The Federal Trade Commission is extending the public comment period on the proposed enforcement policy statement on personalized pricing. The new deadline to submit comments is Sept. 25.
On Aug. 19, the FTC asked the public to submit comments electronically until Sept. 18, on the proposed policy statement related to personalized pricing. Personalized pricing is the use of personal data to set prices according to the amount that a company believes an individual consumer is willing to spend.
“When consumers see a listed price, they expect it to be same price that everyone else sees, not the retailer’s estimate of how much they are willing to pay based on their personal data,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement.
Ferguson said the FTC doesn’t have the legal authority to ban personalized pricing in all cases, but businesses that fail to tell consumers how their personal data is being used to set a price may be in violation of the FTC Act and other laws.
Consumers expect prices for products and services to change based upon supply and demand, not their web surfing habits or buying history, he said. Retailers who represent or imply that a price is static when it varies by individual are misleading customers.
Consumers should take measures to avoid higher personalized prices, such as using a virtual private network or private browsing session, or avoiding retailers engaged in personalized pricing.
