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Which Price is Right?

Posted by michael on from the cent-of-profits-in-the-air dept.

slashdotNum2Big2Register writes "An interesting article at fastcompany about how things are being priced nowadays. The only drawback that concerns me is how each item and price can be connected to an individual. Amazon was already found to be doing this with their prices."

3 of 350 comments (clear)

  1. Airline Prices!? by lavalyn · · Score: 1, Redundant

    If that's not the best example of when people don't know what to price at, I don't know what is. Go to (say) expedia, travelocity, or destina.ca and price out a round-trip flight to some interesting place (I suggest Osaka). Prices range from $1400 to $6000 (CDN) on what is basically the same flight, with the same restrictions, at even the same timing conditions. And the expensive flights often include more stopovers and transfers too!

    Perhaps with a $4 difference we may think differently, but I'd choose the cheap option any day when the difference is $300.

    --
    Doing the Right Thing should not be preempted by making a buck.
  2. I Knew There Was a Reason... by limekiller4 · · Score: 2, Redundant

    From the article:
    "Computerworld also checked the price of the Men in Black DVD today and discovered that on Netscape the quoted price was $25.97, while it cost $23.97 on Internet Explorer. After completely clearing the cache and cookie files of the PC being used, the price remained $25.97 using the Netscape browser but had risen to $27.97 with Internet Explorer. Oddly enough, people using Lynx were simply given items gratis."

    --
    My .02,
    Limekiller
  3. Amazon = Evil by Fantastic+Lad · · Score: 0, Redundant
    Regional pricing schemes aren't entirely unfair, (because property taxes and retail space pricing also varies for the seller). Age-differentiated pricing is fine as well, simply because everybody knows kids don't have jobs, but should be allowed to participate in some of society's social and entertainment areas regardless. Give kids a break because they're kids. This stuff is fair.

    What Amazon and similar companies are doing is NOT an attempt to be fair, or to offset regionally different taxes and rental costs. They are doing it because they are greedy assholes who want to rip you off. Period.

    They don't charge more for IE users than they do for Mozilla users based on perceived income levels. For fuck's sake! They do it because they know that IE users are more likely to be dumb fucking sheep who have rolled over and given up, or who never had the wherewithall to wake up to the fact that they were being scammed in the first place. Using IE is tantamount to wearing a big bright, "I'm A Shill, Rip Me Off," Tee-shirt.

    I should add, of course, that this does not include any here who use IE for other reasons and who are not unaware. You know who you are, and those of you who don't, come on down and visit my web site! --I've got a sale on some shitty but very popular movies you might want to buy!


    -Fantastic Lad