What a real price comparison actually needs

Almost every shopping app shows a price. Far fewer help you trust it. When we designed the comparison experience in Authentic Deal, the goal was never to list the most retailers — it was to make a single comparison that a shopper can act on without a second guess.

Same product, same configuration

A comparison is only honest when every row is the same thing. A 128GB phone in one colour is not comparable to a 256GB variant, even if the listing titles look identical. The first engineering problem in price intelligence is matching: normalising variants, storage, colour and bundle so the numbers underneath describe the same purchase.

The price after everything

The sticker price is rarely the price you pay. Coupons, bank offers and cashback move the real number by thousands. Authentic Deal frames the effective price — MRP minus the discounts that actually apply — so the comparison reflects money leaving your account, not a marketing badge.

• Normalise the product so every offer is the same configuration
• Show the effective price after coupons, bank offers and cashback
• Make the source retailer explicit so the number is verifiable
• Never rank on commission — rank on the actual price

Clarity over clutter

The temptation is to surface everything. The better product decision is to surface the few things that change a decision: the lowest trustworthy price, where it is, and how confident we are in it. Everything else is one tap away, not in your face.

A comparison people trust is worth more than a comparison with more rows.