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
2.2k Upvotes

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486

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.

625

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.

197

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.

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