How we verify

A deal check is a statement about prices we observed — not a claim that a store broke any law. When we do not have the history, we say so.

This catalog is day one

Every price was observed on Nov 11, 2026, 4:41 PM CT (America/Chicago).
Price history starts on Nov 11, 2026. There is one observation per product.
We do not invent a “was” price, a 90-day median, or a chart to fill the gap.
If a store page showed a list or “was” price, we show it as a claim and mark it unverified.
The truth score stays blank until there are enough observations to compute one.

In this snapshot, 3 of 50 US products showed a reference price. The rest had no advertised discount to check.

Amazon's 24-hour rule

Amazon Associates policy allows catalog data to be cached for at most 24 hours, and it bans site-level price tracking and price-drop alerts unless Amazon agrees otherwise. For Amazon items we:

Show a stored price only if it was checked within the last 24 hours.
Otherwise show “See current price on Amazon,” with the check time still visible.
Do not publish an Amazon price-history chart.
Do not offer price-drop alerts — on Amazon or on any other store.

Today's Amazon prices in this catalog were checked on Nov 11, 2026, 4:41 PM CT, which is more than 24 hours ago, so those cards do not display a cached price.

The formula (once we have history)

base = 50 + 250 × (median₉₀ − P) / median₉₀ score = base − claimed-price penalty (was-price far above 365-day high, up to −25) − recent-low penalty (−10 if ≥8% cheaper in last 60 days) − freshness penalty (−5 if last check > 6 h old) score = clip(score, 0, 100)

P is today's price at the linked store. At the 90-day median, an item scores 50; 20% below the median scores 100. Until there are enough observations, we show “—” instead of a score.

Real Deal

70–100 — not in use yet

Clearly below what it usually sells for.

Meh

45–69 — not in use yet

Roughly the usual price, or it was cheaper recently.

Fake Discount

0–44 — not in use yet

Ordinary or higher price dressed up with an inflated slash.

Confidence

High — 250+ observations, 3+ stores, checked within 30 minutes.
Medium — 150+ observations.
Low — thin history; we say “insufficient history” rather than guess. Every product in this snapshot is Low, with one observation.

Worked example (this snapshot)

Sony Wireless Over-the-Ear Noise Canceling Headphones with Protective Case, Black at Best Buy: observed Nov 11, 2026, 4:41 PM CT, listed at $99.99 against a was price of $128.00 (claimed 22% off). With only one snapshot, the 90-day median and 365-day high are unknown, so the claimed-price penalty cannot be applied and the score is withheld.

Unverified claimTruth score —Open this card

Sources and URL checks

Prices come from merchant catalog offers and public product pages, as recorded on each product card (the source line). We do not scrape behind a login to invent a history.

Before this site was built, each product URL was requested with an HTTP client. Confirmed 404 or 410 responses would have been excluded. In that check, 50 URLs were kept and 0 were excluded as dead. 9 URLs did not return a clear success code (timeout, rate limit, or a bot block) and were kept because they were not confirmed dead. Best Buy in particular often blocks automated fetches; those listings remain until a check proves otherwise.

What we will not do

No paid placement. Money never changes a score or a ranking.
No invented price history to make a chart look complete.
No Amazon price history or Amazon price-drop alerts.
No price-drop alerts on Sam's Club products, or on any other store.
No hidden browser extension that swaps affiliate cookies.
Shipping, tax, and membership requirements stay visible — they are never buried in a score.
Costco and Sam's Club links stay non-affiliate information.