How to Disappear: Shopping Online

“Just a regular computer?” The librarian in the lobby asked, before I nodded and she sent me upstairs.

On a recent afternoon, I opened up the Target website on a computer at the New York Public Library. I saw some solid offers: Angel Soft toilet paper for $5.99, fresh organic blueberries for $5.99, Chobani Greek yogurt for $1.39, and Apple cinnamon Cheerios for $3.49.

I opened up Target.com using a personal hotspot on my iPhone for some comparison shopping: Angel Soft toilet paper starting at $7.39, fresh organic blueberries for $6.49, Apple cinnamon Cheerios for $3.89. For the most part, I was getting better deals on the computer.

The public library computer knows very little about me. My iPhone, on the other hand? I shudder to think what it knows about me, my habits, my tendencies, my spending history, my credit card data, my income, and my willingness to spend.

Social media sleuths suggest that using the library is the key to nabbing good deals in our current era of surveillance pricing. The creator @talia_likeitis claimed in a reel with some 36 million views that her husband saved hundreds by buying airline tickets at the library; creator Ellyce Fulmore got more than 15 million views on a reel claiming she did the same (though other users and reporters debunked this approach.)

The virality speaks to the paranoia and desperation consumers feel as they sense every move online being tracked. Companies use a raft of personal data, including location, purchase history, keystroke movements, and more to offer items at varying prices to different consumers. Regulations around such practices are emerging but still slim: Maryland and Connecticut have banned such practices, while New York and California are waiting for legislation to kick in.

At home, I checked the prices again using VPN. The prices were largely higher than the library. I felt disoriented—and then I wondered if this was my fault. Had I done something to deserve these higher prices?

On my devices, I am the main character, and I am an imperfect one. I felt the paranoia: Did the algorithm know I sometimes took Ubers when I could have taken the train? Had I—shame of shame—mindlessly accepted cookies on too many websites?

These days, corporations are setting up new prices for individual consumers constantly. Even the savviest consumer would be unable to keep up with the ups and downs of dynamic pricing—price targeting tools can generate new prices every minute, according to a 2025 staff perspective research summary from the Federal Trade Commission.

The game is constant. Marc Daniel Sevigny, a cybersecurity professional and certified ethical hacker, described it like this: Player 1 is a company trying to optimize for the highest revenue, and player 2 is a consumer trying to optimize for the lowest price. There are dollars on the line to learn about VPNs, private browsing, and masking your email address.

Go further and you’ll start to do things to poison your personal data for deals. This entails leaving things in your cart for 48+ hours, browsing the cheapest items on a retailer’s site to signal you’re not willing to pay more, or closing apps so they send you discounts.

“We all have a duty to ourselves to save money, just as they have a duty to make money,” said Sevigny.

Many online shoppers, facing complex pricing systems where they see variable prices, grasp at ways to try to feel in control. For Brandee Jones, a 36-year-old mental health counselor in Tampa, using different devices has been the key to getting better options on Ticketmaster. The high prices and epic queues for sports and concert tickets have triggered the ire of many fans and the scrutiny of the United States Justice Department.

“It takes a village,” she said, explaining that she also uses a VPN; often browses on incognito; and has set up new accounts, including on her husband’s phone, to try to get ahead in lines to see artists like Noah Kahan.

While seeking Doechii tickets, she was placed on the front of the line on one device and put around 30,000 in the queue on another, all on the same WiFi. “I will try anything,” she said, though, she added “it’s frustrating for it to be this hard.”

Consumers should check for dynamic prices between different grocery or food delivery apps, suggested Caroline Sinders, a machine-learning-design researcher and artist. By lessening your reliance on one app, you might signal to that app that you have other options.

Disabling your advertising ID, a unique identifier on a cell phone that helps retailers stitch together information and build a profile on you, is straightforward, said Lena Cohen, a staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Though she noted that the burden of this shouldn’t fall on consumers, this a small way to protect oneself while, in practice, it does.

Hanna Horvath, a 29-year old certified financial planner and newsletter writer in New York City, first started using VPNs and buying airline tickets in incognito mode because she was looking to save money.

She tries to shop in person whenever possible (though she has noticed that some in-person retailers update prices frequently, too, including at her local grocery store). She pauses whenever a service asks for her email address and tries to pull her into a loyalty program—even though these programs dangle cost savings. She resists the knee-jerk reflex to just accept cookies and get the pop-up off her screen. She embraces what she sees as “little hacks, not huge overhauls,” she reflected.

It’s very hard to get back information that you have shared with a company. Whenever possible, avoiding sharing that information to begin with, especially email addresses, is a smart move, Cohen at EFF added.

“No one wants to feel taken advantage of,” said Leo Flowers, a 50-year-old comedian in San Diego, who advocates for clearing caches and cookies while browsing online.

Like Brandee Jones, he says people don’t need to tackle this alone. “It should be a group effort, with team work and community,” Flowers said.

“Have your friend that makes the least money buy tickets,” he suggested, or have a friend with an analog phone in a less wealthy area make purchases for you. “It’s an injustice to charge people based off of where they live,” he said.

Target and Ticketmaster did not respond to a request for comment on their dynamic pricing practices.

Illustration by Dina A. Amin