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Original poster

Is This Right or Am I Imagining It??

52 replies

JollyFrog · 02/02/2015 20:45

I'm sure this is happening but DH says I'm imagining it,

We've been looking at holidays online for the spring. We are abit indecisive and keep going back to the same ones, but I've noticed that the more we look, the prices increase. Is this a thing? Do prices go up the more you look?? Confused

OP posts:
CrapBag · 02/02/2015 21:31

Wow I did NOT know this. Shock

I do tend to delete my cookies and browsing history every time I have finished on my tablet though.

Thanks for the incognito tip. Will use that in future.

bigbluestars · 02/02/2015 21:31

I am not sure about this one. Holidays usually fluctuate anyway, and generally the more that are sold the higher the price- certainly the case for flights.

TalkinPeace · 02/02/2015 21:32

Tinks
Yes there is :
the sites have data tracking algorithms that record if you have searched before.
I've tested it many, many times with many, many companies for many, many products

oh yeah, and I have a client who writes the code for the tracking algorithms .....

anothernumberone · 02/02/2015 21:33

I thought incognito browsing was for porn Grin I had the same issue OP until the computer boffins at work were talking about it one day. I try to do my looking at home and book in work from a very different ip now.

TalkinPeace · 02/02/2015 21:34

bigblue
TRY it : pick a route and a date.
check it three days running, once on open browse, once on incognito.

Try it with your car insurance renewal - compare your renewal offer with what your own insurer will quote if you go in as an unknown new customer

Tinks42 · 02/02/2015 21:36

Blimey, really? I search all types of price/holidays so they would be on the hop there then Grin

bigbluestars · 02/02/2015 21:36

Conspiracy theory. Heap of nonsense.

TalkinPeace · 02/02/2015 21:38

anothernumberone
incognito is VERY useful for researching birthday presents as then lary teens cannot see in the history what I'm thinking of getting them Smile

but seriously : in 2014 I saved will over £3000 using it ( compared with the initial offerings of the websites )

Tinks42 · 02/02/2015 21:39

It does sound like a load of nonsense to me to be honest. A company will show prices, they may show a certain person what they have looked for before but you can always go up and down the scale.

Tinks42 · 02/02/2015 21:41

and you dont think companies know about this "incognito" thing? really?

TalkinPeace · 02/02/2015 21:45

Fine. You believe what you like.

I have the screenshots of my United Airlines plane ticket going from £400 to £800 and then back to £400 when I went in incognito - and paid.

Direct Line openly admit that they give the best price to new customers and stopping them seeing the cookies means they assume you are a new customer. That saved me £500 last year

The Co op house insurance dropped £250 when I went incognito

Skyscanner - because they then did not realise I was the person who had been watching the flights - dropped the price £2000

but hey, maybe I'm just blerdy lucky Smile

Tinks42 · 02/02/2015 21:54

Did you go incognito rather than telling them you werent going to pay their prices due to knowing you could get things cheaper? Isnt incognito the same as go compare? you havent found gold here, its just common sense.

Tinks42 · 02/02/2015 21:56

well whatever you found its fucked now Grin

TalkinPeace · 02/02/2015 22:02

Tinks
Its been discussed in the business press for years.

There are enough muppets who pay the inflated prices they do not care about me

and yes, I've used comparison sites : they take a cut and the prices are often no cheaper than direct.

Rabbitcar · 02/02/2015 22:03

Yes you are right. Unfortunate

Rabbitcar · 02/02/2015 22:04

Unfortunately*

BreeVDKamp · 02/02/2015 22:05

Wow I never knew this!!

SabrinaMulhollandJjones · 02/02/2015 22:12

I was told it happens for flights - although maybe not caused by individuals/cookies - but the more 'clicks' a flight has, the more the price increases.

DebateDiscuss · 02/02/2015 22:13

I didn't have a clue about this. I'm about to run comparisons on insurers so will be putting it to the test tomorrow.

Pipbin · 02/02/2015 22:13

I didn't know this. I've been researching loads of holidays recently and I've not noticed it. I wonder if it's because I'm not searching packages.

I'm on safari at present
For Safari go File>New Private Window.

snowsjoke · 02/02/2015 22:14

Can someone explain how you get to the 'anonymous' settings in Internet Explorer please? Not v techy!

FarFromAnyRoad · 02/02/2015 22:14

This is definitely a thing. Happened to me two nights ago on Expedia. Cleared cookies and got back to the cheaper prices I'd originally seen. Can't help thinking this is a bit of a dubious practice........

Pipbin · 02/02/2015 22:40

Just checked a holiday that I had been looking at loads on Expedia. It was the same price on private browsing as it was on my regular browser.

However, beware of expedia. I was looking at flights and a hotel. Then I checked with the airline and the hotel's own websites only to find that if I booked them without going though Expedia then they were cheaper.

ChocolateBubbleBarsmakemefat · 02/02/2015 22:48

Right click on the chrome icon then select incognito before you go onto the website. It really does work.

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