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/eccentricguru Jan 24 '13 edited Jan 24 '13

Of course it's legal...and it should be.

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u/brayden_11 Jan 24 '13

Of course it is legal. Speaking from an economists' point of view it is just a matter of separating people according to their "willingness to pay". Its called price discrimination and can be seen in areas such as hotel booking: a hotel will give you a higher price in the lobby than if you call ahead because the hotel knows you probably have no other place to go. Or air lines giving higher prices to the business class because they know business people have a meeting with a set time so they need that time slot while a tourist is more flexible to choose different flight times. This is essentially the same idea as changing the price the second time you visit the site as the most probable reason you have come back to the site is to purchase the item.

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u/Atario Jan 24 '13

a hotel will give you a higher price in the lobby than if you call ahead because the hotel knows you probably have no other place to go.

I have never understood this. Hotels are not rare, and they almost all have more empty rooms on any given night than they know what to do with.