Your browser influences what you pay online. Clark Howard article.

I searched here and did not find it. Not sure which section to post this in though.

Your browser influences what you pay online.

Should you pay more when you're shopping online simply because of the browser you're using? Some popular online retailers think so!

The New York Times reports shoppers are getting widely different prices based on whether they use Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari. Here are just two examples:

•For the same Samsung TV on Newegg.com, a Chrome user was offered a price of $997. Meanwhile, the price was $1,399 when using Firefox or Internet Explorer.
•Another Samsung television model at WalMart.com was offered for $199 on Firefox and $168 on Chrome and Internet Explorer.

Meanwhile, Mac users could be paying a higher rate for hotel rooms on Orbitz.

According to The wall street journal, Orbitz has been experimenting with a 30% premium on Mac users when they search for select hotel rooms versus PC users. That effectively works out to be around $20 to $30 more than a PC user.

When asked for explanation, Orbitz basically stated that Mac users make more money and are interested in fancier hotels. (There were no happy campers in the Apple world based on those comments!)

The best way for you to stay one step ahead of online retailers who are manipulating price is to use technology to fight back.

If you want an easy way to see if a quoted price is a deal or not, you can compare prices on websites like Decide.com or ShopoBot.com, or use a browser bookmarklet such as Hukkster.

Another alternative would be to install a browser plug-in like Invisible Hand that automatically pops up an alert while you're shopping if a better price is available on another website.

Finally, Amazon customers can typically get a better deal if they put something in their cart and then abandon it before the final purchase. That usually signals to Amazon that you're willling to walk away and triggers a lower price the next time you put it in your cart to checkout. Give it a try!

Seems pretty poor thing to do and a great way to offend customers.
Of course my neice is doing the same thing. Shes offering her car on facebook fot her friends to buy. I said put a price in the ad. Well i dont like to put finacials on FB she said. My thought is more like different price depending on who is asking about it.

Thank God for Fatwallet.

Thanks for posting the article. I had no idea. Seems like this should be illegal for retailers to do.

Being a penny-pinching curmudgeon, I double-check prices six ways to Sunday. When I don't have females to drag along, the hotel/motel prices have to beat sleeping in my truck and using truck stop or gym showers.

When I buy I find the best deal and I shamelessly try to stack discounts. You would be surprised at how well charm can help cashiers circumvent obstacles.

You can call me cheap, but my parents were married. My older brother, however, qualified to be a LEO.

DutchessPDX said:   "Meanwhile, Mac users could be paying a higher rate for hotel rooms on Orbitz.""

Did you bother to read this article before posting a link to it? The article states that Safari users were offered higher priced hotel choices, aka fancier hotels. PC users were offered lower tiered lower priced hotels. Prices for the same hotel were the same on any browser. They were pointing out that Apple customers were less price conscious than PC users so they offered up hotels that they were more likely to choose.
This is not directed to you Dutchess, but to Orbitz.

If Orbitz can be so bigoted as to believe that merely because I use Safari, I am incapable of deciding for myself what hotel I want to stay in, then F'em!

I have seen browser prejudice before and it is sickening. But it also has to make you wonder, just why is it that The price is cheaper on Chrome than on Firefox or IE? Is it some kickback program where Google subsidizes the purchase? Perhaps Google is offering Newegg all the information it has about you, in exchange for the discount Newegg provides to you. Google is in the business of collecting data. Think of all the times you used Google to search and the hits you clicked on. Think if Google retained all this info and traced where you went. With good modeling software, they could provide a very thorough breakdown of your habits, your interests, and what keeps your attention. By you using Chrome, you are even more under Google's watchful eye.

Yeah, it is pretty far fetched. Companies would never secretly share your information. I'm just a conspiracy nut. Ignore me.

soundtechie said:   BitemeIamtoxic said:   
You can call me cheap, but my parents were married. My older brother, however, qualified to be a LEO.

 

Uh... What?

i thought the same thing when i first read that yesterday, but i didn't want to go back and read the whole post again to try to figure it out, so i just moved on.

besides, many of my exes were leos, my parents sure weren't married long, and no brothers here, but you can continue to call me charming.

NantucketSunrise said:   soundtechie said:   BitemeIamtoxic said:   
You can call me cheap, but my parents were married. My older brother, however, qualified to be a LEO.

 

Uh... What?

 

i thought the same thing when i first read that yesterday, but i didn't want to go back and read the whole post again to try to figure it out, so i just moved on.


besides, many of my exes were leos, my parents sure weren't married long, and no brothers here, but you can continue to call me charming.

LEO = law enforcement officer.

Apparently, you missed the news.