Exposing price discrimination in online shopping (Marketplace) 

Location can affect price. Use a VPN and book an airline ticket, but set VPN in the country you want to go! Can save you thousands in some cases!

The older lady with the glasses is never shopping online again. 😂😂😂

No wonder the books I needed for school would keep changing when I would search on Amazon for them. They would go from really cheap to super expensive to super cheap again, and I would get so confused, like “wasn’t that price different a couple of hours ago??”

Man, something about this video feels like it's from 2008

this is such an eye opener. i know that cookies do targeted ads but i didnt know about this price change!! great journalism!

The problem with just using incognito mode, is you still have the same IP address. You should also try to combine VPNs or proxies if you really want to play around with prices.

I'm over 3 years late, but I've been watching so many marketplace episodes and they're so good, this is fantastic journalism and research!

Pricing psychology is deceptive for many reasons. At the end of the day, price is what ever the customer is willing to pay.

I always notice when Amazon change thier prices. If you leave things in your cart for a while the website will notify you. Since I do online shop I will go into incognito mode to compare prices. That is a good idea

I know this channel is in canada, but I tried it here in the states for different hotels and cars in my area. The same techniques they used too. And I got sometimes 40% off of a 4 star hotel room on my phone but on my laptop there was no discount for the same thing. If I ever want to rent a car or book a hotel stay, I'm definitely using this technique again to save more money.

I am more interested in ads that pop up on my phone from conversations that were had in my private residence , no searches or Cookies involved

Airlines have been doing similar ever since tickets became available for online purchasing. One time I looked for a flight on the company's own website, went to another company's website to check theirs, returned to the original, and the price had gone up considerably. This occurred within a matter of minutes.

There needs to be laws in place that make it illegal for companies to sell data

That Expedia VP said possibly the worst thing she could have...

Now this is the type of journalism that helps inform people. Great work!

Prices on hotel rooms, airlines etc. have always been very volatile and subject to change. You also need to see how price discrimination exists in more solid retail goods.

What the heck do you think Facebook does with private info some freely share multiple times a day about habits, families and things they like?

Laws need to catch up to this, really.

It is the same as the fact that virtually everyone sitting in economy on the same flight has paid a different price for a seat.

14:40, men you have to admire that dedication to still make a commercial even when she knew that she was busted.

17 minutes into this video and I realize they've been going this same thing for years at shopping centers. Shop in a mid-high class shopping center and you will see lower prices for a bag of chips, eggs, milk, bread than you will in a poor neighborhood.

There was a similar news story of customer who used Apple products to shop would get charge more than those using a lower end product.

I shop mostly on Amazon, but I have discovered how to play the system by adding things to my wish list and will watch if and when the price goes down. The market is always changing, and another way to shop online to avoid prices changing based on who you are is to shop online at your local library. The more that people do that, the more all over the map the prices are, and someone can base their purchase on pricing alone. I have always gotten a better deal not signing into my Amazon account from my own computer at home for some odd reason, and I have bought from Amazon as a guest at the library to see if that significantly changed price points. in some cases it did, and others not so much. Luck of the draw.

Brick and mortar companies do this as well... Try shopping at two different supermarkets of the same chain... Yes, yes - I am aware these are different locations and therefore have different costs - but it's actually for the purpose of making money not covering costs. It's actually even worse in a brick and mortar store because if it's your local it's more difficult to go to a different store (maybe now you have to drive instead of walk).... on a computer, you just change sites.

Marketplace you need to do price comparison between Amazon US and Canada. Huge price differences even after dollar differences taken into account.

I drove to my local McDonald's and ordered a Happy Meal.... now my web browser is full of kids toys.

The part with Amazon though is the same item can come from different suppliers, hence the pricing changes.

I love online shopping for exactly this reason. Comparing and looking around for different retailers is actually enjoyable to me, much more so than doing the same process in the real world. Also I find calling it "discrimination" a bit sensationalist, sure it doesn't seem fair but from a business perspective it's an obvious, not shady at all thing to do. Should you be aware of it? Yes. Should you be outraged about it? Not really.

One thing I have noticed, is that if you go to a store's website and add an item to your shopping cart, then leave it for a few days, you'll get emailed about a price drop, or or a % off coupon code for that store. It's a little hit or miss but it has happened a lot to me.

Very good reporting. As a purchaser by trade. It's good advice to shop as a regular visitor and incognito. I also use Amazon to price check regular vendors, who beat Amazon about 9 out of 10 times. Bottom line is consumers are getting better prices online than they used to in a brick and mortar store. Even if your cookie jar is full.

