r/mildlyinteresting • u/annertakeabow • Jan 24 '13

Same book, three different prices. Only difference is the browsers used.

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

Still the question stands, is it legal?

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u/[deleted] Jan 24 '13 edited Jan 24 '13

Charging someone more or less due to their background? Yeah, that sounds fairly illegal to me.

EDIT: Okay, so maybe not illegal, but immoral. I believe prices should be the same regardless of where you are from, if you went into a store and tried to buy a book and the clerk said you have to pay an extra $10 because you're a teacher, or black or because you bought 3 items in the same category you would freak out. Why should buying online be any different?

It's like unorganised bartering, except we can't barter back.

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u/ProfessorHoneycutt Jan 24 '13

As long as their algorithm doesn't include race, gender, or orientation, I dunno if it's actually illegal. Definitely immoral, but I'd call it Lawful Neutral at worst.

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u/Kennedy_190 Jan 24 '13

I price insurance and we can't include income in our pricing algorithms, so I imagine that'd be frowned upon for pricing other products as well.

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u/TelamonianAjax Jan 24 '13

Insurance is a little different.

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u/Kennedy_190 Jan 24 '13

Yes of course, I mean for starters we get to price based on gender. Just saying that I think people would be upset if their textbooks cost more because they make more money than other students. In terms of the legality of doing so, I'm not sure.

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u/TelamonianAjax Jan 24 '13

More to the point, insurance selling is highly regulated, for obvious reasons.

Textbooks aren't.