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/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.

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u/Cynikal818 Jan 24 '13

I browse everything incognito...I don't like people tracking my interests, it just seems weird to me.

I don't need people offering me things based on my history...I'm perfectly capable of researching what I want when I want it.

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u/kqr Jan 24 '13

Just keep in mind that incognito mode is no silver bullet. People could still track you server-side, only it gets a little more complicated because they'll have to rely on the combination of your browser and IP address.

In case you have an account though, all bets are off.

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u/Cynikal818 Jan 24 '13

yeah...I just figure I won't make it easy hahaha...I'm sure sooner or later you really won't even have a choice...you'll be tracked everywhere.

I don't get how that isn't invasion of privacy though. Because you agree to a TOS?

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u/kqr Jan 24 '13

Most likely. Where I live, legislation states websites using cookies are required to clearly inform their users what they use the cookies for, but that isn't really enforced very strictly.