Surveillance Pricing: When the Price You See Isn’t the Price Everyone Sees

Imagine two neighbors buying the exact same product online, at the exact same moment, and paying two different prices — not because of a sale or a coupon, but because an algorithm decided one of them was more willing to pay. That’s the reality regulators say is spreading across e-commerce and travel booking, where companies increasingly use AI tools fed by browsing history, location, device type, and purchase patterns to quietly personalize the price each shopper sees. In August 2026, the FTC proposed a formal enforcement policy stating that failing to disclose this kind of data-driven pricing can itself be an unfair or deceptive practice — and Congress, several state attorneys general, and multiple state legislatures are now moving in parallel to rein it in.

What makes this issue so unsettling is its invisibility: unlike a posted sale sign or a junk fee at checkout, surveillance pricing leaves no obvious trace for the consumer paying more. You’d have no easy way of knowing you were charged a premium based on your zip code, your phone’s operating system, or how long you hesitated on a product page. As this practice draws bipartisan scrutiny in Washington, the questions consumers should be asking are just beginning: how long has this been happening, who’s been affected, and what recourse do the people who were quietly charged more actually have?

Shub Johns & Holbrook LLP is a class action law firm that has experience in price manipulation and other deceptive practices that may result in consumers spending more money on products that may be advertised at different prices elsewhere. If you have experienced similar issues, let us know!

Complete a form and join our investigation today!