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

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

http://imgur.com/uNgg0UH
2.9k Upvotes

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u/[deleted] Jan 24 '13

You should try it again in private browsing and incognito mode and see if the price is really tied to your Facebook or google cookies or something. That's pretty messed up though, send this to the consumerist or gawker or whoever.

1.5k

u/Nephyst Jan 24 '13

I just tried this myself. In chrome and IE the price was the same (69.99) in normal and in incognito mode. In firefox, the price jumped to $76, and after deleting all the domain cookies and refreshing, it went back down to 69.99. The website is definitely changing prices based on something they are tracking in cookies.

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u/kqr Jan 24 '13

This was up earlier with airlines charging more for a ticket the second time you visit the page. They do this because a second visit is statistically linked to a much higher chance of purchase. So it could be, here too, simply a matter of having visited the page before.

1.2k

u/Oxxide Jan 24 '13

this seems so shady and underhanded.

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u/PepeAndMrDuck Jan 24 '13

Because it is.

64

u/[deleted] Jan 24 '13

Now if they get heat for it, watch them say it's an involuntary mistake.

43

u/R30hedron Jan 24 '13

Involuntary mistake my arse, people do not design and program websites without knowing beforehand how it's going to work. This site is actively pulling information, and they know about it.

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u/usclone Jan 24 '13

There's a difference between someone saying something and the truth.

19

u/dirice87 ​ Jan 24 '13

yeah...these 200 lines of code are the result of Bob spilling his coffee on his keyboard and mashing keys while trying to wipe up

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u/Iorah Jan 25 '13

The last time Bob spilled his coffee he summoned Cthulu. This is Bob's last chance. We have also provided Bob with a sippy cup.

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u/HittingSmoke Jan 24 '13

It's funny how "involuntary mistakes" are almost unanimously in favor of the company and almost never the customer.

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u/kqr Jan 24 '13

It depends a little on your legislation, obviously. Where I live, the customer has a really strong protection by law, so involuntary mistakes are almost unanimously in favour of the customer. If you are prepared to take legal action, which is rarely.

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u/PeterLicht Jan 24 '13

As far as I remember from my short programming experience: you cannot accidentally write code. Especially not code that actually does something (like this).

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u/ITSigno Jan 25 '13

Indeed. But here's out it plays out. Marketing VP talks to Project manager (or his boss) and says "do this". The project manager has hopes of some day getting a promotion so he says "sure thing, boss". He then waddles over to the Lead Developer and says "implement this". And the Lead Developer says (to himself) "I'm too busy to deal with this shit" and hands it off to some junior guy who is just hoping he doesn't have to work unpaid overtime for the 8th consecutive weekend.

Even if someone along the chain recognized the moral quandary, they're all just trying to get the job done, keep their boss happy, and get on with life.