Our methodology
This page sets out where the prices on Magic Prices come from, how we choose the retailers we list, how we rank offers and how we check what we show you. We publish it because anyone using a comparison service is entitled to see the rules it follows.
If your question is not answered here, write to us at support@magicprices.co.uk.
Contents
- Our promise, in one sentence
- Where the prices come from
- How often prices are updated
- Price history
- Which retailers appear on Magic Prices
- How we rank offers
- How retailers are listed
- How the service is funded
- How we check what we show
- What we never do
- How to report an error
- Keeping this page up to date
1. Our promise, in one sentence
The lowest price appears first, by default, with no commercial exceptions.
No retailer can buy a better position in our ranking. No commercial rule reorders the offers. The service is free to use, and the way it is funded has no bearing on the order in which offers appear.
One point decides what you actually pay: the ordering is on the price of the item. Delivery is charged separately by the retailer, on its own terms, and plays no part in the ordering. So the offer at the top of the list is the cheapest on the item, which is not always the cheapest once delivery is added. Check the total on the retailer’s page before you order.
2. Where the prices come from
The prices on Magic Prices come from the retailers listed on the site. For each offer we bring together what the retailer makes available about that product: the price, whether the item is in stock, and a product image.
The same model is often listed by several retailers under slightly different names. We group those listings onto a single product page so you can see every offer side by side, and we set aside anything that looks obviously wrong before it reaches the site.
We do not set prices and we do not change them. The price you pay is the retailer’s price on the retailer’s own website.
3. How often prices are updated
Prices are updated regularly.
How to check for yourself. Each offer carries a “Details” button, and the panel it opens shows, under “Last Price Update”, the date that price was last checked. That panel is the only place the date appears; it is not shown on the offer itself. If the date looks old, use “View Offer” to see the live price on the retailer’s own site before you buy.
A word of warning. Online prices can change several times a day: flash sales, stock movements, delivery charges. Check the final price on the retailer’s page before you place an order.
4. Price history
Product pages show how the price has moved over recent months, so you can see whether a “deal” is genuinely a deal or simply a return to the usual price.
The price history shown on our product pages does not include Amazon offers.
5. Which retailers appear on Magic Prices
We would rather be plain about this than imply more than we do.
The retailers you see here are the retailers whose offers reach us through the affiliate platforms we work with. We do not assess them one at a time, and we apply no minimum customer rating before a retailer can be listed. If a retailer’s offers come through to us, and its product information is good enough for us to match the listing to the right product, it appears.
One consequence is worth stating outright: seeing a retailer on Magic Prices is not a recommendation from us, and it is not a guarantee about how that retailer will treat you. If you are buying from a name you do not recognise, read its delivery and returns terms on its own site, and look at what its customers say elsewhere, before you order.
If a retailer listed here lets you down, tell us at support@magicprices.co.uk. We cannot settle a dispute between you and a retailer, but we do want to know.
6. How we rank offers
Offers on a product page are ordered by price, lowest first. Two things follow from that, and you should know both.
- The price used is the item price: what the retailer charges for the product itself.
- Delivery is not part of the ordering. The retailer sets its own delivery charges and applies them at the checkout. So the offer at the top of the list is the cheapest on the item, and not necessarily the cheapest once delivery is added.
Where two offers are level on price, the one whose price was checked most recently appears first.
Nothing commercial enters the ranking. No retailer pays to appear higher. No commercial relationship of any kind changes the order in which offers are shown. The ranking is identical whether or not we earn anything from a sale.
A worked example.
- Retailer A: £499.00
- Retailer B: £505.00
- Retailer C: £509.00
The order shown is A, then B, then C, and it is exactly the same whether or not we earn anything from any of them. But if A charges £15 to deliver and B delivers free, B is the cheaper purchase, even though A sits at the top of the list.
7. How retailers are listed
Every retailer is listed and displayed in the same way. There is no “premium retailer” or “partner retailer” category on Magic Prices. Every retailer gets the same treatment on screen, and the same link through to the product.
No retailer pays Magic Prices to be listed. There is no joining fee, no monthly charge and no listing fee. Which retailers appear at all is explained in section 5.
8. How the service is funded
Magic Prices is free to use. There is no paid tier, no subscription and nothing held back behind a paywall.
We earn a commission when someone uses “View Offer” and goes on to buy from the retailer. The retailer pays that commission, not you: nothing is added to your bill, and the price you pay is the price shown on the retailer’s site.
Whether or not we earn a commission on a given retailer has no effect on where that retailer appears in the ranking. Where the cheapest offer comes from a retailer that earns us nothing, that offer is the one shown first. No exceptions.
Some pages may also carry advertising banners. Where they do, they are identified as advertising and kept separate from editorial content, meaning product pages, rankings and reviews. No advertiser can influence a ranking or a recommendation.
Where we publish a promo code, the code is the retailer’s: using one may earn us a commission, but it changes nothing about what you pay or about where that retailer appears.
Our How we make money page sets this out in full.
9. How we check what we show
Before an offer reaches the site, and while it stays there, we run several checks:
- Unlikely prices are identified and held back rather than published.
- Duplicate listings for the same item, listed under slightly different names by different retailers, are brought together onto one product page.
- Availability is monitored, and offers that are out of stock are hidden.
- Links to retailers are checked so that “View Offer” takes you to a page that actually exists.
If you spot something wrong, tell us at support@magicprices.co.uk. We follow up on every report.
10. What we never do
So that there is no doubt, here is what we will not do:
- Sell a better position in the ranking, at any price.
- Change a displayed price for commercial reasons.
- Hide a cost, whether that is delivery or any other charge.
- Remove a negative review because a retailer asked us to.
- Write or commission a review ourselves, positive or negative.
- Quietly send you to a retailer that pays us more.
- Collect personal information without consent where consent is required.
These are commitments, not aspirations. If we ever fall short, tell us: support@magicprices.co.uk.
11. How to report an error
If a price on Magic Prices looks wrong, out of date or misleading, email support@magicprices.co.uk with the subject line “Incorrect price” and, if you can, the following:
- the address of the product page
- the name of the retailer
- the price shown on Magic Prices
- the price you found on the retailer’s site
- the date and time you checked
We acknowledge every report and correct what needs correcting as quickly as we can.
Keeping this page up to date
This is a living document. We revise it whenever we change something substantial: our selection conditions, the way offers are ranked or the way the service is funded. The date at the top of the page tells you when it last changed.
We also publish it because UK law expects online services to be straightforward about how results are ordered. Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, presenting search results without disclosing a payment made to improve a product’s ranking is a banned practice. On Magic Prices the question does not arise: position cannot be bought, at any price.