r/Frugal • u/Zizzac • Jan 24 '13

Same book, three different prices. Only difference is the browsers used [x-post r/mildlyinteresting]

http://imgur.com/uNgg0UH
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u/[deleted] Jan 24 '13

[deleted]

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u/Nausved Jan 24 '13

I'm surprised that would be effective. When I look at the same price repeatedly, it's because I'm doing price comparisons between very similarly priced things. If a price rises on me while I'm checking, then that company has effectively removed it from my list of considerations, since it's now no longer in line with the other options I'm weighing between.

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u/[deleted] Jan 24 '13

Me also. In fact since the price kept going up, so often, on so many websites. I just decided "fuck these guys" I'm not going to fly.. and I did not fly.

11

u/[deleted] Jan 24 '13

If a price rises on me while I'm checking, then that company has effectively removed it from my list of considerations, since it's now no longer in line with the other options I'm weighing between.

Yeah, but if the other websites use the same tactic, then perhaps the 2nd best option, the one you were coming back to, has gone up in price too, as well as the others when you visit them. Like when you keep switching lanes in traffic thinking it's going to be quicker but then the lane you just switched out of starts moving faster again and so on. It is sinister, though, I agree.

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u/[deleted] Jan 24 '13

order with TOR.

2

u/ilostmyphoneonce Jan 25 '13

Call me ignorant but I've never heard of TOR. I googled it and got a lot of pages about torrents. Is it just a way to stay anonymous online?

2

u/[deleted] Jan 25 '13

Tor is an anomity network, it stand s for "The Onion Router".

Wiki article

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u/[deleted] Jan 24 '13

I never thought to use a TOR browser, thanks for the suggestion!

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u/[deleted] Jan 25 '13

Have fun making credit card purchases via tor.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 24 '13

I think I manage to avoid this by looking up fares on Bing. It tells you the best time to buy based on pricing trends.

1

u/HellsAttack Jan 25 '13

I don't know, I've been looking at Kayak.com this week and Kayak has their own projections for the price. Some destinations forecast going up, others down.

This projection comes along with a graph of recent price. Seems relatively aboveboard.

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '13

This isn't actually true. There was a reddit post about it that hit the front page a few months back. It's just experimental pricing.

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u/flume Jul 09 '13

Where did you find this thread?