How it works

Our whole claim is that a price is low against its own history. Here is exactly how we decide that, including when we refuse to say it.

1. We record every price, every night

A scheduled sweep visits the retailers we track and records the current price of every item. Nothing is sampled or estimated — if we show a price, we saw it. Each observation is appended to that item's own history, so over time we build a record of what a thing actually costs rather than what it is advertised at.

2. We compare an item to itself

A retailer's "original price" is not evidence, so we don't treat it as any. Instead we compare today's price to the prices we recorded ourselves — the item's typical price, and the lowest we have seen it.

3. We only claim a low when we have enough history

This is the part most deal sites skip. An item we have only seen once is trivially at its "lowest ever" price, which means nothing. Claiming a low there would manufacture exactly the fake discount we exist to call out.

So we require at least 4 separate observations spanning at least 10 days before we will say anything about an item's low. Below that threshold we stay quiet about history.

4. We say precisely what we know

Every item carries a line stating the strongest true thing we can say about it, in this order:

"Lowest in N days of tracking" — real history, and it's at the bottom of it.
"N% below its typical price" — real history, currently under its own average.
"We recorded it at $X before this drop" — we watched the price fall.
"Open-box unit — $X new" — a condition fact, not a price claim.
"Sells new for $X" — stated as a fact, with no discount implied.

If we can't say any of those, the item carries no claim at all.

5. We rank by proof, not by percentage

Sorting by "percent off" puts the most exaggerated original prices at the top, which is how a site ends up promoting the very thing it warns about. We order by how strong the evidence is first, and only use the discount size to break ties.

What this can't tell you

History has a start date. "Lowest in 23 days" means exactly that — not lowest ever. The window widens every night.
We're not tracking everything. Coverage varies by retailer, and newer retailers have shallower history and fewer claims.
Prices move. We refresh on every sweep, but an item can change or sell out between our sweep and your click. Always confirm on the retailer's site.
Cheap is not the same as good. We can tell you a price is genuinely low. We can't tell you the thing is worth owning.