When you use Google Chrome to browse products on e-commerce websites like Amazon or Best Buy, Chrome actively monitors the pages you visit. It powers a feature called “Shopping List” (or Price Tracking). If you leave a tab open or bookmark a product, Chrome will occasionally pop up notifications or highlight the bookmark to let you know the price has dropped.
For privacy-focused users, the idea that Google is actively parsing the contents of the web pages you visit to identify products and track their prices is unsettling. Furthermore, these price-drop notifications can be distracting and encourage impulsive spending. If you want Google Chrome to act strictly as a dumb browser and stop analyzing your shopping habits, you can disable the Price Tracking feature.
How to Turn Off Price Tracking in Google Chrome
You can disable the Shopping List analysis engine directly from Chrome’s Sync services.
- Open the Google Chrome browser.
- Click the three vertical dots (⋮) in the top-right corner of the window.
- Select Settings from the drop-down menu.
- In the left-hand sidebar, click on You and Google.
- Click on Sync and Google services in the main window.
- Scroll down to the “Other Google services” section.
- Locate the toggle switch labelled Track prices on products (or Shopping List).
- Click the toggle switch to turn it completely Off.
Google Chrome will immediately cease scanning e-commerce pages for product metadata. It will no longer track the prices of items you view, and you will never again receive an unsolicited notification suggesting you return to a store because an item went on sale.