Every place it's sold. One clear answer.

When we label a match Same item, yes — same mould, same internals, usually the same factory listing with a logo added. We show you the image comparison and the attribute table so you can judge for yourself rather than take our word for it.

You're paying for Amazon fulfilment, returns handling, brand marketing, FBA fees and roughly 15% referral commission. On a $40 accessory that's most of the price.

Two to four weeks of shipping, no Prime returns, warranty handled by the store rather than the brand, and more variance in quality control. We flag every product where the saving doesn't justify that.

We may earn a commission from the platforms we link to. It does not decide the verdict — the ranking is run on price, proof and match quality before any link is attached, which is why the site regularly tells you to stay where you are.

A manufacturer builds one product and sells it to anyone who wants to put their name on it, so a single mould can reach the market as six or sixty listings. The brands differ in packaging, support and price; the object inside the box does not. That is the whole reason a comparison like this is possible.

Because a sticker price and a per-unit price are different numbers, and the sticker price is the one that misleads. A six-pack of watch bands at $8.49 works out at $1.42 each, which beats a $2.57 single at source — so we compare per unit, every time, and tell you when the multipack wins.

Regularly, and we say so. Distinctive or licensed items, anything bulky enough for shipping to swallow the gap, and products where the well-known brand is running a genuine promotion all come out ahead on the mainstream platform. On the categories we have scored so far, roughly one product in 4 that we check ends with us telling you to stay where you are.

No — and this is the trap that catches automated comparisons. Merchants reuse manufacturer photography freely, so an identical image can sit above a different size, a different material or a different product type entirely. We check the specification and the product type before a match counts, which is why some visually perfect matches never appear on our pages.

Often the one you see first is, and we never use it. New-buyer coupons, flash pricing and currency-switched figures all inflate the apparent saving, so we take the regular price in US dollars from the merchant's own listing data. If the number we show is lower, it is lower for everyone, not only for a first-time account.

Usually a trading company rather than the factory, and often several of them listing the same unit at different prices. We surface how many merchants carry a product, how long each has been trading and what buyers report, because at source the merchant matters more than the brand name on the listing.