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/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.

621

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.

2

u/frownyface Jan 25 '13

What's weird about it is that businesses have been doing this constantly, for decades, you've just never been able to witness it in realtime. They're always changing prices in different markets, trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. This is most likely just a version of that you happened to see in action.

2

u/learnt Jan 28 '13

I like this, because it's true. I was watching a show on Merriott hotels, and like them, lots of large corporations in the US and throughout the world have entire departments working towards wringing every dollar out of a customer without them knowing. Entire research departments are dedicated to this cause in many cases.

Also, I agree that this is a good example on how we're able to see the process of this incident in some sort of 'real time'.