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Accounts which solely post advertisements, or persistently post them may be terminated.

walden ,

What’s the price when you add it to your cart? Websites do this when they are selling something for “less than what ASUS allows us to advertise”. If it’s less than $43.25 when you add it to your cart, that’s why.

Still dumb, but at least there’s a reason.

LodeMike OP ,

No it’s identical.

FluffyPotato ,

I’m so glad amazon is useless in my country due to high delivery times and fees. Local stores never vanished and their online stores are so much better.

intensely_human ,

The Lowe’s website has this too. It’s fucking asinine.

turkishdelight ,

Amazon’s customer experience has been on a very steep decline in the last 5 years or so. I find myself shopping more and more on Temu and AliExpress.

aluminium ,

same, especially since many products are the exact same thing with 100% stupid tax added on top

Appoxo ,
@Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Why on Temu?? That is basically enabling scammers.
Just shop on Ali where you actually have some buyer protection…

turkishdelight ,

I had really good purchases on Temu. Scammers are a problem, but no more than Amazon.

evlogii ,

What is the most useful and coolest thing you’ve recently purchased on AliExpress that you’re enjoying?

Smokeless7048 ,

i got a woodworking/marking pen off Ali, $7.00 CAD Saw an identical one at Rona today, $28 CAD

turkishdelight ,

Not Alibaba, but I got a bunch of smart lights from Temu for my house: temu.com/…/rechargeable-wireless-motion-sensor-wa…

Showroom7561 ,

I find myself shopping more and more on Temu and AliExpress.

Both are super sleezy, ad-shoving, privacy disrespecting sites with aweful return policies.

Not sure that’s a better alternative to Amazon.

turkishdelight ,

is Amazon different? At least Temu is cheap.

Showroom7561 ,

Vastly different.

Superb return policy. Brand name products (on most things), and these brands will honour warranties when purchased from Amazon directly. No sales-pressure emails, fake promotions/coupons, or notifications on your phone (my wife uses Temu, and she gets these spam messages constantly throughout the day!).

I buy from Aliexpress, but it depends on the item. Some brands do have Aliexpress official stores, but shipping is often days or weeks or months (or never). Approx. 1 out of 10 orders I place on Aliexpress don’t even arrive, and I won’t be able to claim a refund for months after I’ve paid.

Aliexpress also likes to promote way too many sex toys and sleazy trash thumbnails when my order history has only been RC car and bike parts, and a flashlight. Disgusting how they “market” products.

I hate defending Amazon, because there’s a lot wrong with them, too. But compared to Temu or Ali, they are just so much better in every way.

Treczoks ,

I had it worse. I needed to book a hotel for a business trip, and they offered me two prices: Either take them cheaper, but you cannot cancel or get a refund, or you can spend a bit more, and cancel it up to one day before arrival for a “cancellation fee”, which amount was not disclosed at that moment.

I booked the latter one, and in the booking confirmation it said that the cancellation fee is exactly the same as the cost for the room!

LodeMike OP ,

🤨

General_Shenanigans , (edited )

That’s dumb. I used to work in hotels. We hated online bookings because of how terrible those sites handle expectations. A tip for the future is: If you find yourself wanting to take that latter option, odds are it’s the same as booking directly, price-wise. If you book directly, you’re more guaranteed and only have to deal with their own policy. Usually it’s no fee if cancelled the day before arrival. If cancelled same day, a one-night fee applies for holding the room. If you cancelled the day before, could’ve saved.

yournamehere ,

america is winning and winning and winning. so much like damn stop it. u devalue gold by being so great!america is winning and winning and winning. so much like damn stop it. u devalue gold by being so great! turbocapitalism has proven to be soooo resiliant against humanity…cant beat that. make stupid great again!

RealFknNito ,
@RealFknNito@lemmy.world avatar

On the right it has a rough shipping location (LA with zipcode), are you sure that’s not the change?

LodeMike OP ,

Perhaps. It’s coming from the same IP.

LodeMike OP ,

You know maybe it’s because I’m on a VPN. Testing out anti-botting methods?

RealFknNito ,
@RealFknNito@lemmy.world avatar

Anti-botting or rough shipping calculations being factored in, both fairly plausible. I notice on the left it even prompts to “select delivery location” near where the price would be.

LodeMike OP ,

I tested putting it in my cart and it showed me the price. No location needed.

pythonoob ,

Or trying to filter out price scrapers

mechoman444 ,

Wtf is a gaming sound card!

echodot ,

A sound card is a device you add to your motherboard if for some strange reason your motherboard doesn’t have the ability to play sound already. I have literally never heard of anyone needing one since about 1995.

Maybe it’s for a retro system? It’s not exactly expensive.

