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Comment by IgorPartola | Hacker News Reader

I have found them to be constantly more expensive on tools vs Home Depot and Lowes. I used to think that Amazon would pretty much aways give me the best price (+/- random sites that may or may not be shady), but when it comes to any type of tools that has not been the case. I have also found Costco to be often times cheaper for household supplies such as paper towel, etc. Amazon's main benefit is convenience, but their price advantage seems to be slipping.

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Amazon has never been able to keep up with physical store prices on loss leaders- items that stores frequently mark down below inventory costs to get people in the door in the hopes they will also buy enough marked up merchandise to make up for the loss.

I did compare Bounty paper towels and Charmin Ultra about a month ago between Costco and Amazon and found that the dollar savings I got at Costco didn't make up for having to drive 20 minutes to get there (and battle all the soccer moms for a parking space). This might not be the case everywhere and for everyone, of course, but for me I am usually willing to pay a little more for next day delivery to my door in exchange for shopping in my pajamas.

Even on just middle-of-the-road household goods, ignoring weekly sales, Amazon doesn't seem very competitive with brick-and-mortar stores for staple goods, or at least those I buy. I occasionally run down a list of stuff I typically buy at Walmart (shampoo, detergent, OTC drugs, sponges, that kind of thing) to see if any of it has gotten competitive on Amazon, and it usually ends up being way more, not just 5% more or something but more like 50%+.

Prime Pantry is extremely competitive for me (in New York City) compared to brick-and-mortar stores.

I agree that before Prime Pantry, however, that Amazon was more expensive or I had to buy way to many items (e.g. 10 bottles of shampoo).

Interesting. Just a couple of days ago, I compared some kitchen cleaning supplies at my local Target to Amazon and found Amazon quite a bit cheaper. I wonder if it's a matter of regional variation, where Amazon just isn't pricing competitively for your local market and Walmart is.

Probably very much the case- I live in one of the most expensive metro regions in the US so unless I drive a ways out of town to a Walmart things are marked up pretty far.

Not even limited to such items, I'd say - when I was looking to buy a (then new) Nikon D7100 in 2013, Amazon's price was quite in the middle of the pack, with some tiny stores offering the best prices.

These days, for anything non-trivial, I'll treat Amazon as the virtual storefront, then look around for competing prices, with Amazon as the last resort.

I used to think that Amazon would pretty much aways give me the best price

People used to think the same thing about Walmart. But so long as they have you "in the door" they will try to get you on margin. (Their margin)

This is a great insight, and it reminds me that there are scores of people in management at Wal Mart and Amazon tweaking prices, working out margins, and generally fretting over the prices that we spend microseconds considering. Caveat emptor, always!

I've always wondered if that was a regional variance. Since I live in Texas, I assume the prices of our grocery store staples are cheaper than they would be in, say, downtown New York City.

But if I lived in a more urban, city environment, where easy parking isn't a given and picking up groceries in a car is more a hassle, then the time savings of having Amazon deliver for close to the same price that I would pay in store is much more worth it.

Amazon's prices for the dry goods I buy (cereals, energy bars) are now often comparable or more expensive than buying locally here in Manhattan. (The grocery stores I am comparing are on my walk home from my subway stop)

When I was in college Amazon had better prices on these products than my local stores in Iowa.

This is why I'm much less excited about Amazon than I once was.

Do we know Amazon is actually offering the same prices to people in NYC and Iowa? Seems like they could maximize their profit by normalizing pricing to a user's regional cost of living.

they almost certainly aren't. in nyc people shop to optimize for time, not price.

Of all products, food probably shows the least regional variance, at least in the US. (Source: I've lived like everywhere.)

Anecdotal, but I recently needed a drill and couldn't wait for Prime shipping. Home Depot was charging $15 more, but they price-matched Amazon.

Here's an example:

http://www.amazon.com/Ryobi-P882-Lithium-Ion-Impact-Driver/d... - $155

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-ONE-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Dri... - $150

For a Ryobi, it'd make sense that Home Depot would be cheaper since anyone selling it on Amazon is a reseller; Ryobi is sold exclusively by Home Depot in the US.

I've seen the same with Scotts, Fiskars, and a few other brands. Also, things like planes, chisels, etc. seem to be cheaper at B&M stores. On the other hand Amazon does have a wider selection.

Your point is valid, but this may be a bad example. Construction margins are so thin, and construction businesses so sensitive to it, and Lowe's and Home Depot are so fungible. Even among retailers, there's no room for margin. Especially on easily-compared items like tools; construction workers know what they're buying.

if you can find a seller in the marketplace (many of those still offer amazon prime shipping), that is not in your state, you can avoid sales tax. did you factor this into your price comparison?

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