Start here
The free tool below runs entirely in this browser — no account, nothing stored or transmitted. Redact anything you would not want kept before you type it.
Open the companion tool →Why one price tells you nothing
Prices change for ordinary reasons: time, stock, cookies, promotions. A record only becomes evidence when the variables are controlled: same item, same moment, different session state.
One state already requires a point-of-sale disclosure when algorithmic pricing uses personal data, and regulators have opened investigations into the practice — the audit is what turns a suspicion into a datapoint.
The protocol
- Pick one item and record its exact product code, date, and time.
- Check the price in a normal session, a logged-out session, and a session with cleared cookies.
- Record device, app or browser, account status, and any loyalty programme in each case.
- Repeat once on a different day at a different hour to separate timing effects.
- Write the comparison, then decide whether to complain or simply buy elsewhere.
What the tool does
Build a personalised-price audit It runs locally in this browser and sends nothing.
Limit first: This is a record-keeping and comparison aid, not legal or financial advice. It cannot prove that a price was personalised, and it does not know what a company's pricing model does internally.
Open the companion tool →Cost and free path
Cost: Free: one complete run in this browser, no account. Optional $4 one-time unlock allows unlimited runs of this tool on this browser. The free path and safety guidance never require payment.
Rule status (mixed route): Status, 2026-10-03: no general federal ban on personalised pricing. One state requires a point-of-sale disclosure when algorithmic pricing uses personal data, 35+ states have pricing bills pending, and the Federal Register plus your state legislature are the authoritative check.
Automated decision this documents: algorithmic pricing that uses personal or device data
Free path, in order (no cost):
- FTC consumer alerts and reports on surveillance pricing
- Your state attorney general's consumer protection division
- Consumer Reports or a consumer advocacy organisation that tracks pricing complaints
What this cannot do: It cannot prove that a price was personalised, and it does not know what a company's pricing model does internally.
Sources checked 2026-10-03 · source bank reviewed against the live pages listed in metadata.
One human next step
Send the comparison to your state attorney general's consumer division; in states with algorithmic-pricing disclosure rules, a missing disclosure is itself a complaint you can file.
Research log and safety checks
AI-assist path: not used for a verdict. This builder organises the reader's own documents and names an independent source; it does not infer authenticity, eligibility, or legal rights. §6.9/§6.10/§6.11 disclosed in the batch report; §6.12 status line carried in metadata as `status_line`.
§0.5 protection result: category is ai-pricing-transparency; crisis-adjacent: no; fear/urgency/scarcity toolkit used: no. The protective function is free and the paid feature is convenience only.