Businesses, consumer groups and economists disagree over where data-driven personalized pricing ends and familiar discounts, loyalty offers and membership benefits begin.

The Federal Trade Commission asked for public input on personalized pricing. It received thousands of responses.

As of September 28, Regulations.gov showed 4,597 submissions received in docket FTC-2026-1057. That number includes submissions that may still be under review and not yet publicly posted.

The comment period closed September 25 on the FTC’s proposed enforcement policy statement covering the use of personal data to set prices for individual consumers. The FTC calls the practice personalized pricing.

The proposal focuses on whether consumers are told when personal data affects the price they see and what information was used to personalize it.

For subscription operators, the volume is interesting. What people are arguing about is more useful.

Several business groups are asking whether the FTC has drawn a clear enough line between personalized price increases and common practices such as loyalty discounts, introductory offers, member benefits and targeted promotions. Consumer advocates are raising concerns about how personal data can affect the prices people see. Some economic-policy groups argue that personalized pricing can sometimes lower prices for more price-sensitive customers.

Across the organizational filings, the harder issue is what sits behind the price difference. Commenters disagree over the data businesses should be able to use, what customers should be told and whether common discounts belong in the same policy as personalized price increases.

Business Groups Want More Clarity Around Discounts

The FTC’s proposal focuses on situations where personal data is used to determine the price offered to an individual consumer. The agency says businesses may violate Section 5 of the FTC Act when their pricing practices mislead consumers or when important information about personalized pricing isn’t disclosed.

Several industry groups say the proposal could also reach pricing practices they consider routine.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association asked the FTC to distinguish personalized price increases from discounts, coupons, loyalty rewards and membership benefits. It also argued that disclosure requirements should depend on the specific practice rather than treating price variation itself as a problem.

The Software & Information Industry Association raised similar questions about loyalty programs, birthday coupons and first-time buyer promotions. SIIA wants the FTC to exclude discounts, loyalty programs and promotions from the disclosure requirement and limit it to prices above a generally available baseline.

FMI, The Food Industry Association, said the current language could reach grocery loyalty programs, waste-reduction markdowns and other established retail pricing practices. FMI said it supports preventing undisclosed uses of personal data that mislead consumers, while arguing that businesses need clearer compliance standards.

For subscription businesses, one of the more relevant filings came from the Ecommerce Innovation Alliance. EIA asked the FTC to distinguish price increases from welcome offers, loyalty rewards and coupon codes. It also raised specific questions about discounts for new subscribers, lapsed customers and cart abandoners, along with subscribe-and-save pricing.

Those are practices subscription teams use every day.

News Publishers Raise Similar Concerns

The News/Media Alliance, which represents news and magazine publishers, urged the FTC to preserve publishers’ ability to use first-party customer relationships and flexible pricing. The Alliance argues that those practices can benefit consumers and that the revenue they generate helps support journalism.

For publishers, flexible pricing can show up in acquisition offers, renewal promotions and other pricing tied to the customer relationship.

The filing puts news publishers alongside retailers, technology companies and other industries asking the FTC for more clarity about how customer segmentation and promotions fit within its proposed policy.

Consumer Advocates Want the FTC to Look Beyond Disclosure

Consumer groups are approaching the issue differently.

The Consumer Federation of America argues that personalized pricing can produce discriminatory outcomes when data used to set prices acts as a proxy for characteristics such as race, age or income. CFA also argues that the FTC has greater authority to address discriminatory pricing practices than the proposed statement suggests.

The National Consumer Law Center wants the FTC to specify that the same principles apply to debt-collection discounts and settlement offers, which it says are increasingly calculated using artificial intelligence or analytics.

Those comments extend the discussion beyond ecommerce and retail promotions. They focus on how personal data and automated decision-making can affect individualized financial offers.

Some Economic-Policy Groups See Potential Benefits

Other commenters question whether different prices should automatically be viewed as a problem.

