By Chris Wack

Instacart said that effective immediately, it is ending all item price tests on its platform, and will not charge different prices for the same items.

The company, whose parent company is Maplebear Inc., said retailers will no longer be able to use Eversight technology to run item price tests on Instacart.

Earlier in the month, a report, led by Consumer Reports, think tank Groundwork Collaborative, and media outlet More Perfect Union, said the San Francisco grocery-delivery company displayed several different prices for users who added the same item from the same store at the same time.

The report said that the experiment, using 437 shoppers across four cities who added the same items simultaneously to their Instacart shopping carts from the same store, saw an average difference of 13% between the highest and lowest prices, with some differences as high as 23%.

In a statement, Instacart said, "while these pricing tests were not dynamic pricing nor surveillance pricing, and were never based on personal, demographic, or user-level behavioral characteristics, we've listened carefully to customer feedback, and we understand these tests fell short of their expectations."

Now, anyone shopping for the same items, at the same time, from the same store location on Instacart will see the same prices.

Instacart said that during the test, prices didn't change in real time or based on supply or demand, and it didn't use personal, demographic or behavioral data to set online item prices on Instacart.

Earlier in the month, the company said some of its retail partners were testing prices through the platform to understand consumer preferences, but disputed the report's characterization of the practice as dynamic pricing.

On Thursday, Instacart was ordered to pay $60 million in refunds to customers to settle allegations from the Federal Trade Commission that it used deceptive practices to raise costs for shoppers.

The FTC alleged that the grocery-delivery platform falsely advertised free delivery and 100% satisfaction guarantee, and also didn't adequately disclose the terms for Instacart+ membership.

Write to Chris Wack at chris.wack@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 22, 2025 08:13 ET (13:13 GMT)

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