Amazon will show you a product's lowest price if you know where to look
Here's how to use Amazon's price history tool to avoid overpaying for items you don't need immediately.
It’s easy to overpay for a product if you haven’t been tracking it or waiting for it to dip in price. Even if it’s labeled as being on sale, that doesn’t always mean it’s a good value. But Amazon has been rolling out a way to see a product’s “Price history.” That way, if you’ve stumbled onto something new, you can still get a sense of how much it has sold for in the last couple of months.
It’s worth noting that Amazon’s history of list prices won’t track the cost of shipping. So, if the item isn’t part of Prime shipping, that may be a factor in the overall price. But you can find a product’s price history in Amazon’s mobile app and on its website, if you’re browsing from your computer. Here’s how to find the feature and all the things you can do with it.
Where to find the price history of a product on Amazon
In the Amazon mobile app, you can search for an item and then scroll down to its price.
Under the listed cost, you see “Price history.” Tap on that text. The app will open a full-screen window for Amazon’s AI assistant: Rufus.
At the top of the screen, there will be an explanation of the current price and how that compares to the item’s lowest price over the last 30 days.
Under the text blurb, you’ll see a graph showing the visual price changes for the last 30 days. If you prefer a longer timeline, then you can change the view to show the price changes for the last 90 days.
Once you’re done, you can exit that window by tapping the X in the top left corner of the screen.
On Amazon’s website, you can find the “Price history” in the same spot, right underneath an item’s listed cost.
Instead of the whole screen changing, however, a side window will slide over from the left to display the explanation and graph.
Other things to know about Amazon’s price history
While Amazon’s price history feature is pretty straightforward, there are a few caveats to be aware of. For example, sometimes a product will showcase different red tags next to a price to highlight a sale. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still check the price history.
I’ve seen a product advertise 15% off, but it still has a higher price than it has in the last month. Similarly, a product can be advertised as the lowest price it's been in the last 30 days, but still be lower in the past 90 days.
Amazon’s price history feature is tightly tied to its AI assistant Rufus. Once you’ve checked the 30 and 90-day price history, you can ask Rufus other questions. For example, you can ask how the price of this Wi-Fi router compares to other similar ones. When I tried this, I got a list of five other products with their prices.
You’ll still want to go to those product pages to double-check the information, but it’s at least a starting point. It might help you discover more product options.
Importantly, even if you query Rufus directly, it won’t provide more than 90 days' worth of pricing history. Three months is currently the longest period of price fluctuation Amazon will show. Rufus also won’t give advice about a product’s value. Instead, there are other resources for that information.