How we compare live shop prices

What you are looking at

Each product page is built from official retailer feeds. A shop joins an affiliate programme (Awin, Commission Junction or Rakuten), sends a product file, and we import the rows that have a usable name, a live offer and, where we can, a photo.

When two shops list what looks like the same item, we put their prices on one page. Visit retailer opens that shop. You pay the shop’s price on the shop’s website. We do not take your card for those orders and we do not hold the stock.

What “live” means

A price is live when the latest feed still includes that offer. Feeds do not update every minute. A shop can sell out, change postage, or pull a promotion after the file was sent. Treat the number as a current feed price, not a guarantee at the till.

If we have more than one shop, we sort by the feed price we stored. Commission rate is not used to pick the “best” shop. The lowest figure is only the lowest figure — check the retailer name, the photo, and whether the listing still looks complete.

When not to click the lowest price

Skip a listing if the photo is missing, the name is a dump of keywords, or the shop is one you do not recognise and the price is far below the others. Those rows often come from noisy marketplace feeds.

If only one shop lists the item, we still show Visit retailer. That is not a marketplace of many sellers. It is one live offer. Opening all countries can show more shops when the UK feed is empty.

Publisher listings are different

Independent publishers can list a unique product with a link to their own website. Those pages are not a price comparison. Visit website opens the maker’s page. Test or sample listings stay off the public catalogue.