Personalized pricing. Prices based on personal data.

W

WhatInThe

SF VIP
Many companies are now using algorithms and personal data to determine prices one might pay especially online.

https://www.scrippsnews.com/life/mo...how-your-data-could-dictate-the-price-you-pay

I know the prices fluctuate have seen them drop on the same page by the end of an hour sometimes hoping to make one make an impulse buy.

But these schemes are a risk to consumers because a company could become reliant on customers who don't pay attention and can pay any price but also could drag down lousy consumers who can't afford what they are buying. Don't need basic goods like the same tv set or a tool being different prices for different customers. It's sort of like the same medical procedure paid by different insurance companies have different pricing.

It comes back to the consumer knowing the product & market and not buying on impulse or desire but a budget.
 

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The vendors at the local flea market have been doing that for years. šŸ˜‰šŸ¤­šŸ˜‚

It will be interesting to see how this goes in the years ahead.

Surge pricing during time of high demand and drastic reductions at times to flush out excess inventory, or reductions for appointments based on limited open time slots, etcā€¦

We have some of that now with searching for bargains in travel and entertainment, early bird specials or midweek specials in restaurants.

Another thing that we all need to be aware of and factor in to our daily lives.
 
Trade said:
Big Corporate is Watching You.
Click to expand...
The spying is getting more subtle but sophisticated every day. Yesterday I took a picture with my phone of an item at the grocery store for price comparison with one I have in my shopping cart on Amazon. All of a sudden- the price increased by $6 for the shopping cart item. It was still cheaper than the grocery store item, but they closed up the savings to a minimum.
 
Nathan said:
The spying is getting more subtle but sophisticated every day. Yesterday I took a picture with my phone of an item at the grocery store for price comparison with one I have in my shopping cart on Amazon. All of a sudden- the price increased by $6 for the shopping cart item. It was still cheaper than the grocery store item, but they closed up the savings to a minimum.
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if that happens again, and you still want the item, log out of your amazon account and log in using a different browser....you'll get your original price.
 
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I'll admit that I'm not up to speed on this modern technology, but I don't understand something that's happened a couple of times. A couple of times I have been talking to someone and the conversation we were having typed up on our phones in the texting part. Is that unusual? If we had the microphone pushed I could see it but it wasn't. I now keep my phone off when having a lengthy conversation. Creepy!
 
Trade said:
Big Corporate is Watching You.
Click to expand...

You better believe that. One day I happened to mention to the wife while standing in front of the TV, that I was thinking of getting a different steering wheel for my tractor. Later that day, I go on facebook and what do you suppose shows up in the market place section? That's right, tractor steering wheels. o_O
 
TeePee said:
I'll admit that I'm not up to speed on this modern technology, but I don't understand something that's happened a couple of times. A couple of times I have been talking to someone and the conversation we were having typed up on our phones in the texting part. Is that unusual? If we had the microphone pushed I could see it but it wasn't. I now keep my phone off when having a lengthy conversation. Creepy!
Click to expand...
have a little watch of this video...
 
TeePee said:
I'll admit that I'm not up to speed on this modern technology, but I don't understand something that's happened a couple of times. A couple of times I have been talking to someone and the conversation we were having typed up on our phones in the texting part. Is that unusual? If we had the microphone pushed I could see it but it wasn't. I now keep my phone off when having a lengthy conversation. Creepy!
Click to expand...
My iPhone does that sometimes.

Siri will pick up on something I said that sounds like ā€œHey Siri,ā€ which is the voice command that activates the record feature. Often itā€™s when Ron and I are talking about Sheri, my step daughter. šŸ¤£ I guess her name sounds enough like Siri that she thinks sheā€™s being summoned!
 
The things with pricing is a I heard a common selling technique is always offer the highest priced item first then drop the price or show cheaper items. The websites do that automatically in many cases. In this case they might be using a person's income, purchase history, available credit etc. In other words squeeze every last dollar out of them if possible.

I guess one could say those club cards used in the box stores or supermarkets wind up doing the same thing. Although cheaper they know a persons purchase history and might coupons or customized offers.
 
What people need to understand is that this isn't something that only affects prices of goods. The very same forces are at work when you watch the news online. Not only the type of stories you get, but the sources you prefer - it's all recorded and applied by the algorythm. Which is why "doing your own research" online is not simply a matter of using a search engine. It takes real work, and too few of us are willing to put that work in.

Price on Demand is being used for many things, concerts, plane tickets, and so on. That is, price is increased and reduced based on current demand (increasing where there is a lot of demand, and decreasing when there is less.) What perhaps isn't obvious is that the time measured here - the difference between so called "high demand" and "low demand" is measured in SECONDS, not hours or days. The algorythm used is ever watchful.

Further from that, the algorythm will use all the data it has. So, it's not even about say, local demand. It will look to see what people from your state are doing, or even down to your ISP and beyond. This isn't some science fiction, but is at work today, and is used every day.

When you think about this in terms of, say, political beliefs, then you begin to see why people like myself are endlessly sounding the alarm. Far too often, what you think is the popular view or opinion, is in fact the workings of an algorythm tuned to keep you engaged - which is most easily achieved by giving you what you want, even if it's not what you NEED.

When it comes to pricing, this is a capitalist dream. Say I want to go see Madonna in concert - if the promoter can get me to pay $2000 for a ticket, why would they sell it to me at $60? This is the argument for.
 

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