Priceline.com get $1000+ CPM for deceptive links in the checkout process

The problem is that consumers have given control of their debit cards over to the merchants. When they do this, they (possibly inadvertently) give them a blank checkbook. A credit/debit card should be more like a virtual wallet than a blank checkbook. I would love merchants to have to ask my - <i>not my banks</i> - permission each time they wanted to charge me.<p>The system right now relies on the honesty of the merchants. If all charges had to go through the consumer's approval first, then I don't think we'd see much of the free credit report scams anymore. Instead of having to call up a recurring (and unsolicited) biller, just decline all payments to the merchant and let the merchant figure out that they're not getting paid.<p>If I had the means, I think I would start a Bank 2.0. It would have a killer web interface, charge authentication through cell phones or control panel, and instead of dealing with loans and interest, I would probably make make money through Visa charges.

One of the real problems is that often the card companies make it hard to dispute things.<p>I used to get billed $1 per month on my PayPal account for something called "YOURSAVINGSCLUB". This went on for like 6 or 7 months. I called their number to "cancel" whatever it was they were charging me for, and they said they required my credit card number to cancel my account. Given I already knew they were dishonest, I wasn't going to give them my number again, just in case they didn't actually have it and relied on a third party for the billing.<p>Anyway, I tried to resolve it instead through PayPal but to do so involved a Fax machine, and everytime I started the process I gave up because it wasn't worth the time for the one dollar.<p>Luckily I think PayPal finally figured it out and cut them off, as I haven't been charged in 6 months or so.

The actual staff report linked in that article is well worth the read.<p>These companies are basically running shady private tax schemes. No value-added.<p>I'm glad the senate report provides a list of the 'partner' commerce companies that have made over $1MM using these schemes. I'll be thinking twice about giving any of them my business. [PDF]<a href="http://commerce.senate.gov/public/_files/111609EXHIBITSTOSTAFFREPORT.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://commerce.senate.gov/public/_files/111609EXHIBITSTOSTA...</a>

It is amazing to me how credit card companies allow these scams to exist. If somebody does charges people without their consent, they are bound to get a lot of chargebacks and this is just a headache for the cc companies. Also, it is not in the credit card companies interest to allow the credit cards to be conduits for scams.<p>My parents used to have a business and even though it was a completely legitimate business they were constantly scared of chargebacks. They knew that even a small percentage of chargebacks can cause them trouble with the CC companies and offerred their customers money back whenever possible to avoid chargebacks. And again this was an honest business selling real tangible things to people that knew they were buying those things, not some online scam.<p>But now you see some companies use credit card billing for nothing but scams and somehow they are allowed to keep their merchant accounts.

The background of the Priceline guy is in using game theory and psychological tricks to maximize the addictiveness of slot machines. That's the whole point of Priceline, to apply these tricks to online shopping to maximize the revenue. This is pretty obvious going in, and maybe the site is deceptive above and beyond that, but is this really a surprise? It seems like they've crossed the line here and this should be fixed, but you really shouldn't be shopping there in the first place.

Does Adblock Plus hide these offers? I don't remember ever seeing anything like this.

As always, the clarion call on the internet remains - Caveat Emptor - Buyer beware.

Well, I don't trust priceline anymore. I used to recommend them to everyone, but not anymore. I booked hotels and rental cars frequently when I traveled and I need another one soon, but I think I might not use them this time.