Can anyone confirm they do this? Would hate to feel punished for loyalty.

No, it's a fabrication. Amazon used to a/b test prices (but don't anymore), so people would see a lower/higher price when they deleted their cookies (thus putting them into the opposite a/b class). There is no evidence that Amazon has ever increased prices for older customers. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon.com_controversies#Differ... for more details.

Same with most subscription services like ISPs and phone companies. Get you in with a low cost deal to get your hooked. Here's the trick though, you can call and just ask for a better rate, tell them X company is looking to give you a better deal, but you want to keep them. I did it with my DSL.

Did the same, said their direct competitor was going to offer me 30% less, they gave me 25% off for the next year. Not bad.

Really? So how do they distinguish I am a new user or not, if I am not logged in? From IP address? Maybe I need to reset my router, get a new IP, visit Amazon in private browsing mode and then doing the search so I have the price before logging in...?

Amazon leaves a cookie on your computer even if you're not logged in. It remembers what products you've looked at recently.

Which is why I mentioned using a private browsing tab, so those cookies would be deleted/not used across from normal browsing mode.

Would be interested in seeing some stats/research on whether this is true and how much prices are affected by it.

Citation needed.