When I discovered CCC, I loaded it up with boardgames hoping to snag some sweet deals. Naturally, I set it to notify me when the lowest recorded price for a game pops up again. Since that time, both games I've ordered from CCC notifications have been scams.
Let me stress that this isn't a problem with CCC. The site is working as designed, and it works very well. I received an e-mail when the games hit the price I entered (a price that wasn't obscenely low for two separate games that are several years old) and I immediately placed my order.
However, I didn't realize that offering was from a brand new third-party seller/scammer. These sellers take forever to move on the product, then send you a fake tracking number (that constantly claims the item has "shipped" and is in "transit from seller to the carrier"). They give you an obscenely far off delivery date and, since the item has "shipped", they've taken your money and you can't just cancel your order.
Now I'm stuck waiting for the far off delivery date to come and go, then filing a claim with Amazon A-to-Z to get my money back. I've now contacted both sellers and asked for a refund in hopes of speeding this process up with Amazon (as you can file an A-to-Z claim if the seller is non-communicative) and I'm fully confident that I'll get my money back, but obviously I'd have rather avoided this scam to begin with. Had these games been purchased for an event, birthday, or other holiday, and not just growing my game shelf, I'd be in trouble.
So, be warned. Scammers are obviously targeting board games on Amazon and CCC is being made an unwitting accomplice. Before you place your order, make sure the seller is legit with a history of verified purchases. This seems like an obvious step, but if you've grown complacent with the ease and reliability with Amazon (as I had), it's an easy one to overlook.
Well man...even if its Amazon.com... you should check sellers reputation..specially when you find crazy deals. I use camel camel camel a lot, and its kind of sad that this has been happening, its not only for board games, but its always a new seller.
Also lately I've noticed two things...Amazon is price matching Wal-Mart..and coupons are starting to appear, and camel camel camel does not take those into account...
CCC Pro Tip: Only set price watches as sold by Amazon
Scams and fakes aside, CCC does not account for Third Party shipping cost so you are going to get a lot of false positives when you have a Third Party price watch.
What you want to see happen in the CCC graph is a steep stair looking graph that indicates a price war with a Third Party. In this case always buy from Amazon even if it is a bit more to maximize the number of people that get in on the deal. Once the Third Party is sold out Amazon will bounce back up to their normal price.
Videos
EDIT: Thank you for all of the awards! I can't take full credit, my girlfriend told me about it in another sub :)
SOURCE: r/writingservice (Thanks u/heyimjulia123)
camelcamelcamel is a website that compares prices of Amazon items, when they were at lowest price/highest, notifies you of deals on items, price histories on items. It's actually been super helpful and that's why I wanted to rant about it lol
Factsheet
There is a website called camelcamelcamel. It analyzes an Amazon product showing when it was the cheapest and the products price history.
Just because something is 40% off doesn't mean it's a deal. This website is very handy to weed out the fake "Black Friday Deals".