Where a price comes from and what date it has
Every price is a price record: a photo of a price tag, shop window or price list, or a price record without a photo (the image is not published, only the product, the price and the date). The date of a price is the date of the photo or the record. The place is the organization where the price was recorded. The number of price records in the tables is how many times a product's price was seen and recorded.
Prices are in sums. Prices from price lists in dollars are converted at a fixed rate; this is a guide. In the “Source” column, a price with a photo has a “Photo” link to that photo's page, and a record without a photo has “Without photo” and an “all items” link: it shows all the items of the same record. The date under a price also leads to the photo or to the items of the record.
The price table of a kind of goods
On the page of a kind of goods (for example, cheese, tea, vitamin D) one row is one product: brand, name and packaging size. A row shows:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Product | name, packaging size and barcode; the name links to the price history of this product (below) |
| Brand | manufacturer or trademark; the link leads to the brand page with all its products |
| Price / Per package | the latest price and its date; below, under “earlier:”, earlier prices as links to their photos |
| Min – max | the lowest and the highest price of the product over the last year |
| Price records | how many times the product's price occurred over the last year; after “/” — over the whole history, including the archive (for example, “2 / 15”) |
| Price per unit | price per kg, litre, piece, capsule or serving — to compare packaging sizes; for supplements — per 100 mg or 1000 IU |
| Where | shop, pharmacy or seller at a bazaar; the link leads to the organization page |
| Source | where the price comes from: a price-tag photo or a record without a photo |
Tables can be sorted by column. Large kinds of goods are divided into sections: for example, tea separately from coffee.
For services (parking, repair, salons and so on) the kind table has a separate row for each seller: tariffs of different places are not merged, even if the names and prices are the same. If the price depends on the day, it is added to the name, for example “up to 3 hours, Mon–Fri” and “up to 3 hours, Sat–Sun”.
Price per kg, litre, piece and capsule
Packages of different sizes are compared by the price per unit. The site calculates it itself from the price and the packaging size:
- per kg — for a product sold by weight it is the price itself; for a price per 100 g, price × 10; for a package, price ÷ weight × 1000 g;
- per litre — for drinks, milk, oil: price ÷ volume (from the packaging size or the name, for example “0.5 l”);
- per piece — price ÷ the number of pieces in a package: capsules, tablets, sachets;
- per serving — price of a piece × serving size (for example, 2 capsules a day);
- per 100 mg and per 1000 IU — for supplements and vitamins: how much the same amount of the active substance costs.
Example: 90 capsules of vitamin D at 2000 IU for 180,000 sum is 2,000 sum per capsule and 1,000 sum per 1000 IU.
Current prices and the archive
The main table shows prices for the last year: the range, the number of price records and the price per unit are calculated only from them. Older prices (the catalogue has prices since 2017) are collected in the archive by year — on a separate page of the kind of goods (the “Price archive” link at the bottom of the page), with its own table for each year: they show how the price changed.
Price history pages
One product can have several pages, depending on how it is identified:
| Page | When it exists | What is on it |
|---|---|---|
| By barcode | the EAN barcode from the packaging or price tag is known | all prices of this barcode in all shops — the most accurate comparison |
| By article number | the product has the shop's internal number (on a price tag or sticker) | price history within one chain or one shop: in another chain the same number is a different product |
| Product without a code | there is no barcode; the product is identified by brand, name and packaging size | all sellers and branches, the “By country” and “By seller” blocks |
| Chain | the chain has 2 or more branches in the catalogue | the chain's branches and the prices of all its products |
| Brand | the brand has at least 2 prices | all the brand's products with prices in all shops |
If the same item without a barcode at a seller matches a product with a barcode, its prices are shown on the barcode page.
Where “dynamics” leads
A table row has one link to the price history. If several pages fit, the most general one is chosen: first the barcode page, then the page of a product without a code, then the article number page. This way the history page will contain all the prices of the row, not just those of one shop.
Price changes
In the section “Price changes” — goods that have become more or less expensive. A change is a new price that differs from the previous price of the product in any shop, as in the “Change” column on the price history page; changes of less than 5% are not shown — they are usually the difference between shops' prices or rounding. If the previous price was in another shop, that shop is shown under its date: then part of the difference is the difference between shops' prices, not a price rise. If on one day in one place a product has two different prices (for example, two varieties under one name), that day is skipped. The “promotion” mark means that the old price is shown on the price tag next to the new one.
Changes are shown as a list and by branch. The main page of the section shows the latest 100, the rest are in the archive by month of the new price: the address of a month is permanent.
Promotions
In the section “Promotions” — goods with a promotional price tag: a yellow promotion label or a crossed-out former price. Items bought at a discount are also included if their price was recorded without a photo: some establishments, for example pizzerias with delivery, have no price tags. They are divided by chain and branch: a chain has a block with branches, a separate shop has its own table. Next to the price are the former price, the discount in percent and the promotion period, if it is on the price tag. If the price tag has no crossed-out price, the “former” price is the highest ordinary price of this product in the same shop over the last six months, labelled “ordinary”.
A promotion is shown while it is the latest known price of the product in a branch: the period is taken from the price tag, and without it a promotion is considered valid for 30 days after the photo. A fresher ordinary price tag removes the promotion. Past promotions are in the archive by month.
Frequently asked questions
Why does one product have several prices?
Every price-tag photo or row without a photo is a separate price record. The product was photographed in different shops and on different days, so the table shows the latest price, the “min – max” range and the number of price records.
What does a crossed-out price mean?
It is the former price from a discount price tag: the shop showed it next to the new one. What is always compared is the price at which the product was sold.
Why does a product have no “dynamics” link?
There is nothing to compare with: the product has no barcode or article number, and its price occurred only once. Instead, under the name there is a “photo on the organization page” link — to the price-tag photo itself.
How do I find the price history by barcode?
Enter the barcode digits in the search field in the site header or scan it with the phone camera using the button next to the field. Product codes and barcode search