You’re browsing online for a new winter coat. You click through a few options, check your email, come back to the site. The price has gone up by $15. You close the tab, frustrated, and move on.
What if the price changed because the website’s algorithm analyzed your browsing history, zip code, device type, and past purchases, and calculated that you would pay more?
That’s not hypothetical. It’s happening right now, and New York recently became the first state to require businesses to tell you about it.
The Disclosure You’ve Been Missing
On July 8, 2025, New York’s Algorithmic Pricing Disclosure Act went into effect. If a business uses an algorithm to set prices based on your personal data—your browsing habits, purchase history, location, demographics, whatever they’ve collected on you—they now have to tell you.
The disclosure has to be clear and conspicuous. It has to appear wherever the price appears. And it has to say: “THIS PRICE WAS SET BY AN ALGORITHM USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA.”
Not buried in a privacy policy. Not in fine print. Right there, next to the price tag.
What Counts as “Personal Data”?
The law defines personal data broadly: anything that identifies you or could reasonably be linked to you, directly or indirectly. That includes:
- Your name, email, phone number (obviously)
- Your browsing history and cookies
- Your purchase history
- Your location data
- Your device type
- Your demographic profile
If a company is using not just market conditions, not just inventory levels, but information about you specifically to determine what price you see, they have to disclose it.
As usual, there are carve-outs. But the disclosure is required for most consumer transactions.
Why This Matters for You (Even If You Don’t Live in New York)
The law applies to any entity “doing business in New York state.”
That’s a lot of businesses.
If you’re shopping from an online retailer that ships to New York, they’re doing business in New York. If you’re buying from a company with a New York office or warehouse, they’re doing business in New York. If you’re purchasing from a platform that serves New York customers, they’re doing business in New York.
And if they’re using personalized algorithmic pricing for their New York customers, they’re probably doing it for customers in other states, too. Most businesses will roll out the disclosure nationwide rather than build separate systems for New York and everywhere else.
So even if you live in Montana or Florida or Oregon, you’re likely to start seeing these disclosures if the companies you shop from are complying with New York law.
What Businesses Are (and Aren’t) Allowed to Do
The law doesn’t ban personalized pricing. Companies can still charge you more than they charge someone else. They can still use algorithms. And they can still collect your data (subject to other privacy laws).
What they can’t do anymore is hide it. The law is about transparency, not prohibition. The theory is that if companies have to tell you they’re pricing based on your personal data, you can make an informed decision about whether to complete the purchase. And if enough consumers push back, market forces will discourage the practice.
(Whether that theory holds up in practice remains to be seen. But it’s a start.)
The Exceptions (Because There Are Always Exceptions)
The law carves out several categories of businesses:
- Financial institutions regulated under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
- Insurance companies subject to New York insurance law
- Subscription services offering discounted prices to existing subscribers
So your bank can still offer you a personalized interest rate without disclosure. Your insurance company can still assess your individual risk without a warning label. And if you’re a Netflix subscriber getting a loyalty discount, that’s fine.
But for most retail, e-commerce, and consumer services, the disclosure requirement applies.
What Happens If a Business Doesn’t Comply?
Enforcement falls to the New York Attorney General. If there’s a violation, the AG sends a cease and desist letter specifying the problem and giving the business a timeline to fix it. If the business ignores the letter and continues violating the law, the AG can seek an injunction and civil penalties of up to $1,000 per violation. Repeat offenders will face increased penalties.
There’s no private right of action, so consumers can’t sue directly. But if you see a business using personalized algorithmic pricing without the required disclosure, you can report it to the New York Attorney General.
What This Means for Consumers
If you’re a consumer, here’s what to watch for:
Look for the disclosure. If you see it, you know the price you’re seeing was calculated specifically for you. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s unfair—but it does mean you might want to comparison shop or check the price in an incognito browser window.
Ask questions. If a business is using your personal data to set prices, you have the right to understand how. Companies hate these conversations, but transparency laws only work if consumers actually use them.
Vote with your wallet. If you don’t like personalized pricing, shop elsewhere. Businesses respond to consumer preferences. If enough people refuse to buy from companies that engage in algorithmic price discrimination, those companies will change their practices.
Report violations. If you see personalized pricing without a disclosure, report it to the New York Attorney General’s office. The law only works if it’s enforced.
What This Means for Businesses
If you’re a business using personalized algorithmic pricing and you sell to New York customers, you need to comply. That means:
Audit your pricing systems. Figure out whether your pricing algorithms use personal data as defined by the statute. If they do, you need disclosures.
Build the disclosure into your user experience. The law requires “clear and conspicuous disclosure” in the same medium as the price, provided “at or near and contemporaneous with” every price display. That means it has to appear on product pages, in shopping carts, in checkout flows—wherever you show a price.
Review your privacy policies. Make sure your data collection practices align with your pricing strategies. If you’re collecting data to personalize prices, your privacy policy should say so.
Train your teams. Make sure your marketing, product, and legal teams understand the requirements. A lot of compliance failures happen because the people building the systems don’t know the law exists.
Consider whether personalized pricing is worth it. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. If disclosing that you’re using someone’s personal data to charge them more makes you uncomfortable, maybe don’t do it. There are other ways to optimize revenue that don’t involve algorithmic price discrimination.
Is This the Beginning of a National Trend?
New York is the first state with this type of law, but it won’t be the last. Other states are watching. California has been flirting with algorithmic transparency requirements for years. And if New York’s law proves effective, expect copycat legislation.
Businesses would be wise to treat this as the opening act, not the finale. The era of silent algorithmic pricing is over. Transparency is coming, whether you’re ready for it or not.
Where This Goes Next
The law has been in effect for less than six months. We don’t yet know how aggressively the New York AG will enforce it, how consumers will respond to the disclosures, or whether businesses will change their pricing practices as a result.
But we do know this: once shoppers start seeing those disclosures, they can’t unsee them. And once consumers understand how pervasive personalized pricing has become, the conversation about fairness, discrimination, and data ethics is going to get a lot louder.
This isn’t just about New York. It’s about the future of how we shop, how we’re tracked, and how much we pay corporations for the privilege of using our data against us.
How Romano Law Can Help
If your business uses personalized pricing and you’re not sure whether you’re in compliance, we can help. We advise companies on data ethics, algorithmic transparency, and building compliance into digital operations. We also help businesses figure out if personalized pricing is even the right strategy—or if there are better, less risky ways to optimize revenue.
If you’re a consumer who’s been on the receiving end of price discrimination and wants to understand your options, we can talk through that too.
Contact Romano Law to stay ahead of the law, ahead of your competitors, and on the right side of your customers.