Online retailing enables companies to regularly (instantly, if they like) change the prices they offer — to reflect competition, low or peak seasons, sales of particular items, and so forth. This means, for both buyers and sellers, product pricing is more complex and sometimes confusing. [See our prior post on the topic.] Since the use of rapid price changes is growing, here’s a follow-up post. Can shoppers take more control?

As Stephanie Clifford reports for the New York Times: “With retailers’ Internet prices now changing more often — sometimes several times within the space of a day — a new group of tools is helping shoppers outwit the stores. Rather than requiring shoppers to do the work by entering an item into price-comparison engines throughout the day, the tools automatically scan for price changes and alert customers when the price drops. Some tools, including one from Citibank’s Citi Card, even scour sites for lower prices after a purchase and help customers get a refund for any price difference. Web sites that help shoppers compare prices and track online deals have existed as long as E-commerce itself. But rapid changes in pricing at many major retailers have made it more difficult for shoppers to keep on top of it all.”

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Visual by James Best Jr./New York Times