Consumer pricing, price discrimination- call it what you will. This is another form of the social credit system and we can thank our beloved technology for it

Them walking through the office together like some possy or gang has me rolling 🤣🤣

Most sellers on Amazon are third party companies and Amazon has no control over their prices. I sell on Amazon and I control the prices. Why wouldn't a company adjust their prices for maximum profit?

I'm just here to hear someone say 'aboot'

I learn so much from your videos! Huge thanks and keep up the great work!

This video blurs the line between the topic ( Price Discrimination ) and supply and demand. When they reference the hotels/car rental websites they show clear and concise evidence that proves their point in the video. However, later on when they start talking about Uber surge pricing and Amazon price changes. Those are clearly examples of basic supply and demand. If Uber, at any point, notices that there are more riders then drivers they will implement surge pricing to encourage drivers to go online thus meeting the demand of the peak time. When amazon algorithms detect a rise in popularity on a product they then increase the price both to make more money and as a way to control stock or get rid of stock. In conclusion. The first half of this video was excellent but they veered off topic to the point where I started to lose interest. I know the video is a year old but hey at least I explained my dislike.

LOL, their VP of communications is sure doing a mediocre job of trying to avoid answering questions. Ditto the priceline statement. Charging less sometimes is the same as charging more sometimes when the initial price is arbitrary.

MP: "That's price discrimination." Expedia VP: *Watch me spin 'price discrimination' into nonsense.*

Great content! Just found out recently about CBC Marketplace. Keep up the good work

What I have experienced on eBay: after having made a deal, I was offered the same article for much less! This really pisses me off!

disabling third party cookies are not helping anymore, as most of previous cookies are stored on their servers, and they still fingerprint users using lot of our meta data information. bringing back to same page. but still its better to disable them to avoid damage.

I never shop online, 1, my wife works in a mall and online(Amazon) is putting a lot of people out of a job. 2. For the reasons given in this article. We are in the days of every one is a criminal. That is despicable. CRIMINAL.

This was helpful thanks! Was just about to book a resort for a girls’ weekend. Now I can try these tactics to get the better deals.

I just checked Allegiant Air website as im planning a vacation, and wow...the price differences and hotel suggestions are astronomically different on my phone vs my computer. Crazy!!!

This video should be dedicated to the mouth breathers who are unconcerned about online privacy because they "have nothing to hide."

Amazon doesn’t price the items. The sellers does, and that’s why the price jump up and down. I am an seller on eBay and Amazon. Just look on eBay, where you can find many different prices for one item. Amazon and eBay are just a middle man between seller and buyer. They doesn’t control the supply and demand or the price of any items.

The best thing is to book directly with hotels. They give you the best deals.

With the webcam, they do understand the concept of supply and demand. I use to sell on Amazon. Sometimes I would sell things cheap when it wasn't selling, but when I saw it was started selling, I upped the price, that way I would make more money. I hope they teach this in Canada.

I took a picture of a lawnmower here in the US at Home Depot...and I got ads in websites for that lawnmower...very strange

2:02 when the teacher ask how my day was or to do a school survey 🤣😂💀😭

The medium-pink colour of the vehicle shown on-screen in this video near the ~16:00 mark/timestamp is very nice!

I've noticed this. I also noticed if, for example, a group of FB moms all decide to check on a book for their reading it goes up in price whether they all decide to purchase or not. Bots are predicting supply in demand so it spikes regardless if they jump or not.

Love this information , tells me more and how i could save in my daily spendings education is always good , information gets you better options.

You're supposed to get better deals if you shop in the middle of the night. Also, prices go UP from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

I bought a pair of shoes for 120.00. a week later I went on the same site to leave a review and they were 80. I emailed the online store and they credited back my card for 40.00. so not every company is out to rob you

Thank you kindly Marketplace for beeing so observant and helpful 🍃🌹🍃 You are highly appraised 💕✌💕

This is totally true, I spent a week on Amazon trying to decide if I want to buy a game and the price kept going down. From 24.99 to 18.99 by the end of the week. I got a good deal.

Why go incognito if you can let them see your a haggler and always get the lower prices? According to this video.

Was shopping online for an air B & B ..... As I had shown interest on a specific booking (and was still shopping for a number of days) each time I revisited that specific booking the price increased, I researched this phenomenon cleared my browsing history and cookies and surprise ..... went immediately back to the much lower initial price.

thank you so much for this video, I would love a job doing this, and being a mystery shopper, I love the best deals, sales, and prices, but mostly, I want it to be fair pricing, again, thank you for this video, please make more thank you.

use a VPN to make it look you are from another country and play around with it untill you get the best price, thats what i do.

