Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - PL's 24-hour lock-out

Can someone tell me how PL's lock-out works? I thought after I bid for a car rental, my wife could come right behind me and bid using a different credit card. It wouldn't allow it, though, saying we had to wait 24 hours before bidding again on same type car. So what do they go by - the computer IP, so if the second effort was made from a different computer, it would go through, e.g., move from the laptop to an i-Pad. Or do they cue on something else? (I'm not very knowledgeable about these things, so don't know what identifies the computer versus the network being used for internet connectiveness.)

This thread

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/online-travel-booking-bidding-agencies/706511-dont-bother-pricelines-offer-re-bid.html

offers some hints, but it was a few years ago and they are forever trying to improve things

Post 17

They do not use IP address.

They DO use more than cookies in Internet Explorer, which sucks, but using firefox closing hte browser, then clearing cookies, and going back with a different CC# and email address works.

Also note that just because you use a second computer, if you are a place with a router and they are both using the same router, those computers will all show the same IP address. If you are using DSL it's possible you MAY get a new IP address if you restart the router, but if you have a static IP address you will have to go to another location to get a new IP address where you can connect.

Please follow Priceline's rules. If they wanted you to bid again right away, they would allow it. Is your rental for tomorrow?

This thread

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/online-travel-booking-bidding-agencies/706511-dont-bother-pricelines-offer-re-bid.html

offers some hints, but it was a few years ago and they are forever trying to improve things

Post 17

They do not use IP address.

They DO use more than cookies in Internet Explorer, which sucks, but using firefox closing hte browser, then clearing cookies, and going back with a different CC# and email address works.

Also note that just because you use a second computer, if you are a place with a router and they are both using the same router, those computers will all show the same IP address. If you are using DSL it's possible you MAY get a new IP address if you restart the router, but if you have a static IP address you will have to go to another location to get a new IP address where you can connect.Thanks, especially for the last part. Can you help me any further in understanding this?

I do have Verizon DSL service and use a router for a wi-fi network at home. Is it at this level that my IP address is determined, so if I connected to the internet using my plug-in air card or a Mi-Fi to get connected, or sat down in a Starbucks to use their wi-fi, my bid would be seen as coming from another IP address? And when PL says "you" can't re-bid within the space of 24 hours, they don't mean "you," they mean anyone using your computer? Or is it the computer plus other data, e.g., name of the person making the purchase, their credit card info, etc?

And the internet browser used might come into play? It's easier to see someone as a return visitor when they use one browser (e.g., Internet Explorer) rather than another (e.g., Firefox)? Wipe-out cookies at the end of your session to make it easier to go back within 24 hours? (And there's more to avoid being tracked by a website than just deleting cookies?)

When my wife returns home with the i-Pad which connects via AT&T service, maybe we will see if that by itself and/or our different names gives a second bite of the apple within 24 hours or not. Not hugely important to begin with, and even less so because still have more than a week to line up the rental, but I would like to understand these things (IP addresses and the like) better than I do.

Your DSL router would get one IP address that all your computers would use. If you go to whatismyip.com on different computers in the house, they would appear to all have the same IP address.

What the router does is get one IP address from Verizon and "Routes" traffic to each computer. Each computer has a unique IP address so the router knows where to send stuff to, but to the outside world, your home looks to have one address.

An aircard or MiFi gets a new IP address every time it's connected. It may get the same IP address it had the last time it was connected, it may get a new one, it's pure luck.

The browser may come into play based on cookies and the rest. I don't know exactly how they determine it, but do know like many travel sites, sometimes it's easy to clear the stuff, sometimes not so much.

You could just wait until the 24 hours are over.

Your DSL router would get one IP address that all your computers would use. If you go to whatismyip.com on different computers in the house, they would appear to all have the same IP address.

What the router does is get one IP address from Verizon and "Routes" traffic to each computer. Each computer has a unique IP address so the router knows where to send stuff to, but to the outside world, your home looks to have one address.

An aircard or MiFi gets a new IP address every time it's connected. It may get the same IP address it had the last time it was connected, it may get a new one, it's pure luck.

