By Mitch Lipka

(Reuters) – Joan Fee is just the kind of customer the online photo industry is hoping for when it offers free prints and photo books. The 55-year-old personal assistant from Morro Bay, California, saw an email a couple of weeks ago offering a photo book for just the price of shipping, and she bit.

She uploaded photographs of a friend’s bachelorette wine-tasting event and made a book on Shutterfly as a gift. With the $20 regular price eliminated and a $7.99 shipping charge, it seemed worth a try to her. And she was so happy with the results that she’s now planning all sorts of projects. “I would pay full price if it was for a special occasion,” she said. “Otherwise, I’d wait for a discount because I’d probably make several.”

By Mitch Lipka

(Reuters) – When you’re shopping for an airline ticket, it can seem like you are aiming at a moving target. You see an ad for prices that start at a certain fare, but you can’t seem to get your ticket to go that low. It’s not your imagination: The target is moving.

The rules today allow an airline to change the fares on a flight up to once an hour, says Alexandra Arguelles, director of product management for Amadeus North America in Miami, which builds the technology that operates many of the airlines’ and travel sites’ booking systems. Fares are in so-called buckets, which are dictated by the airlines’ revenue management software, she says.