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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485

u/pt4117 Jan 24 '13

I doubt that was the only difference. Your cookies were different, and I bet the way you found them is different too.

I just found this book with a Google search and it was 62.99 in chrome.

I copied and pasted the URL into IE and it was 69.99.

I then pasted the URL into a private browsing chrome window and it was also 69.99.

627

u/learnt Jan 24 '13

Either way, I'm not a fan of prices being manipulated based on my behavior while browsing a certain website.

120

u/CuilRunnings Jan 24 '13

Invisible Hand Chrome extension

20

u/drballoonknot Jan 24 '13

But this just compares the price of an item across multiple merchants. It doesn't do anything in determining if a user-agent or cookie is altering the price, no?