RealFknNito ,
@RealFknNito@lemmy.world avatar

Apparently having a dedicated sound card and high end audio equipment can improve the quality of the sound. You can chalk it up to audiophile stuff.

Digestive_Biscuit ,
@Digestive_Biscuit@feddit.uk avatar

I’m not really an audiophile but switching to an external usb amp dac was a good decision.

DumbAceDragon ,
@DumbAceDragon@sh.itjust.works avatar

I actually had to add a dedicated sound card to my PC because the onboard one shat itself and died somehow, and it was way cheaper than a new motherboard.

Daxtron2 ,

A lot of motherboards cheap out on their audio. I had one that had a lot of EMI in the line in and swapped it out for a 30$ card like this and it cleared it up so people would stop telling me my mic sounded like shit lol.

MystikIncarnate ,

I literally have a modern system that does not have any audio onboard.

I put in a USB connected mixer that also functions as an audio interface for my PC… But I could have easily gone this way too.

nokturne213 ,

I had a board that the onboard audio was causing crashes. I disabled it and installed a PCI sound card and everything was fine.

theworstshepard ,

Back in the day, they were the only way to get sound out of machine, except the internal speaker but that only said beep

witchergeraltofrivia ,

Amazon is a big POS

Marcbmann ,

No. The manufacturer has a minimum advertised pricing policy in place. Amazon has the item priced below this point. So they can only display the price after it’s been added to the cart.

witchergeraltofrivia ,

The neat part is - amazon is still a POS

SkybreakerEngineer ,

Yes, that is the purpose of s shopping website. One big Point of Sale

Briguy ,

Go to bed Dad

IsThisAnAI ,

This has been common for ages. In lots of stores.

echodot ,

I can’t actually visualize what Amazon looks like at the moment I don’t currently have a way to check, but I’m positive if it shows me prices.

I know it does because I use it to filter out the cheap crap that infests Amazon. If something is too cheap it’s not worth buying. So I always order cheapest to most expensive and then scroll down a little bit but I definitely can see the actual prices.

I wonder if the a/b testing this if they are then anybody who doesn’t see prices should point blank refuse to actually buy anything. We don’t want this becoming common

johannesvanderwhales ,

These agreements are specific to certain products. Amazon continues to show prices under normal circumstances.

Ephera ,

I’ve never seen it either. Might be a regional thing, as in better/worse consumer protection…? I’m from the EU.

mihnt , (edited )
@mihnt@lemmy.world avatar

US thing. It’s a loophole vendors will use to get below contracts with manufacturers so they can clear stock and not actually be publicly displaying the sale price. Keeps them from getting sued by the manufacturer and the consumer ends up with a better deal.

Iron_Lynx ,

Except now the consumer has no reference for the price, which is illegal in most if not all EU member states. Not to forget that now the seller can hide the prices of products and make it impossible for a consumer to make an informed purchase. If any store, physical or otherwise, were to pull a stunt like this to me (EU as well), they’ll be talking to a regulator.

IamAnonymous ,

Not sure what you mean uninformed. They will see the price in the cart before checkout. Also the price here is always cheaper for the customer. This is one thing we don’t need the EU to regulate to stop these kind of discounts. They can go after “convenience fees and surcharges” on other websites, like $40 fee for a $100 concert ticket.

Iron_Lynx ,

Again, that would not sail in the EU. As a seller, you must list your price up front.

Plus, again, it makes comparison at a glance impossible. It’s a hassle to take multiple items with unlisted prices and compare their qualities for cost-effecticeness if you don’t see the price, and have to add items to cart before making any assessments.

Your comment reads like false exclusivity. Go after unlisted prices or convenience fees and surcharges? How about we go after both?

IamAnonymous ,

The prices are not shown outside of the cart because the companies are using loopholes to sell it at a lower price than they are allowed to as per their contract. It’s always lower and not higher. Going after this loophole means they will stop selling at a lower price. No need to make an assessment when the price will be lower at checkout. I have never seen any complain about getting additional discounts at checkout. This is one thing American consumers benefit from. 😂

It’s different when the prices are higher like for concert tickets as you will see a massive difference at checkout.

Iron_Lynx ,

I have never seen any complain about getting additional discounts at checkout.

That is a very edge case scenario that, to be honest, I find improbable. What incentive does a seller have to charge less? Especially if they are not required to tell you what they’re charging? It’s in a seller’s interest to try to get as much money from their customers as possible, and if they hide the price until they inform the buyer at the moment of purchase, that gives them all the power to charge as much as they can get away with.

IamAnonymous ,

The incentive is to move old stock and offer additional discounts without advertising it as they will be selling it below it’s contracted price. This is the only scenario the sellers are not trying to screw the customer. They are protecting themselves from being sued.

Iron_Lynx ,

Which happens how often exactly? And if the seller is not required to display the price, knowing that he has every reason to charge as high a price as he can get away with, what is a reason in the vast majority of transactions that he might be inclined to charge any less than that maximum?

Your entire argument is based on an edge case. And if regulations have to be created, I’m calling for the European model. No questions, no conditions, you are listing the price.

Nollij ,

That’s because of restrictions/contracts with the manufacturer. Sometimes there is a clause about the minimum advertised price. If it’s being sold below that price, that’s what you’ll see.

However, that clearly isn’t what’s happening- or if it is, then Amazon is violating those terms. They are showing the price in some circumstances, but not others. That leads me to think it’s a smokescreen, using the above as an excuse.

mihnt ,
@mihnt@lemmy.world avatar

This is actually a common thing and has been around for awhile. I see it on amazon mostly. Seen it on Microcenter’s website a number of times as well. Newegg was big on doing it when they were more PC focused and not a chinese website. Was more prominent in the early 2000s as there were more competing online stores back then.

Marcbmann ,

More likely, the price changed between screenshots.

We don’t know what the price is on the left.

brygphilomena ,

Yup. Or minimum advertised price is location bound. So the one on the right which has a location set can show it but the one on the left can’t.

johannesvanderwhales ,

Yeah, like, decades. It basically means whatever agreement they have with the supplier says that they can’t advertise for under MSRP. This is not a thing that’s unique to Amazon.

curiousPJ ,

Don’t get that card. I used to have it but it would randomly output max volume static… Not a fun experience.

lea ,

Had the same thing with a Xonar DX, probably got some permanent hearing damage from that.

LodeMike OP ,

MM yes. Thanks.

RememberTheApollo_ ,

I’ll offer that I’ve had the DX for probably a decade and had zero trouble, but of course YMMV.

Digestive_Biscuit ,
@Digestive_Biscuit@feddit.uk avatar

I had a Xonar about 15 years ago. Can’t remember the model. Its surround sound has a delay on the rear speakers, made playing games in 5.1 impossible, horrible reverb effect. The official drivers didn’t fix it, I had to get a non-official driver pack to fix the issue.

brotundspiele ,

WHAT DID YOU SAY? I COULDN’T HEAR YOU, IT’S SO LOUD HERE!

Raiderkev ,

Sometimes there is a minimum advertised price that manufacturers will allow vendors to sell at publicly, and the price in cart is a way that vendors get around it. If that’s what’s happening here, OP might be getting a really good price. I don’t think this is a sinister plot by AMZN.

Diplomjodler ,

If you assume everything’s a sinister plot by Amazon, you’ll be right most of the time.

Evil_Shrubbery ,

That is just to condition you to get accustomed to eventually having to buy it first before they let you know the price.

Which again is just to condition you to accept the fact that next they will be able to increase the price on your existing completed purchase each month for rest of your life.

It’s only in the best interest of the consumer, it’s not an evil tactic.

/s

helenslunch ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

I’ve noticed convenience stores in my area just stopped putting out price tags.

Evil_Shrubbery ,

Oh, that’s illegal here. Nowadays they mostly transitioned to those wireless e-ink tags anyway.

echodot ,

I’m pretty sure that’s illegal in a lot of places. I know some stores have the “if you have to ask you can’t afford it, boutique” vibe going on, but they do actually have to put the prices somewhere.

Schaedelbach ,

Sounds more like an inconvenience store to me.

scrubbles ,
@scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech avatar

Sidenote are sound cards making a comeback?

Garbanzo ,

So much that we’re buying them by weight now

Angry_Zombie ,

Just buy an external DAC

SturgiesYrFase , (edited )
@SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml avatar

As a hobbyist musician, the more you externalise these sorts of things, the more latency you create. A discreet, internal, soundcard is probably going to trump external DACs for a long time to come.
External DACs totally have their place, music playback, movies/shows. But for doing audio work, internal is the way to go.

christophski ,

What card are you using? Does it have an external breakout box?

Last one I used was the delta 10/10 which I loved

SturgiesYrFase ,
@SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml avatar

It’s an older Creative card, still has plenty of oomph. It had a breakout box. Lord knows where it is.

hips_and_nips ,

As a professional musician and someone who works for a prominent Japanese electronic musical instrument company, I’m going to have to disagree.

Thunderbolt provides all the low latency of a PCIe interface with none of the drawbacks. I use an Antelope Zen Tour in my home studio and it is just amazing.

The systems I designed for work though use RME PCIe cards, but those systems aren’t in the hobbyist space.

