Price Matching Ain't What It Used to Be

The guarantees make more sense IRL, but that's not stopping eBay

Once upon a time, when retailers distinguished themselves primarily on price and selection, price matching enabled them to reassure customers they were the best place to shop.

“More than a hundred years ago, [the] Sears catalog promised the lowest prices on its goods … Macy’s in the early 20th [century] was also a price cutter and promised the lowest prices,” said Vicki Howard, visiting fellow in the Department of History at the University of Essex.

Amazon doesn’t offer price matching, but as recent figures show, it dominates nearly half of the U.S.

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