Top notch work Grats to the reporter and crew

When i do purchases, i go in using my Google Chrome browser as i normally would, then I go back in using Google Chrome's Incognito mode. I found flight prices different, and when i was looking to buy a camera and software (two separate occasions), i was offered coupons (15-25% off) that I was not offered when i went in with my plain Google Chrome browser. I believe if you visit these locations a few times, they know you're interested and it may or may not provide you discounts.

I had no idea. Now, THIS is journalism. Working on a solution to this problem as we speak.

I booked a flight to Nigeria using a proxy tunneling through Ghana and got cheap plane tickets lol. Just learn to play the game.

WHY DID NOONE FIX THAT WOMAN'S COLLAR?!? you're all fired, and you're welcome.

People have different spending power. It only makes sense for companies to take advantage of that. Coming from Norway, it's reasonable to expect that I have more spending power than the average person internationally, so I can easily pay more to keep prices down for others.

It's really a fascinating program that shed light on some little-known aspects of life. 👌

Delete your cookies, problem solved saved you 22 minutes.

Amazon does a great 👍 job showing on their site comparison prices for the same product. It’s always about buyers beware in the capitalist society.

One component this segment didn't touch on is the human effort that goes into building these black box algorithms. The time and skill of talented software developers and psychologists is making Amazon millions, rather than contributing to systems that could help billions of people. That's not the fault of the laborers of course, just a question of societal priorities.

You know, I have been sewing for about 3 hrs and I have been listening to y'alls. Y'all have opened my eyes on a lot of things, especially food. thank you. Great videos!!💙🐝💙

They brought their online history. I wouldn't qualify for this show

"If it doesn't seem fair, tell that to the internet" INTERNETS Y U DO THIS

Oh yeah because I'm going to love having to search on the same site on different devices because you won't show me all the deals on one. Thanks Expedia! Can't wait to make a frustrating video on that when I can travel one day. I'm going to love the frustration so much I'm documenting it!

At a movie theater seniors play less... that’s like saying at a zoo the price was cheaper for a 3 year old then the parent. Now that’s price discrimination I don’t think so.

for shopping on amazon use chrome extension called keepa.

so the people that bargain and look for the best price get the best price? Just do that then..... And I've seen a ton of places that advertise better prices on phones because there's a big push for the mobile app, even on their sites it'll say 'save $5 on your phone' or something. And the price discrepancies in the other direction (the $2) is typically a contractual fee that goes to the developers of the app, so there's not much around that unless they start losing money or start charging the desktop users a fee they aren't costing the company so it would be "fair" across platforms.

I remember searching amazon for a new lunch box. I found one that I liked for $30 which I thought was a bit pricey at the time so I held off from buying it (I didn't even put it in my cart). Few days later, I check and miraculously the same lunch box is was going for $23.

I recommend calling 411 to get hotels directly. Online you are railroaded into reservation companies that will rip you off with service fees. They never did compare the treatment of the three shoppers considering their online buying habits.

I disagree with 9:40. Negotiations don't include both sides knowing everything about what the other side is doing/thinking. That would defeat the whole point of negotiating. As a buying it's my job to know the value of what I'm buying. It's not the job of the seller to inform you of the items true value. As a seller it's my job to sell my item for as much as I can get the seller to pay for it and ideally with out lying. The fact that you can manipulate their systems by throwing different information at them would mean you're actually at the advantage since you can keep plugging away until you get the absolute lowest price they will offer. I've used multiple VPNs and entered different info at different times of the day/week to drive the price to the lowest I can get it.

That's why when you ask them the price, you'll get "PM sent" reply lol.

Just played the pricing game with NHL GameCenter. Through Rogers $199.99, used VPN through another country. Purchased it from NHL (exact same product) $150.

Surge pricing. I went to Bud's Gun Shop, a firearms and firearms accessories seller with a vast online presence. I was looking at a specific hunting rifle, the Savage FCP-SR 10. It was a pretty good deal, plus there was a manufacturers rebated that brought the price down even more. I went for it. I also told several folks in online areas about the great deal. A few came back and told me that wasn't the price. Sure enough, when I went back, the price was $20 more. A few days later I went to show someone else and the price was even higher. I believe that, just by me looking at the price several times as well as others responding to me and looking at the firearm, it drove the price up. I'm happy that I was first and got that great deal. It's too bad though that others weren't able to benefit the same way after I had put my word out there about the great deal.

