How to etailers know to email me when I'm not signed in?

[Ketchup]

Newegg in this example. I am sure one of you can help me put this together. I have a habit of signing off sites when leaving. I put some items in a cart a few days ago to see what the cost of a build would be. I haven't been "signed in" to Newegg in at least a month. I get an email today that at least one of the sales in my cart is about to expire.

How does that work? I wasn't signed in when I was filling it, so while my browser saved the session with the items in the cart, how did Newegg know that the account with my email address had items in the cart?

 

[corkyg]

AFAIK, when you create or use a shopping cart, it is tied to your email address. You need not be signed or logged in. I have always found it wise to empty the cart before leaving the site. Amazon Is very "perceptive" that way.

 

[Ketchup]

AFAIK, when you create or use a shopping cart, it is tied to your email address. You need not be signed or logged in. I have always found it wise to empty the cart before leaving the site. Amazon Is very "perceptive" that way.

As I said above, I was not signed in or logged in during or after after items to the cart.

 

[matricks]

They still have a cookie identifying you, and your user account. You will have to sign in again to complete a transaction, but signing out won't make them behave as if you don't have an account.

Ebay does this too (You'll see "Hi Firstname! (Sign in)"), and surely others.

 

[Ketchup]

Cookies. OK. So did they pick that up from the PC I used to browse their site? I am not sure if I have ever logged onto Newegg on the machine I was adding the items to my cart with, but I may have.

Also: if I cleared all my browsing data, and added a couple things to a cart, do you think they would still know that I had done so?

This isn't something I am trying to be paranoid about, I am just trying to understand how this works.