Pricing will become increasingly adversarial. The Internet did too much to expose price differences to customers, so sellers are responding. Customers will need aggressive agents to price-shop on their behalf. Take hotel booking as one of the current nightmares of price visibility. Total price often isn't exposed until you show up at the hotel.

▲

everdrive 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

>Customers will need aggressive agents to price-shop on their behalf. Take hotel booking as one of the current nightmares of price visibility.

Or I'll just buy as little as possible and buy used whenever possible.

The only answer I see anyone suggest is _more_ complexity. "This complex system we've built is flawed. I know what to do: I'll add another layer of complexity and abstraction on top of it."

"Needing" buying agents would be the worst possible outcome. How could I possibly trust the buying agent? Wouldn't that agent just take funds from companies to promote their products as suggestions?

▲

iamnothere 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Or I'll just buy as little as possible and buy used whenever possible.

This is the way, but also, places like eBay are increasingly “professionalized” by huge resellers and refurbishers who squeeze out any possible margin. I’ve also noticed that thrift and consignment stores aren’t such a bargain anymore. You can often get a better deal from large retailers when they go on clearance.

P2P transactions still pay off but it’s not as easy as it used to be.

	▲	everdrive 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That's good to know regarding ebay. I don't use it much, but I wasn't aware. Agreed with regard to thrift stores. Some of them have seen quite a lot of inflation. I think it's yard sales and minimalism for me.

▲

DavidPeiffer 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Buying used is great and all, but so many more products and product features have become cloud and subscription reliant across all industries. They'll be able to get you profiled and locked into a dynamically priced subscription eventually.

I'm sure someone is working on an AI powered toaster though, and we'll be able to achieve the ultimate goal of a talking toaster as they had in the TV show Red Dwarf. Hopefully it'll use Claude tokens while it engages intelligently with us.

	▲	everdrive 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		>but so many more products and product features have become cloud and subscription reliant across And 100% of these products and features are trash, as are the companies pushing them.

▲

jbxntuehineoh 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

shopping, 2000: go to store. take item off shelf. hand cashier indicated amount of money. leave.

shopping, 2030: use your personalized AI agent ($100/month subscription) to simultaneously impersonate a dozen clients across five different online shopping platforms with the goal of tricking the sellers' AI agents into thinking you're poorer than you are so that you can pay $5 for bananas instead of $25.

	▲	yoyohello13 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		That's just called progress. What are you a Luddite or something?
	▲	BobbyJo 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Its pretty obvious that a society intent on making capitalism work would enforce price transparency. If you want a productive society, you need efficient markets, and if you want efficient markets, you need to reduce information asymmetry, not maximize it. Hopefully the people in power recognize the positive impact they can make by preventing this awful future.
	▲	loa_in_ 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Sounds like something Macx character from the book Accelerando would do.

▲

ngcazz 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Customers require consumer legislation and protections, not further entrenchment of AI oligopolies.

▲

Henchman21 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Citizens require a lack of surveillance. Full stop.

▲

lotsofpulp 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The only legislation needed is one that requires transparent, searchable pricing. If the sellers can use automation to set prices, then buyers can use automation to sort prices, making all the pricing games moot.

	▲	nathan_compton 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Perhaps that is all that is required, but I don't want the minimum. I want a simple life with enough to live. I don't want to optimize everything and I don't want to live in a world which is trying to optimize every interaction I participate in.