Why Online Shoppers See Different Prices for the Same Item
Note to Self
WNYC Studios
4.7 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 9 September 2015
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
"Price discrimination differentiation is, simply put, trying to charge different people, different prices for the same item, based on their willingness to pay."A question about the complicated ethics of "dynamic pricing," and the piece of actuarial literature that brought discrimination to light.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From WNYC, I'm a new summer OD and this is Note to Self, the tech show about being human. |
| 0:09.5 | You would come up with an idea and think that you were the first one to have thought it. |
| 0:14.3 | It's thousands of pictures of babies. |
| 0:16.7 | It's just thousands of pictures of babies. |
| 0:20.2 | So, I'm just wondering. |
| 0:24.6 | What's the answer? |
| 0:25.6 | So, I could use some help. |
| 0:29.6 | Oh. |
| 0:32.4 | Today, we're going to answer a question, an excellent question from listener Aaron Esting. |
| 0:38.0 | Aaron calls himself a digital nomad. |
| 0:40.9 | So, I guess he's meaning that he's roaming around Europe with a laptop in hand |
| 0:44.8 | and there's something that has been worrying him. |
| 0:47.5 | I read a magazine article about how online retailers vary pricing based on the location of your IP address. |
| 0:55.1 | So, if you live in a more expensive community, you might get more expensive pricing. |
| 0:58.7 | My question is, is that practice right? |
| 1:01.2 | And then second, am I really getting the best deal when I comparison shop online? |
| 1:06.2 | I feel like Aaron might have recorded that in like a Turkish bath. |
| 1:10.3 | You can hear the echo there. |
| 1:11.5 | Who knows where you are, Aaron? |
| 1:12.6 | But your question is incredibly timely and not just because I just looked this up two-thirds of us now shop online at least once a month. |
| 1:21.8 | I know I am more than that. |
| 1:23.6 | Your question is timely, though, also because so many questions are starting to be raised about the algorithms that decide what add or price we each as individuals see on our computer. |
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