What Real deal, Normal price and Fake sale mean

We compare today's lowest price with what the product actually cost in the last 90 days, not with the "was" price a store prints, and label the result.

The prices we compare

Today's price is the lowest total among the stores that have the product in stock: the item price plus the delivery the store lists.

We compare it with two figures from the product's own history:

• The lowest daily price in the last 90 days, not counting today.
• The median daily price in the last 30 days, not counting today. The median is the middle value: half of the days were cheaper, half were more expensive.

A daily price is the lowest price we recorded for the product that day. We work the daily prices out every night at 02:00, Dubai time.

The three labels

• Real deal: today's price is at least 5% below the lowest daily price of the last 90 days. The product has not been this cheap in that time.
• Fake sale: today's price is at least 5% below the median of the last 30 days, but no more than 2% below the lowest price of the last 90 days. The price has dropped compared with recent weeks, but it has been this low before.
• Normal price: everything else. A product without enough price history also shows Normal price.

When a Fake sale label says "same price as in August", the month is when the price was last at today's level, allowing 2% either way.

Why a store can advertise a big discount while we say Fake sale

The store compares today's price with its own "was" price. That price may be one nobody paid recently: raised for a few days before the sale, or never charged at all.

We only compare with prices the product really had. If it already cost this much a few weeks ago, the discount is not new, whatever the tag in the shop says.

What the label does not include

• Coupons. We never subtract a coupon from a price.
• Your emirate. The label uses the lowest total across all stores, not the total for your emirate.
• Customs and import VAT estimates on offers shipped from abroad.

"Down this week" on product cards

A product card without a Real deal or Fake sale label can show how much the lowest price fell over the last week. It appears when the drop is at least 3%.