It took the Internet a little over 20 years to completely revolutionize and change a fundamental human activity that has been with us since the early days of civilization. Up until the age of online shopping, the only products available to us were those that were sold in our immediate area. Plus, we had to go there ourselves if we wanted to buy anything.
Nowadays, we can buy things from the opposite side of the globe without having to leave our bedroom and have them delivered right to our door with only a few clicks. And we love it.
However, this shift in our shopping habits also opened the door to something marketers refer to as location-based pricing.
This practice refers to the adjustment of an item’s sale price based on the location of the buyer. Sure, sometimes the difference comes from the cost it takes to ship that item to your location. However, and this is where things get a little, let’s say unethical, that difference in price may come based on the amount other people from a particular location are willing to pay for that item.
Let’s see some real-life examples of geo-based pricing, shall we?
We tried renting a car for a future imaginary trip to Palma de Mallorca. Here is the price we got for a Fiat 500 when we performed the search using a US IP address.
Next, with the help of a VPN service, we used a random European IP address and repeated the search. Check out what we got.
Sure, the discount is not that big. That’s only a $4 difference. But it was enough to intrigue us and make us want to see if we could find discounts for hotels.
We turned off the VPN and did a hotel scan for the same location during the same period. Here’s what showed up on the first result page.
We were curious to see what the prices would be if we had a Spanish IP. So, we connected to a Spanish VPN server and repeated the search.
Funny enough, as it turns out, Spanish people pay more for hotels than US citizens. Here’s the price they get for the Iberostar Selection Playa de Mallorca.
Perhaps Spanish people should book their next vacation to Palma using an American IP.
As you can see, location-based pricing is as real as it gets. Everyone uses it. However, if you’re clever, you can profit from this practice yourself.
All you need is a reliable VPN service that has servers in enough countries so that you can find the best available discounts.
We used CyberGhost VPN during our tests, and we strongly recommend it. It has over 5900 servers in 90 countries and 112 locations, making it an ideal VPN for online shopping.
The app is super simple and intuitive, and you can use it on Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Linux, Fire Stick, Android TV, and even on routers.
Avid online shoppers can make the $2.75/mo (deal available if you opt for the 18-months plan) back in a jiffy.
For those of you interested, here’s a link where you can CyberGhost VPN for a 79% discount.
Happy shopping!
