What is the lowest total you would pay today?
We search stores, coupons, cashback and open-box offers, and show only prices with a date on the page.
The idea that a retailer can quote you a personal price is real enough that the FTC studied it. This page separates what has been shown from what is only possible. We have not run a test on Amazon, and nothing here claims one.
We found no published measurement showing Amazon charges different shoppers different prices for the same item from the same seller. The FTC’s 2025 summary gave hypothetical examples, and the best-measured case we found, Instacart, is not Amazon. Totals can still differ for ordinary reasons: seller, variant, shipping, tax and coupons.
Correction. An earlier version of this page described price-tracking tests that Zroppix did not run. We removed those numbers. Everything below comes from the sources linked, which we read on the dates shown, or is labelled as our own advice.
What the FTC said
The FTC’s January 17, 2025 release summarised initial analysis of documents from six companies. It said retailers and intermediaries can use location, demographics, browsing patterns and shopping history, and gave hypothetical examples such as showing a shopper profiled as a new parent higher-priced baby thermometers. It did not report observed price differences. The study was ongoing, and two commissioners dissented on releasing the summaries.
What has been measured elsewhere
Consumer Reports, Groundwork Collaborative and More Perfect Union ran live tests with 437 shoppers in four cities. They found 74% of grocery items on Instacart were offered at multiple price points, with the same item at the same store varying by up to 23%, and basket totals by about 7% on average (Groundwork Collaborative). Instacart announced on December 22, 2025 that it would end the experiments. That is Instacart, not Amazon.
Why two people can see different totals on Amazon
None of these require personal pricing:
- A different seller or condition: Amazon, a third-party seller, new, renewed or used.
- A different variant: colour, size, storage or bundle.
- Shipping, tax and delivery speed that depend on your address and plan.
- A coupon, a Subscribe & Save discount or a lightning deal that applies to one listing.
- The time you looked. A price can change between two checks.
A fair way to test it
- Pick one product and open the exact same listing in two browsers, one signed in and one signed out, within a few minutes.
- Screenshot the price, seller, shipping line and the time.
- Repeat on another day. One difference is not evidence, because prices move over time.
- If you find a repeatable difference for the same seller, variant and time, keep the screenshots. A consumer agency or reporter may want them.
For a normal purchase, the more useful step is to compare the total across stores and find a dated earlier price. See the lowest-price method.
Sources: FTC (Jan 17, 2025); Groundwork Collaborative on Instacart. All read November 1, 2026.
How this post was made. Rewritten on November 1, 2026 by the Zroppix team with AI assistance (Claude, from Anthropic) to remove tests we had not run. The facts come from the pages linked here, and we say where a source is secondhand. This page has no affiliate links. We make Zroppix and sell Zroppix Pro, a paid plan.