SUMMARY: Learning to manage the rising and falling surges in price for a variety of products and services can save you plenty in the long run if you do it right.

Dynamic price surges commonly cause Uber and Lyft prices to spike at peak times. But now the practice — which causes pricing for goods or services to rise based on market demand — is starting to catch on in other, once-steady markets, such as concert tickets, grocery stores, toys, video games, and even fast-food restaurants. Here are a few strategies to avoid breaking the bank when faced with it:

•    Search from within a different ZIP code to see if you get a better price.
•    Set price alerts in monitoring apps, browser extensions and deal-tracking services to let you know when costs drop.
•    Use discount or price search engines to navigate online retailers. 
•    Clear your web browser’s cache so online stores don’t know how eager you are to buy an item.
•    Abandon online shopping carts. It may prompt merchants to offer you a better deal later.

Pro tip: Discount and deal-monitoring services such as Hopper, Kayak, and Trivago can help you track airline, hotel, vacation, and car rental prices to ensure you’re getting the best deal. Likewise, a host of free web browser extensions and online price comparison services can help you score big savings here.