The browser may come into play based on cookies and the rest. I don't know exactly how they determine it, but do know like many travel sites, sometimes it's easy to clear the stuff, sometimes not so much.Thank you for that very helpful response. It is of interest to me apart from any PL question.

Please follow Priceline's rules. If they wanted you to bid again right away, they would allow it. Is your rental for tomorrow?

You could just wait until the 24 hours are over.

We have 3 computers that we use, and 3 different accounts/passwords; helps to figure out what will be accepted by PL, and bid through the process again without waiting.
(I personally think the 24 hour thing is ridiculous; if you want my business, and there's a price out there that will get it, and I'm willing to pay it...why be coy?)

Not coy at all. It's to protect the integrity of the system. Priceline not only has the bidders to be concerned about, but the hotel suppliers too. You've already told us your allegiance to Hotwire where you agree to their profit before you purchase.

We have 3 computers that we use, and 3 different accounts/passwords; helps to figure out what will be accepted by PL, and bid through the process again without waiting.
(I personally think the 24 hour thing is ridiculous; if you want my business, and there's a price out there that will get it, and I'm willing to pay it...why be coy?)
The rule is necessary for the process to be logical for Priceline. They want you to make a bid you consider reasonable and they consider acceptable. If there were no restrictions about rebidding, anyone would simply start low and keep raising by $1 until it was accepted - every time. Now, under the rules, you can use free rebids to do some of that or start well in advance and rebid every 24 hours at the higher price. But most people are not interested in seeing how low they can go - just that they get what they consider a good deal and both sides win. In your revised version of Priceline, they would allow a lot of bids with no restrictions. But then they would have to simply stick in a margin above their cost that would equal what they would have received from average accepted bids - the best deals couldn't be as good as they are now. The reason you can get away with the low bid that gets accepted is because others for whatever reason bid higher than the minimum and everyone keeps coming back for more. Presenting ways to go outside the rules by hiding your identity or deliberately invalidating a bid (not that anyone would do such a thing) might amount to disclosing how to invalidate the contract you enter into by bidding in the first place. While there is some satisfaction in getting the lowest bid of anyone accepted fortunately there is no Olympic sport yet for low bidding on Priceline, so no one needs to know.

Very good response, B1

We have 3 computers that we use, and 3 different accounts/passwords; helps to figure out what will be accepted by PL, and bid through the process again without waiting.
(I personally think the 24 hour thing is ridiculous; if you want my business, and there's a price out there that will get it, and I'm willing to pay it...why be coy?)

I don't have a problem with PL having its 24 lock-out rule as it seem pretty logical that it needs to try to get people to bid higher rather than lower.

What I do find silly are people who think that if one person bids and fails that if his or her spouse then bids that this is some kind of violation of PL rules. I mean, if PL did not want this to happen it would allow only one log-in per household in its terms.

Ridiculous. If they had that in their rules, the spouse would just bid from work or somewhere else. There is clearly a reason why these things are not listed in their rules. They don't want to put new ideas in people's heads. This is a business people. You are all putting yourselves above business sense. And since I know you are referring to me, I've never told anyone what they can't do on BiddingForTravel.com. I've simply stated what can't be posted on BiddingForTravel.com. Similar to your mother telling you "just don't tell me about it."

I use HW and PL, don't have "allegiance" to either (I research extensively before I buy anything, and have used many other sites). If I can identify with certainty a property offered by both HW and PL, I'll try to bid on PL for less than the HW price, of course. But there have been great deals offered by HW that I've jumped on (like the supersavings).

I don't know what criteria PL uses to determine you had previously bid, but if I were them, I would use your address. Even if you use a different credit card and different name, you must put your correct address or the credit card info will not go through.

Address validation would be too easy to get around. You could add addresses to your credit card, or you could use prepaid cards and set them up with whatever address you want, real or fake. As long as you use the same real or fake address when you buy something it will validate.

It could be one factor they use, but in a large apartment building with hundreds or thousands of residents, it could be a nightmare for the merchant if the software started thinking some of them were the same because the address was the same.

