Update Nov 14 - Apparently after the cyber shit hit the fan and several sites reported on this, Amazon today quietly corrected the "problem". You stay classy Amazon, see you when the next "bug" is discovered.


With Black Friday almost here some smart shoppers will no doubt think about some of that dreaded Christmas shopping. And with US retailers dominating the best deals, border shopping seems like the smart choice. However the savvy shopper should be forewarned - few retailers are out to give you the best deal on Black Friday. A lot of them seem to be content on screwing you over.

So here I am, browsing our neighborhood Amazon store, when I stumbled on this little gem. Same product, same time/minute of day, and somehow the prices are different based on the browser that I'm using.

Here's the product in Firefox.




And here it is in Internet Explorer.

Now in Firefox above, the toothbrush is $153.25, yet when you pull up the same toothbrush in Internet Explorer it magically transforms into $171.99. Not only that, the units left drop from 4 remaining to only 2!!! Amazing. Switching back to Firefox it shoots back up to 4 units remaining and the cheaper price.

Now before some of you cry foul and point out that in Firefox I'm logged in and somehow my location/shipping was taken in consideration...BULLSH*. I logged out immediately after the screenshot and got the same result. In fact if you try a 3rd browser, Google's Chrome, you'll get yet a different price. Go ahead try it. I'll wait.

In fact, after researching some more products, Chrome came in as cheapest, followed by Firefox, with IE being the most expensive for shopping the same products on amazon.com. Makes sense, no? IE is used by middle aged housewives and seniors who never heard of the other superior browsers. The same demographic that you can charge more without question or protest, unlike those pesky bloggers who keep meddling in other people's business.

Happy Black Friday shopping.