Do you know that you pay your browsing history and the type of smartphone you use when you buy products Online; According to a new study (PDF) these are the criteria for displaying the price on websites that make e-commerce.
In April and May this year, researchers from Northeastern University of Boston studied 300 search results for people who visited 16 on-line retail websites and travel agencies. Nine of these sites, websites showed different prices or different results in the same searches.
The researchers said that these differences - which they call "price discrimination" or "price steering" - are based on data collected from consumers who of course may not be aware of it.
"As a user, it is almost impossible to know if the prices shown to you have been modified, or if there are cheaper products hidden in the search results," one of the researchers, Christo Wilson, told the The Washington Post.
For example, the study cites the online travel Expedia, which shows more expensive hotels to some users based on the browsing history stored on their computers, so-called "cookies", although researchers could not determine the type of activity that displayed the highest prices.
A spokesman for Expedia refused to comment on the findings of the study.
About 5% of search results from Travelocity, another online travel agency, show hotel rooms $15 more expensive if the customer browsed the site from a iPhone or iPad.
Travelocity also did not comment on the survey, but has long been offering "exclusive mobile offers" for anyone booking from smartphones or tablets.
Its website Home Depot shows search results for smartphone users with more expensive products than desktop consumers.
Home Depot spokesman Stephen Holmes questioned the findings of the study, calling it "misleading."
This study is the last attempt to drop light to the opaque methods used by many e-commerce sites to show consumers different online offers. This strategy is based on data collected from buyers and is a way to increase sales.
To protect yourself, the best way to avoid price discrimination is to search for products in three different ways: with a desktop browser, or your browser in private browsing mode, and with a browser on a mobile device.
