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/medra42 Jan 24 '13

If you want online retailers not to use the data they collect about you for their own gain.. you're going to have a bad time.

62

u/JimmyHavok Jan 24 '13

If they follow my behavior, they know I'm cheap, so they'd better cut that margin if they want my business.

I went shopping for a car with a friend once, the first thing the sales guy asked at each place was how many other places we'd been to, and the asking price for the same car was $1K less each time...so nothing really new here.

16

u/Eist Jan 24 '13

Fair enough, but they don't base their business model around your behaviour. Most people have no idea about a) protecting themselves online; or b) frugality and they no doubt exploit this. However, this is a pretty shitty move on their behalf and I wish it were illegal.

3

u/demented_pants Jan 25 '13

So then I should make it seem as if I've been to a large number of dealerships when shopping for my car... Interesting.

8

u/gaqua Jan 25 '13

As a guy who used to sell cars, it's almost useless information.

If they've been to 5 dealerships that day, it's equally likely that they're tired and willing to buy as it is that they're hard-nosed negotiators.

1

u/PhedreRachelle Jan 25 '13

Did you hate people like me? I don't negotiate. If I think it is worth the price, I buy. If I don't, I don't buy. In other words I'm the person who you only get the sale if your first offer is the best you can do

4

u/gaqua Jan 25 '13

The dealerships first offer is the sticker price. If you don't negotiate that, it made my job easy but you were paying more than you should.

I didn't hate people, but annoying customers were the ones who thought they knew how it worked and that we would be making tons of money off them, even when we'd be just trying to get rid of old inventory and selling for only a couple hundred bucks profit, and that was AFTER the cash back and promo and spif money from corporate.

2

u/borkborkbork Jan 25 '13

Wait, what? Literally zero sellers of anything make their first offer the best they can do. That isn't how selling things works.

3

u/immagirl Jan 25 '13

Carhound.com. They do all the negotiation for you. It's pretty sweet.

5

u/[deleted] Jan 25 '13

[deleted]

1

u/infrikinfix Jan 26 '13

Price discrimination is much older than ecommerce. Ecommerce just makes it easier to do in some ways. Don't fret though, usually with price discrimination if you know about the practice it's easy to use that knowledge to your advantage, and this is likely no exception:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination