Online shopping

Are You Getting Screwed Online?

And if so, do you even know it’s happening?

Way back when, haggling to get a better price was routine. You may have had a taste of this when shopping at an open market while vacationing abroad, or for that matter at a flea market. You try to get the seller to agree to a cheaper price, and sometimes it works, especially if the seller thinks you might just walk away.

Try that at a brick-and-mortar store, of course, and see how far it gets you.

When you’re shopping online, you have nobody to haggle with, so everyone has to pay the same price, right?

Wrong.

Here’s a fun experiment. Ask a friend who lives in a different part of the country, and who has a higher or lower income level from yours, to check the prices on given items. You will sometimes find you’re being offered wildly different prices for the same item from the same seller.

You expect to pay slightly higher prices if you’re shopping in an actual store in an expensive area — we literally call these places “expensive areas” for a reason. You may have assumed that an online price was the same for everyone. It isn’t always, though.

The Great And Powerful Big Data system knows where you are and how expensive your standard of living is, and adjusts the prices up and down accordingly. Sometimes, the price even differs by the time of day you’re shopping, and the price can even be different if you’re looking on your desktop computer or tablet or your phone.

Planning a big purchase and not in a big hurry? There’s a trick you might try. Just keep shopping for the item. Spend some time doing this. Pull it up, read through the information and click onto similar items from other companies.

You’ve probably already noticed that for weeks after you make a purchase, you’re served ad after ad offering that item or similar items, until you want to scream, “Enough! I already bought the damned thing!” Turn this irritation around and make it work for you.

Another tactic is to actually put the item in your shopping cart — and then abandon it. Make sure you’ve made an account and logged in so they have your email. Check to see if they email you a coupon for a sweeter deal.

Of course, my top money-saving tip is just not to buy the thing at all. Do you really want it? If you still want it after a couple of weeks of hemming and hawing, at least you might be able to get it at a good price.

P.S.: Before you buy online, consider whether you might be able to get the item from a locally owned store instead. Local places don’t play these ridiculous games, and sometimes you just want to walk out of the store with the item in hand. Online is not always cheaper!