Press Release December 19th 2008:
Amazon undercuts eBay sellers on season’s most popular consumer items
Research by price comparison website jiffyprice.com (www.jiffyprice.com) shows that for the most popular items purchased online by shoppers this season, Amazon is undercutting eBay “buy-it-now” prices by an average of 22% and by as much as 60%.
The price difference between Amazon and eBay is most notable for electronic items such as the Wii or Nintendo DS gaming consoles and the games used on these machines. Jiffyprice.com found that prices for these items differed by as much as 26%, with a Nintendo DS Lite costing $175 on eBay and just $126 on Amazon, including shipping charges.
Commenting on the results, Jiffyprice.com founder, Niall Thewlis, said “This goes to show how much savvy consumers can save by a very quick bit of shopping around. However, most consumers don’t have the time to compare prices with umpteen different online retailers before making a purchase. We’ve simplified matters greatly, so that shoppers can quickly compare the price of an item between only Amazon and eBay, the two giants of online retail, in just a couple of seconds. We include only these retailers because they’re the ones that most people have used in the past and feel comfortable buying from.”
The results aren’t all in favour of Amazon, however, since several categories of items tended to be cheaper on eBay than Amazon when searched on Jiffyprice.com. Computer users looking for a spare external hard drive will find the Lacie 250 Gb Rugged Drive for just $90.24 on eBay, compared to $107.99 on Amazon, a saving of 16% for eBay shoppers. For games enthusiasts, a Wii Charging Station was $24.99 on Amazon, compared to just $12.95 on eBay, saving a massive 48% for savvy shoppers.
Survey Results:
Item |
Amazon $ |
eBay $ |
Saving |
Kindle |
359.00 |
888.00 |
60% |
Wii Fitnes Bundle |
25.95 |
57.99 |
55% |
Bakugan Battle Pack |
25.99 |
54.95 |
53% |
Wild Planet Hyper Dash |
17.47 |
24.00 |
27% |
Nintendo DS Lite |
129.99 |
175.00 |
26% |
Crayola Glow Station |
24.88 |
32.97 |
25% |
Blokus Classic |
20.99 |
26.85 |
22% |
Garmin Nuvi 350 |
149.85 |
178.99 |
16% |
Scene It? Seinfield Game |
29.95 |
35.49 |
16% |
vtech kidizoom digital camera |
39.99 |
46.49 |
14% |
Eyeclops Night Vision |
68.88 |
79.99 |
14% |
Sony bdp s350 Blu Ray Disk Player |
222.97 |
255.99 |
13% |
Apple iPod Touch 8Gb 2nd Generation |
209.98 |
239.00 |
12% |
Xbox 360 Holiday Bundle |
299.99 |
337.95 |
11% |
Garmin nuvi 760 |
248.97 |
279.80 |
11% |
Canon powershot a590IS |
113.94 |
124.95 |
9% |
Coach: The Third Season |
19.99 |
21.50 |
7% |
PSP Console 2000: Piano Black |
169.99 |
179.95 |
6% |
Ipod Classic Black 120 Gb |
224.54 |
224.95 |
0% |
Leapfrog Tag Reading System |
49.97 |
49.99 |
0% |
Nikon D40 Digital SLR Camera |
409.95 |
408.95 |
0% |
Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Controller for Windows |
49.99 |
48.95 |
-2% |
Xbox 360 Charge Kit |
26.99 |
24.99 |
-7% |
Lacie 250 Gb Rugged Hard Drive |
107.99 |
90.24 |
-16% |
WII Charge Station |
24.99 |
12.95 |
-48% |
Prices in USD$. Survey conducted by www.jiffyprice.com over 14 days from December 1st 2008 to December 15th 2008 using search results from Amazon US and eBay US local sites.
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Note for editors:
Jiffyprice.com is a retail price comparison internet site that allows consumers to instantly compare prices of items between Amazon and eBay.
The site was built in 2008 by a team in the US, Spain, France and Australia, led by internet entrepreneur Niall Thewlis.
The site has been localized for use in all of the countries where Amazon and eBay have a local presence. Using behind the scenes geolocation technology, the site automatically searches the local Amazon and eBay site when a customer visits the Jiffyprice.com site, automatically displaying the prices in the customer’s local currency.
Jiffyprice only compares items that are available for immediate purchase. In the case of eBay, this includes only those items that are available as a “Buy It Now” option. All relevant shopping charges are added to the search results, so that consumers are comparing like with like, as far as possible.
Media queries:
Niall Thewlis
niall@jiffyprice.com
(646) 461 1765
Attachment: Jiffyprice.com - press_release_launch.pdf