Comparing one product across UK shops
By Venkata Siva Ramakrishna Naidu. Published 2026-10-20. Updated 2026-10-20.
How we choose products: rows come from in-stock affiliate feeds that have a name, a price, and a photo when the shop sent one. We do not test the products, and a higher commission does not move a shop up the list.
A comparison page earns its place when two shops list the same product. Here is how to read that page without adding stories the feed does not support.
Same product, then price
Match the model code, the size, and the colour before you look at the price. Two prices for two different configurations are not a saving. The lowest figure is the lowest figure among the offers we are willing to show. It excludes shops we have filtered as marketplaces or replica-style titles. It also excludes postage.
Visit retailer on each row is an affiliate link through /go/{offerId}. You land on that shop. The shop can change the price, add delivery, or be out of stock. The feed is not the till.
When there is only one shop
A single offer is labelled as one shop. It can be a perfectly normal retailer. It is not evidence that the market has settled on that price. Open the shop, and if you want another data point, check the maker’s site yourself. We do not invent a second offer.
Pages with fewer than two live UK offers are not submitted as the indexable catalogue. They can still be opened. Search engines are asked not to treat them as a full comparison.
Was-prices
A higher was-price is shown as a discount only when it is modestly above the current price. A was-price that is a fixed multiple, or a badge around 80 percent on every card, is treated as not plausible and hidden. Absence of a badge means we do not have a was-price we trust. It does not mean the product is poor.
Shops sometimes raise a was-price before a promotion. We cannot see their intent. The rule is mechanical so we do not print a theatrical discount.
A checklist before you click
Same model. Recognised shop or a returns page you have read. Delivery included or not. UK plug and UK stock where that matters. Then click one Visit retailer. Do not click several shops in a muddle and expect every network to behave the same. Each hop is its own referral.
Guides on this site link to categories so you can do this with live rows. If the category has no rows, the guide says the prices are not available. That is the correct fallback.
Make the rows mean the same thing
A comparison is only a comparison when the rows are the same product. Same model code, same size, same colour if colour changes the price, same bundle. Shops shorten titles. One will mention the plug and another will mention a free game or a free filter. If those extras are real, the offers are different and the lower price may be the bare unit. Write the code down from the fullest title, then discard rows that do not carry it.
Currency and country matter. A price in a different currency is not a quieter version of pounds. This site’s UK view is for GBP offers. A product with a single UK shop is still buyable. It is not yet a comparison. Wait for a second shop or accept that you are choosing that shop, not picking a winner from a list. The product page should show the shops it actually has, and the guide pages should not pretend there were more.
What the lowest figure cannot see
Delivery, collection of old goods, warranty length, and who you phone when it breaks are often worth more than a small gap between two unit prices. None of those are reliably in the feed. They are on the retailer page after Visit retailer. Use the comparison to choose two or three shops, then read those pages. If the cheapest shop is vague about delivery of a large item, the second shop may be the one you meant to buy from.
Stock status in a feed lags the shop. A price can be live in the file and gone at the till, or the reverse. Treat the figure as the latest feed price. If you need it today, check the shop. We do not display a countdown or a stock percentage because we do not have a honest source for one. A was-price badge appears only when the higher figure is plausible next to the current price. A dramatic badge is hidden rather than shown as a reason to rush.
One shop, two shops, or none
When the category or the product has two or more live UK shops, use them. Look at the names you recognise and at the names you do not. An unknown shop is not automatically bad. It is a prompt to read the returns line before you hand over a card. When there is one shop, the button is still Visit retailer and it is still an affiliate hop. Say ‘one offer’ to yourself so you do not feel you have compared the market.
When there are no live rows, the honest page is an empty state, not a invented price. Guides on this site link to the category so that when the feed has products, you can open them. Until then, the writing is about how to choose, not about a number we made up. Search pages with a query are not the thing we ask Google to index. The category and the product with real offers are. That keeps the catalogue useful without filling the index with empty doors.
A short method you can reuse
First, write the identifier: model code, mattress size in centimetres, perfume millilitres, LEGO set number, screen size. Second, ignore rows that fail that identifier. Third, ignore rows with no photo or with a title in a language you did not search for. Fourth, if two shops remain, open both with Visit retailer and compare delivery and returns. Fifth, buy on one shop’s site and keep the confirmation. That method fits every category in these guides.
If a title contains replica, a grade such as AAA, ‘inspired by’ a designer, or a brand name spelled wrongly, stop. Those are not a fourth step. They are a different, worse market. The public catalogue is filtered against that pattern and against obvious test data. Filters miss things. Your eyes are the last check. The hop through /go/ is only there so the shop can attribute the click. It is not a checkout, and it is not a guarantee that the shop still has stock.
Using the category link on a guide
Each buying guide on this site points at a category so the affiliate path stays the normal one: category, product, Visit retailer. If that category slug is quiet because the feed has not imported those goods yet, you will see an empty department rather than a fabricated list. That is a success of the page, not a failure of the advice. Come back when there are rows, and apply the same identifier check. Do not switch to a random cheap row to make the visit feel complete.
When the category is busy, you still filter it. A busy page full of the wrong size is not better than a short page with two matching shops. Use the sort and the price tools if you need them, then open a product that has a photo and a plain English title. From there the shop list is the comparison. Leave the tab open while you read the retailer’s delivery line, so you can step back to the second shop without starting the search again.
Visit retailer links on the category pages are affiliate links. Read the affiliate disclosure.