1. Your online profile could boost the price.
Online reĀtailers know all kinds of things about you from the electronic bread crumbs you drop, such as your IP address, and they capitalize on it using price discrimination or differential pricing. For example, a site may charge higher prices after taking note of the Web browser you're using, your location, your previous shopping habits, or your search history. Or the merchant may steer your search--arranging the results to guide you toward more-expensive items. If a travel site sees that you're using a
2. Everybody's doing it.
A recent study by
3. It's legal.
Although it may seem unfair, retailers aren't breaking laws when they employ differential pricing. A recent
4. And sometimes it works to your benefit.
When a movie chain offers discounts to students, seniors and members of the military, that's price discrimination. Lower prices for members of loyalty programs fall under the same heading.
5. You can beat Web retailers at their own game.
Check how a site is filtering search results, and choose the option to sort from lowest to highest price. But don't stop there. If a site offers the option to log in, check prices before you log in and again after entering your username and password. Look up prices on your personal computer as well as your smartphone and tablet. View prices on different Web browsers--say, Safari and Chrome. Run a search with "cookies" enabled (cookies provide data about your online activities to Web sites), then open a new window and turn on private, or incognito, browsing, which won't save browser history. Search again.
6. Use all the tools at your disposal.
If you have a choice, compare prices on several sites and apply coupon codes. Tools such as the Honey browser add-on, CouponSherpa.com and RetailMeNot.com will help you find coupons. PriceGrabber.com and the InvisibleHand browser add-on can help you compare prices across sites.
Comment by clicking here.
Lisa Gerstner is Associate Editor at Kiplinger's Personal Finance.