Did Amazon end its non-existent price protection policy?

An Amazon Prime package awaits pickup by its customer. SAN FRANCISCO -- Despite multiple news stories over the past several days that Amazon has ended its policy of reimbursing customers if the price of an item on its site drops within seven days of delivery, the company says it hasn't -- because it never had such a policy in the first place. Amazon (AMZN) does not do what's known as "price matching" or "price protection," though its customer service associates are empowered to make decisions on behalf of the customer when it seems appropriate, said spokeswoman Julie Law. "We've always had a no price matching policy, because we believe we're always making the best pricing decisions on behalf of our customers," she said. Because there's no actual policy and because customer service associates have broad freedom in what they offer customers, it's possible customers have in the past, and still are at times, getting price matching, Law said.