Today is Cyber Monday, the day everyone is supposed to go shopping online. I need (or is it want) a new portable computer to replace my old netbook. I was looking to buy the ASUS Transformer Book T100TA-C1-GR, which is half tablet and half laptop. I figured I would get a good price by going to Amazon.com so last night (Sunday) just before midnight I called up the item and saw it was $380 (but currently out of stock). I waited until what I thought was midnight to get the Cyber Monday price, clicked buy and went to bed.
This morning I got an email from Amazon telling me that I had purchased the computer for $380. However, the email showed that I bought the computer on Sunday, NOT Cyber Monday. Oh, no!!!! I went back to the Amazon website to see how much money I had lost by clicking too early. The answer is that on Cyber Monday the computer cost $8 MORE. Wow. I saved money by not buying on Cyber Monday.
I had read a few articles that suggested that Black Friday and Cyber Monday didn’t have the best deals but I didn’t believe them until I made the mistake of buying too early. Have you encountered this also?
PS: For those of you who are wondering about the economics of the situation, below is a supply and demand graph. On Cyber Monday we expect the demand curve to shift right because lots of people are trying to buy items online. This demand curve shift results in more items purchased (what we see on Cyber Monday) and an increase in price (what I experienced).