The Mercatus Center argues that the effects of personalized pricing depend on the circumstances. Individualized discounts, it says, can allow more price-sensitive consumers to buy at a lower price and may make some transactions possible that wouldn’t happen at a single uniform price. Mercatus wants the FTC to preserve discounts, coupons, loyalty benefits and retention offers while focusing enforcement on misleading practices.

The International Center for Law & Economics makes a similar argument. It says price differences that expand access or lower prices for price-sensitive consumers shouldn’t automatically be treated as harmful.

For operators, the reason behind a different price is important. A long-time subscriber might receive a loyalty discount, someone attempting to cancel might get a retention offer, a former customer might see a win-back promotion, and a new subscriber might receive an introductory rate. A business could also use individual-level data to estimate what a specific consumer is willing to pay.

All of those situations involve price variation, but the data, business purpose and customer experience can be very different. A recurring disagreement in the organizational filings is over when those differences become personalized pricing that should require additional disclosure or attract FTC scrutiny.

What the FTC Is Proposing

The FTC isn’t proposing a general ban on personalized pricing.

The agency says it doesn’t have authority to prohibit personalized pricing in every circumstance. Instead, the proposed policy explains how existing consumer-protection law could apply when businesses use personal data to determine prices.

The FTC says businesses could mislead consumers if they represent or imply that a price is static when it actually varies by individual. The proposal also says undisclosed collection or use of personal data for personalized pricing could violate the FTC Act.

Depending on the circumstances, the FTC says businesses may need to tell consumers that a price has been personalized, explain the basis for the personalization and identify the types of data used.

The agency now has thousands of submissions to consider as it decides whether to change or finalize that approach.

INSIDER TAKE

Subscription businesses already show different offers to different customers. Introductory prices, loyalty discounts, retention offers and win-back campaigns are part of how many recurring-revenue businesses acquire and retain subscribers. Several of the filings specifically ask the FTC to distinguish those practices from personalized pricing based on personal data.

The practical question for operators is what sits behind the price or offer a customer sees.

Teams should understand which systems can change a customer’s price or offer, what information those systems use and how those decisions are made. That becomes more important as pricing, retention and lifecycle tools use more customer data and automated decision-making.

A retention offer triggered when someone starts to cancel has an obvious connection to that customer action. Pricing generated from a broader set of personal information to estimate what one individual might be willing to pay works differently.

The FTC hasn’t decided where it will draw the line. With 4,597 submissions received, it now has plenty of arguments to consider.

For subscription operators, that line is the part to watch.

Sources

• Federal Trade Commission, Federal Trade Commission’s Proposed Enforcement Policy Statement Regarding Personalized Pricing, August 2026.
• Federal Trade Commission, FTC Extends Public Comment on Proposed Policy Statement Regarding Personalized Pricing, September 2026.
• Regulations.gov, FTC-2026-1057: Federal Trade Commission’s Proposed Enforcement Policy Statement Regarding Personalized Pricing.
• Computer & Communications Industry Association, CCIA Urges FTC to Clarify Personalized Pricing Guidance and Preserve Consumer Discounts, September 25, 2026.
• Software & Information Industry Association, SIIA Comments on the FTC’s Proposed Personalized Pricing Policy, September 25, 2026.
• FMI, The Food Industry Association, FTC: Proposed Enforcement Policy Statement Regarding Personalized Pricing, September 25, 2026.
• Ecommerce Innovation Alliance, comments and analysis on the FTC personalized-pricing proposal, September 2026.
• News/Media Alliance, News/Media Alliance Files Comments to the FTC on Personalized Pricing, September 25, 2026.
• Consumer Federation of America, comments on personalized pricing, September 25, 2026.
• National Consumer Law Center, Comments on the FTC’s Proposed Enforcement Policy Statement Regarding Personalized Pricing, September 25, 2026.
• Mercatus Center, comments on the FTC’s proposed personalized-pricing enforcement statement, September 2, 2026.
• International Center for Law & Economics, comments on the FTC personalized-pricing proposal, September 25, 2026.