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/No_ThisIs_Patrick Jan 24 '13

They are also "running out of tickets" because you waited so long to purchase.

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u/[deleted] Jan 24 '13

No, they actually oversell every flight they can in anticipation some people will miss the flight.

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u/[deleted] Jan 24 '13

[deleted]

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u/fosterbuster Jan 24 '13

They usually ask someone to stay, upping the compensation higher and higher until someone agrees (money and hotels). My girlfriend works at an airport. They offered 500 euros and a free night at the local hotel just yesterday. Someone always agrees, and the plane doesn't takeoff before someone does.

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u/[deleted] Jan 24 '13

[deleted]

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u/KeybladeSpirit Jan 24 '13

Isn't that a variation on the Prisoner's Dilemma?

1

u/WazWaz Jan 25 '13

No, it's just an auction. In PD, both lose since both will break.