IsThisAnAI ,

👌👍 latency 🤣

You people just make shit up. The human eye can’t see above 60fps!

Imagine believing you are going to notice .001 poling rate. Maybe we can get a dac that fully saturates a pciex16 lane

Sir_Kevin ,
@Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

The human eye can’t see above 60fps!

That’s true until you get into VR. Then 90fps seems to be the threshold.

I’ll leave the rest to the audiophiles.

Buddahriffic ,

I absolutely notice when a game defaults to a resolution with 60hz refresh rate. It’s not even so much a stutter or stall as it just feels “off” and then feels “normal” if I adjust the settings to 144hz.

Though I don’t notice this when playing a game that has fps capped to 60, as long as the monitor is refreshing at 144hz still.

I’ve also had a few ms of latency adjustment make the difference between frequently missing notes and being able to sustain long combos in guitar hero or similar rhythm games.

It’s subtle to the point where it’s difficult to measure objectively (if it’s even possible to measure something where subjectivity is built in like sensory processing), but based on those I think our temporal resolution is higher than 60 fps in certain cases.

Edit: Though I’m not sure I agree that the latency difference between an internal and external sound card will be very noticeable. I used a USB dual pre for gaming for years and never noticed anything off with it. I might try breaking it out again to see if it makes a difference in rhythm games.

frostysauce ,

What do eyes and frames per second have to do with audio latency?

GregorGizeh ,

Might be an audiophile thing? I’ve been debating getting one myself simply because the onboard one is really limited in its abilities

masinko ,

I would not buy PCI audio stuff. Lots of power goes through the motherboard, which makes these prone to RF interference, especially if you have a rig that has high power draw.

Best to buy a external USB dac/amp. Either make sure that your mobo has a separate USB hub from the main ones (which some mobos might label them DAC), or a USB cable that isn’t rated for high voltage.

Kyouki ,

this, as someone who had suffered and tried everything to fix it: nothing helps.

Go external.

LodeMike OP ,

What do you recommend that isn’t either bullshit or $1500

xePBMg9 ,

Rme babyface is pretty neat. Though it doesn’t support linux very well.

LodeMike OP ,

That looks like a phone from 2004 and I need like, a headphone jack.

towerful ,

I have a Fiio DAC and i have no complaints.
But i dont have golden ears that can hear the difference between good dacs, excellent dacs etc.
Above a certain level, its good enough for me

masinko ,

I have a FiiO Q3, I recommend it too.

I’ve heard good things about the EK10/Olympus2, but haven’t tried it myself.

dditty ,

I got a EK10 bc my old MSI motherboard had noticeably worse audio quality than my android phone/MacBook. The EK10 is totally fine for my usage (mostly just driving ATH-M50X’s)

LodeMike OP ,

Does it have Aux output? What model?

towerful ,

I have a K7.
My only con with it is that the headphone jack doesnt cut the line outputs. So, i had to make an inline switch to mute my speakers for headphones only.
I am now wishing it also had XLR outputs, but Im sure i can pick up a nice transformer balancing box from somewhere.

al177 , (edited )

USB 5V power can be equally noisy, even from a powered hub, so that argument doesn’t make any sense. PCIe has a high current 12V rail available that has much more margin than USB for filtering with an LDO and run your signal chain well above the noise floor of the components.

Besides, Asus Xonar as in the picture can take 12V from a drive connector to bypass the motherboard PCIe 12V “just in case”.

LodeMike OP ,

My motherboard has a shitty sound card so I need a replacement.

HakFoo ,

Some of them have poor stability. I gave up on a Sound Blaster Audigy RX after it caused random crashes on two different Socket AM4 mainboards. I just got a 10 metre optical cable and a cheap DAC next to my reciever.

I suspect the industry is in a tailspin; the last players standing really don’t have to give a **** because the alternatives are onboard sudio or $$$$ pro cards.

LodeMike OP ,

I have a DAC in my microphone that I can use if I need to watch movies (HDR to SDR causes popping for some reason. Bad capacitors? Bad GPU?)

space ,

An external audio interface or DAC will be 100x better. That audio card won’t be any better than the on-board audio.

nokturne213 ,

It means that there is a MAP (minimum advertised price) from the manufacturer. It is not an Amazon thing. Never mind, i see changing browsing mode allows it to appear.

qupada ,

Without giving Amazon too much of the benefit of the doubt here, I've noticed they love to offer you "coupons", generally with a midnight expiry.

I expect it's 100% a tactic to get you to commit to something you've looked at a couple of times but might be on the fence about buying.

I get the same as OP's logged-out price (nothing hidden) while logged in, perhaps if they are offering a coupon it would take it below the minimum advertised price.

Definitely stupid, but it's the only way I can see of arriving at this situation.

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