Laws and Status
Which States Ban Surveillance Pricing?
As of October 6, 2026, two states have surveillance pricing bans in force: Maryland (food, since October 1, 2026) and Connecticut (retail and delivery, since October 1, 2026, revised July 1, 2027). New Jersey’s grocery ban takes effect August 1, 2027.
Does the FTC Ban Personalized Pricing?
No. The FTC’s August 2026 proposal states that Congress has not given it authority to ban personalized pricing in all circumstances.
Is Dynamic Pricing Still Legal?
Yes, in general. Prices that change with time, demand or inventory, and that everyone sees equally, are not the target of these laws.
Which Personalized Pricing Laws Take Effect in 2027?
Three: Colorado SB 26-189 on January 1, 2027; Connecticut’s revised ban (P.A. 26-130) on July 1, 2027; and New Jersey’s Fair Price Protection Act on August 1, 2027. New Jersey’s moratorium on new electronic shelf labels starts February 1, 2027.
Exemptions
Are Loyalty Program Prices Exempt from Surveillance Pricing Laws?
Generally yes, with conditions. Maryland, Connecticut and New Jersey all exempt loyalty or rewards programs in some form, and New York’s pending bill does too.
Can We Still Offer Personalized Discounts If Prices Never Go Up?
Often yes. Maryland only prohibits higher personalized prices, and most laws exempt bona fide discounts.
Compliance
Does Pricing by Customer Segment Count as Surveillance Pricing?
It can. Connecticut’s law covers customized prices for “a consumer or group of consumers,” so moving from individual to segment pricing does not by itself take a practice out of scope.
Does Using Third-Party Data in Pricing Create Extra Risk?
Yes. The FTC’s deception example is a price presented as based on purchase history that actually reflects shopping at other firms, and its proposal expects businesses to verify consent for vendor data.
Do Shared Pricing Vendors Create Antitrust Risk?
They can. Shared pricing software has been challenged as a hub for price coordination in cases involving RealPage, Cendyn, Zelis and MultiPlan, and California’s AB 325 bars common pricing algorithms that use competitor data.
Can a Machine Learning Pricing Model Be Explainable Enough for Regulators?
Post-hoc explanation tools estimate why a model produced a price, but they are not the mechanism that set it and can misstate what the model does. A rule-based production decision gives an exact reason.
Does Personalized Pricing Increase Profit Compared with One Price?
In a field experiment by Dubé and Misra, personalized prices increased expected profits by 19% compared with the best uniform price, and more than 60% of consumers benefited from lower prices.
Disclosures
What Disclosure Wording Do the Laws Require?
New York requires “THIS PRICE WAS SET BY AN ALGORITHM USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA” for algorithmic personal prices. Connecticut has two wordings: since October 1, 2026, “THIS PRICE WAS INCREASED BY A PRICE SETTING DEVICE USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA”; from July 1, 2027, “THIS PRICE WAS INCREASED USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA.” The FTC proposal sets no wording but requires three elements.