Free download
The Surveillance
Pricing Cheat Sheet
One page. Photograph it. Keep it. Use it before you buy anything.
What's on it
- The 5 tells — what it looks like when you're being priced rather than quoted
- The 3 tests — five minutes, no tools, run them before anything over $50
- Top 10 moves — ranked by typical dollar return, starting with the free one
- What doesn't work — the popular advice that wastes your five minutes
- The escalation ladder — five rungs, and what each one can actually do
- Walk-away rules — when the answer is just to close the tab
Each section is sized to be screenshotted on its own, because that's how anyone actually uses a thing like this.
Read it here
The cheat sheet, on the web
Same content as the PDF. If you'd rather screenshot a phone screen than a document, this is the one to screenshot.
The 5 tells
- Price changed since you last looked
- Different on another device or logged out
- Countdown timer or "X left" banner
- Only visible in-app or logged in
- Feels urgent — pressure to decide now
2 or more → run the tests
The 3 tests
- Refresh — close the tab, wait 10 min, reopen cold
- Incognito — private window, logged out, search fresh, compare all-in totals
- Second device — another device, another network if you can
Compare the whole results page, not just the item. A difference is real evidence. No difference proves nothing.
What doesn't work
- Clearing cookies for cheaper flights — fares jump when fare buckets sell out, not because you looked twice
- "Book on Tuesday" — and every best-day rule. True once; the mechanism is long gone
- Assuming Black Friday is the low — often beaten elsewhere in the year
Top 10 moves
- Log out to research, log in to buy — highest-leverage habit there is, and free
- Check the price history before anything over $50
- Compare all-in totals — fare + bags + seats; rate + resort fee + parking
- Wait 48 hours — cart abandonment triggers discounts
- Call retention two weeks before any promo expires
- Claim the price adjustment if their price drops after you buy
- Unit price, not shelf price — at grocery, every time
- Get a second quote — in rideshare and delivery
- Use the 24-hour rule on flights
- Build a 20-item price book
The escalation ladder
Most of this is legal. Escalate the misrepresentation, not the unfairness.
- Company — documented, calm. Get a reference number
- Platform — cite their own guarantee. Windows are short
- Card issuer — a dispute is a process, not a complaint
- Regulator — sector first, then your state attorney general
- Small claims — the filing itself often settles it
Walk away when
- "Only 2 left" / "price rising soon"
- A countdown timer that resets when you refresh
- Nonrefundable prepaid rate, no price-drop protection
- App-exclusive price you can't verify anywhere else
- A "was" price you can't find in a price history
- You feel rushed and can't explain why
You can't opt out of the modern economy. You can stop being an easy mark.
The goal isn't paranoia. It's parity.
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The cheat sheet changes when the tactics do — and when the law does. Occasional notes, no spam, no affiliate links.
No spam, no affiliate links.