CINCINNATI — Have you ever wondered if the prices you see while online shopping are the same prices everyone else sees?
A recent Federal Trade Commission report says you may be getting a different price, and claims that some retailers are using customer data to charge different prices to different people for the same products.
Security expert Dave Hatter of Intrust IT Security says some online retailers are adjusting prices based on what they know about you, especially if you have shopped or searched on that site before.
"You seem to be better off than the last person who looked at this page, so I am going to give you a higher price than someone else," he said.
Watch as we find different prices for the same items:
Sneaky practice now has a name
The practice is known as "surveillance pricing."
The FTC says retailers that use it will charge higher prices to customers they believe can afford to pay more.
Hatter explains that retailers these days have access to extensive personal information, with your search history just a part of it.
"Now, thanks to this extremely extensive data collection, the apps on your phone, the ZIP code you live in, possibly how much money you make because they bought that from a data broker ... they can adjust prices for different customers," Hatter said.
The FTC report provides some specific examples of this practice.
For instance, the FTC says, "a customer profiled as a new parent may be shown higher priced baby thermometers" than other shoppers, knowing they need that thermometer immediately and might pay more.
I tested this by comparing prices for various products online and found significant differences.
At the same retailer, a MacBook showed us a $79 GE toaster first in search results, while a Dell Windows laptop displayed a $23 Black and Decker toaster first.
This could be because a MacBook suggests a higher income, according to reports in Consumer Watchdog and The Wall Street Journal.
In another example, the exact two-slice toaster was priced at $12.33 on both of our laptops but just $11.48 on a phone, again at the same store.
How you can fight surveillance pricing
To avoid paying more than necessary, Hatter and other experts suggest several strategies:
- Use search engines like DuckDuck or Firefox that limit data tracking
- Don't allow stores to access your location, which could reveal that you live in a higher-income area
- Try searching with "cookies" turned off, to appear as a new shopper
- Compare prices across multiple devices before making a purchase
- Check prices on someone else's device and complain if you find a lower price
Finally, if the retailer has a brick-and-mortar store near you, you can just stop in and make sure the online price wasn't higher. That way you don't waste your money.
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