Glodeal reaches a verdict in four steps — source, filter, landed price, verdict — judged against seven price-truth standards, and decided before any commercial relationship is considered. The principles are public; the exact thresholds and weights are our edge.
The verdicts, defined
Every product gets exactly one. Here is precisely what each one means.
You’ll also see “Don’t import [X]” across the site — that is not a separate verdict. It’s how we headline a buy-local call for products people assume they should import (an iPhone, AirPods, a Dyson Airwrap). The action is identical: buy it in the UAE. Rarely, when nothing is worth it at today’s price, the call is simply to wait or skip.
The four-step pipeline
Every verdict runs the same route.
Source
Real, timestamped data — Amazon US best-seller signals, Keepa price history, retail pricing feeds, and our own pricing engine.
Filter
A three-layer pass — authenticity, then safety and legality, then economics. Most products are filtered out before they are ever scored.
Landed price
The true total — item + international shipping + customs duty + VAT + currency conversion + payment fees = the one number we show you.
Verdict
One clear call, with a timestamp and a rationale you can read. We don't hide behind “the algorithm.”
The seven price-truth standards
Any price we display has to pass all seven. This is the discipline a comparison site can't fake.
- Landed, not sticker. The headline price abroad is never the number we compare. We show the full cost to your door.
- Live and fresh. Only current prices, each stamped with an “as of” time. Stale prices are refreshed or hidden — never shown with an “expired” label.
- Traceable and clickable. Every price names its seller and links out. No anonymous prices.
- In stock and deliverable. We only quote prices you can actually buy; out-of-stock and risky third-party listings are marked.
- Same configuration. Like for like — we never compare across different variants, bundles or specs.
- Method transparent. We show the alternatives behind a verdict, each timestamped, so you can check the call yourself.
- Backed by history. We keep price history, so a “real deal” can be told apart from a fake discount.
Where our prices come from
Breadth feeds discovery; truth feeds display. Aggregator data helps us find a product — it never appears as a displayed price without being re-sourced first.
- A0Affiliate / official source — most trustworthy, buyable, and how we keep the lights on.
- A1Official site, read directly — the brand's or retailer's own listed price.
- A2Keepa price history — for source-market discovery and trend.
- A3Aggregators — for discovery and coverage only; re-sourced before any display.
- A4Scattered third-party scrapes — used with caution, never as a headline price.
How we verify alternatives
A "verified alternative" is the highest-discipline thing we publish — so it clears two gates and a floor.
Gate 1 · Authenticity verified before listing. Gate 2 · Functional equivalence judged at medium confidence or higher. Floor: at least 40% cheaper than the brand reference. Alternatives are purchase-only — we earn no affiliate commission on them, so the incentive to oversell isn't there.
What we don't do
No sponsored placements, ever. We never accept payment to feature, rank or recommend a product, and commission carries zero weight in a verdict. The full breakdown of how we make money — and where it stops — is on our disclosure page.
What we cover
Glodeal focuses on purchases above AED 300 — where a wrong call actually costs you, and where customs, warranty and seller risk matter. Below that, our standing advice is simply to buy local.
Common questions
What does “landed price” mean on Glodeal?
A landed price is the full cost to get a product to your door in the UAE — the item itself plus international shipping, customs duty, VAT, payment fees and currency conversion. It is the price you actually pay, not the sticker price shown abroad. Glodeal compares landed prices, never headline prices.
Does Glodeal sell products?
Glodeal is a buying-decision service, not a reseller or marketplace. For most products we point you to the best place to buy and earn an affiliate commission only if you choose to buy through our link. For a minority of items we fulfil the order ourselves as your procurement agent.
How does Glodeal make money, and does it affect the verdict?
Glodeal earns from affiliate commissions and from orders it fulfils. Commission carries zero weight in a verdict: the recommendation is decided from price and quality data before monetisation is considered. Glodeal never accepts payment to feature, rank or recommend a product.
What is a “verified alternative”?
A verified alternative is a China-made product that matches a premium brand's result for materially less — at least 40% cheaper than the brand reference. It is only listed after passing two gates: authenticity verification and a functional-equivalence judgement of at least medium confidence.
Why does Glodeal sometimes say “don’t import”?
When the UAE price already wins once warranty and support are counted, or importing saves nothing after all costs, the honest verdict is to buy local or skip the cross-border route. Glodeal publishes these verdicts even though they earn less, because a recommendation that exists to earn commission is an advertisement, not judgement.
How fresh are the prices Glodeal shows?
Glodeal shows live, timestamped prices and labels each with an “as of” time. Stale prices are refreshed or hidden rather than displayed with an “expired” tag, and anonymous prices with no traceable seller are never shown.