The simple reason why PL has a 24 hour rule is that if there was none, most people could just start bidding at $1 and go up $1 at a time until they got accepted. They have to limit the bids, so that people would try to offer a higher price.

On the other hand PL could easily shut down the possible work arounds to the 24 hour policy. They don't because (my guess) this brings in more revenue than possibly losing the business to other sites. MHO.

On the other hand PL could easily shut down the possible work arounds to the 24 hour policy. They don't because (my guess) this brings in more revenue than possibly losing the business to other sites. MHO.

There are many workarounds, and they figure most people will not go through the trouble of using them, so it's not worth it for them to shut it down.

Ridiculous. If they had that in their rules, the spouse would just bid from work or somewhere else. There is clearly a reason why these things are not listed in their rules. They don't want to put new ideas in people's heads. This is a business people. You are all putting yourselves above business sense. And since I know you are referring to me, I've never told anyone what they can't do on BiddingForTravel.com. I've simply stated what can't be posted on BiddingForTravel.com. Similar to your mother telling you "just don't tell me about it."Extraordinary logic. You imagine there exists an PL implicit, that is unstated, rule that spouses or friends can't bid separately within a 24-hour period. And you say it must of necessity be an implicit rather than explicit rule, because if it were the latter, people to whom the rather obvious possibility had not occurred would then go ahead and "break" this real, but not stated "rule." Those who would do that are "putting (them)selves above business sense"?! Risible.

And since some think there are "ethical" issues in this, do they see "ethical" issues in websites tracking the web movements of those who have once visited their websites? The OP was really about how websites recognize us rather than how to get a better rate through PL. (The "bid" PL suggests is more than what can rent directly for, which makes no "business" sense.)

The "bid" PL suggests is more than what can rent directly for, which makes no "business" sense.
Do you tell the car dealer the same thing when you ask for a lower price? I guess you think car dealers aren't businesses or they have no sense. It's evident you feel that Priceline doesn't deserve a profit and they should go out of business which means no more Priceline deals for you.

It's already evident that others don't share your opinion.

There are many workarounds, and they figure most people will not go through the trouble of using them, so it's not worth it for them to shut it down.

Exactly. They also have a clue that most customers don't read most of the terms and conditions and that there are various workarounds to the 24-hour rebidding conditions which aren't a violation of anything of material relevance.

I think they don't care about blacklisting me, or worry that I might have gotten around their tedious rules. If they get my money, they think it's all good.:p

I think they don't care about blacklisting me, or worry that I might have gotten around their tedious rules. If they get my money, they think it's all good.:p

The free re-bidding within 24 hours using additional zones lacking a property in the desired hotel class seems to have gotten them money they care to keep getting. It's even noted as a method around a 24 hour limitation to re-bid on a variety of sites including those sites which have company representatives on FT (whether or not designated as such by FT management or not).

Sheryl, to put it simply and politely, you are nuts.

You are not polite at all and Jabez would give me a warning if I said the same thing about you. Please give it up.

The free re-bidding within 24 hours using additional zones lacking a property in the desired hotel class seems to have gotten them money they care to keep getting. It's even noted as a method around a 24 hour limitation to re-bid on a variety of sites including those sites which have company representatives on FT (whether or not designated as such by FT management or not).
You can only bid for a Pricelline hotel on Priceline. If you mean a different affiliate link, that's just a referral to Priceline's own site.

You can only bid for a Pricelline hotel on Priceline.

Which post in this thread suggested otherwise?

If you mean a different affiliate link, that's just a referral to Priceline's own site.

I was not referring to affiliate links that are but just a referral to Priceline's own site(s).

[The free re-bidding within 24 hours using additional zones lacking a property in the desired hotel class is] even noted as a method around a 24 hour limitation to re-bid on a variety of sites including those sites which have company representatives on FT (whether or not designated as such by FT management or not).

This above paragraph can be done while avoiding affiliate/referral links from one or all the Priceline-reference websites which have noted that it is possible for free re-bidding within 24 hours using additional zones lacking a property in the desired hotel class.