These people are as smart as a potato when it comes to incognito mode

We love giving great deals to our customers lol foh

I've noticed this especially with hotel rooms. They also often charge you a higher daily rate when booking multiple nights as opposed to one night at a time. Sometimes it's cheaper to book through the hotel, sometimes it isn't. I've never noticed this as much with plane tickets.

Cookies can store any kind of text (string) in key-value pairs. Usually a site (A) saves on your device something like ID= and when you visut websites embedding pieces of A, A can see what you have visited by reading the cookie. Every site can only read its cookies. Most ads you see online come from the same domain (from google adSense) so even if they are embedded in other sites they can track you using cookies. Most cookies are useful for techinal reasons, like session IDs, to keep you logged in.

stop buying unnecessary crap

ugh I wish I watched this before I bought my flight ticket 😭😭😭

Really helps just going to the actual venue, hotel, box office, etc. in person and sometimes to their direct websites. I tried this weekend to get (1) ticket to a local show. All websites online showed me available seats at no lower than $67. I then went to the website of the actual theatre and got a deal for $25. Huuuuge difference when you go in person, especially to the box office during sales, not day of. 😉

Why should a shopper look at price discrimination as getting ripped off, rather than as getting a discount? As pointed out in your report, someone that typically comparison shops can get a lower price than the incognito price. Regarding Amazon, Walmart, maybe others. Never leave items in your cart as "save for later". If you do, then pay attention to any price change notices, or keep track of the price history yourself. Sometimes they will trickle up as long as it stays in your cart. Why should an only 2 year old book keep going up 27¢ every time I access their site? Another tip. If you have a brick-and-mortar store nearby, you can use online prices to get better deals at the local store. Example 1: I shop pet products across 3-4 online sites to get the best overall price when purchasing. Factor in any shipping and other fees. Make a printout of your cart before actually buying. Take the printout to your local store. Sometimes (but not often) the shelf price is actually lower than the best online prices. If not, ask the store if they will beat (not just match) the online price. Since you are physically in the store, ready to buy right now, they know they will lose the sale to an online retailer if they don't lower the price. They are willing to make a lower profit on this sale, rather than lose the sale completely. Works almost every time for franchise stores and "individual stores locally owned and operated". Example 2: Again, with your printout in hand. If you regularly shop at a local store and use their "club card", they know your spending history at that specific store. Simply ask for a specific discount. On something like an $80.00 total bill I’ll say "too much, take $5.00 off". Usually they will. Has worked not only at pet supply stores, also at grocery stores (they really don't want to re-shelf all your items), hardware stores, etc. If you don't ask, then you can't get. They can only say "no" and you've lost nothing to try.

That brown girl looks dope! Good thumbnail choice, CBC; made me watch the entire video

Always shop around. Always delete all cookies!

Also the price jumps up and down depending from how much items are in stock also some promotions etc.

I have noticed when I window shop, (even if I don't leave any items in the cart) take time to think about it and come back to buy, that the price is higher then it was at first. I stopped looking up items until I am sure I want to buy. I noticed that an item with great reviews has a price that is much higher than if the reviews aren't that great. I left a review one time that mentioned an added benefit to using an item that wasn't listed in the products description. I went back less than a week later and found the price had jumped more than 50%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The reason I put up with cookies is because then I have to keep re-signing in to an infuriating degree. They make it so much harder for you to shop cookie-free!

That girl 🔥

what i have noticed with amazon in my country with prices, yes it goes up and down alot, but its matching the price of the lowest competitor when they have a sale for example. once that competitor no longer has it on sale, its matches price with the next lowest competitor. and sometimes they go even lower. or are same price as lowest competitor but have free shipping, its always worth to compare prices

I booked a hotel room at Lania Kai hotel at Ft. Myers beach in FL. a few years ago for $120 a night for a room on the ocean. When I arrived the clerk said, "Sorry, the ocean front rooms are $160 a night but you can stay across the street in our overflow property for $120." Here's my receipt and printout, you already have my money! "Sorry, but we're not going to honor that." The place was virtually empty! I'm glad you brought up Amazon; I recently needed to buy new bulbs for my car headlights. The local auto parts store's want $40-50 a pair. Amazon had many selections for $22-38 a pair. I checked Rockauto.com and got them for $14 a pair. I have also bought items in the past on Amazon and noticed a lower price on the same item a few days or week later. I shop there less and less now.