Most of you know by now that Amazon axed their unofficial price protection policy back in May of 2016. So if the price of something you just bought goes down, which it often does, you’re stuck with the price you paid unless you want to go through the hassle of returning and re-buying at the lower price. Crazy if you think about it as it must be costing Amazon way more in return shipping costs than it would to offer price adjustments.

But as is so often the case, the squeaky wheel does indeed get the grease. The squeaky wheel in this case are those shoppers willing to voice their dissatisfaction via a survey Amazon sends you after your live chat session ends. Here are the exact steps needed for this Amazon hack to work successfully…

1. Find a Lower Price On Something You Bought

Amazon is notorious for ever-fluctuating pricing.

So if you find a lower price on something you’ve bought in the past 30 days, this hack could very well get you some money put back in your pocket.

Note: This hack takes 10-20 minutes to complete so save it for big price differences. Personally, I’d use a $10-$50 difference as a smart range.

2. Start a Live Chat Session

Once you’ve found a lower price on something in your “Order History”, hit up an Amazon live chat operator.

Explain the situation and be prepared for a long spiel about how they don’t offer price protection any more.

Thank them for their time and politely end the live chat session.

This will automatically trigger an email/survey sent to your inbox asking you how your experience was.

How to start a Chat session: At the bottom of this page, under Step 2, select “More order issues” from the drop-down menu and “Other order question or issue” from the second drop-down menu.

You’re then given 3 ways to contact Amazon: E-mail, Phone, or Chat. Select “Chat” and follow the instructions.

3. Fill Out the Survey After Ending Chat

When you get the email asking you how your chat went, do the following.

• First, click “No” at the bottom of the original email.
• You’ll then be taken to a brief Amazon survey webpage.
• Click “Terrible” under “How did we do?”.
• Click “Very Unhelpful” under “How helpful was the Amazon representative?”.

Also, you’re given a spot to type in your exact issue. This is where you can politely explain the problem with their non-existent price protection policy.

Personally, I went into some detail about how it’s actually costing Amazon more money in the long run as many shoppers are simply returning items and re-buying at the lower price.

Lastly, I politely asked them to reconsider their policy.

When you’re finished, just click “Send Feedback”.

4. Get a Call From a Amazon Customer Service Rep

Typically within 5 minutes you’ll get a phone call from an Amazon rep willing to help with your issue.

Politely explain the issue and don’t let them transfer you to someone else. Be firm and stick to your guns.

In many cases the CSR will end up giving you price protection and refund your credit card the difference in price.

This obviously is going to work better if you frequently purchase from Amazon and have a clean history with them in regards to their policies.

5. Get the Price Difference in the Form of a Refund

While your mileage may vary, you stand a great chance of the CSR either issuing you a refund for the difference in price OR a hefty discount good for a future purchase.

Tim, a recent commentor here at Rather-Be-Shopping.com recently did this hack successfully and got the following confirmation email from Amazon:

“Thanks for letting us know the price difference you’re seeing on the Echo Show – White, to help compensate this I’ve issued you a discount. I’ve requested a refund of $35.99 to your Credit Card .”

Similarly, I got this comment from Nikki:

“I filled out the survey after the chat ended and stated that I was unhappy with their inflexible price adjustment policy. Now that the item is here I started another chat this evening and explained that I know they don’t do price adjustments and would like a prepaid return label. But he offered me a 30% discount on the original purchase price, which was the amount it had dropped since. Said it would be returned to my original payment method in the next few days.”

Lastly, Dana had this to say about her experience:

“2 Chat Reps and 3 Phone Calls later – It took me an hour to get the $20 x 2 echo devices price adjustment. But I DID win. I refused to give up! I didn’t yell or curse but I firmly told the last rep that I did not want to be transferred to another agent, I wanted them to fix it or issue Amazon dollars… (They ended up refunding my credit card $40)”

So as you can tell by these comments this hack definitely does work. Like any workaround, your mileage may vary.

Ask the Reader: What say you? Have you tried this Amazon price protection hack? If so, how did it work out?

By Kyle James