Over at Amazon, you can sometimes buy “bundles,” which are special listings that combine 2 or more products into 1 SKU.
Some time ago, I bought a small Rubbermaid Brute trash can, along with a lid. It can be tricky to find lids at online retailers like Amazon, and so the bundle made the process a little quicker and easier. I didn’t spend more or less on the two products, but there was a convenience benefit.
(A couple of times that I searched for 10 and 20 gallon Brute lids, I came across the wrong color, size, or style, even when searching for exact Rubbermaid catalog numbers. When it was time to actually buy what I wanted, the bundle came up, and I was happy. As it turned out, I ordered the bundle, but they fulfilled it as two separate items that were billed and shipped to me separately.)
Shown above is a screenshot of one such special bundle on Amazon, featuring a Bosch 18V CORE battery starter kit and add-on compact battery pack.
Shown here is a closeup of the bundle details. Here’s a link to the bundle.
The total cost of products if purchased separately is said to be $233.99, while the bundle price is listed as $293.00, nearly $60 more.
With the starter kit, there is a Fulfilled by Amazon price of $169.99, but the Amazon-direct price is $229.
Ha – it’s an algorithm glitch, or something like that. I bet that it’s not their intention to show you a bundle that costs more than if you were to buy the items separately from Fulfilled by Amazon dealers.
At least it’s honest. Sometimes there’s a “savings” figure, but other times you’ll at the least see a breakdown of individual prices. Maybe the “bundle details” widget is designed to pull in the Amazon direct prices, and that the lower “Fulfilled by Amazon” price is mistakenly shown, but it also does show interested buyers that there are lower prices if you don’t go for the bundle.
Aside from glitches like this, Amazon’s bundles are, at worst, priced the same as the sum of the individual prices.
At best, you’ll see savings, such as what Makita is offering on very many different 18V cordless power tool and accessory combinations.
I come across tool bundles like these all the time, usually when searching for new releases and interesting tools that might have slipped through my attention.
At the end of the day… well, I just really wanted to share the chuckle I had about Amazon’s pricing glitch. But I also figured it was in better taste to remind you that Amazon’s bundles will sometimes save you money, or maybe some time, and other times, you’ll be better off buying the tools separately.
Back when the new silica rules came out, there were very many new bundles that featured things like grinders and compatible dust shrouds. Those bundles seemed helpful, although there were so many that potential customers might have been overwhelmed with options. Now, though, I cannot seem to find one good example.
I’m sure there are other examples of Amazon’s tool bundles as being time-savers. I also like coming across glitches like with the Bosch bundle – they’re good for a smile or two.