and loyalty that Amazon has been so incredibly successful at building over the last two decades. As the saying goes, "it takes a lifetime to build a good reputation, but you can lose it in a minute."

Amazon review submitted on Dec 12, 2020:

I've been using this bread pan once a week for 6 weeks now and holy smokes, is it awesome. The loaf releases with no issues. I spread a teaspoon of canola or olive oil around in the entire interior surface of the pan each time before placing my sourdough bread dough inside, and that's it. The dough can rise inside the pan, then go right into the oven, then come out, and the bread slides right out every time. Plus it comes out so clean, the pan doesn't even need washing afterwards. Just right back into the cupboard after it cools ready for next week. How awesome is that!

However, buyer beware, Amazon is playing games with the price. When I bought it on Oct 31, 2020, the price was only $15.99. Now as of writing this review on Dec 12, 2020, the price is $27.85 - a 74% increase in 6 weeks! That smelled to me like price gauging so I then checked out Camp Chef's direct website and they are selling the same item for only $18.00. So Amazon is indeed price gauging! And I know it's Amazon because this item still says sold and fulfilled by Amazon. It's not some third party seller doing it.

This proves it pays to shop around and don't count on Amazon having the lowest price. 

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