How we check prices

Updated 29 Sept 2026

Every price and saving on this site follows the rules below. If something looks wrong, please tell us.

eBay listings

We follow a small set of established refurbishment sellers on eBay UK. Their listings are checked several times a day: normally every 15 minutes, but less often when eBay asks us to slow down (currently about once an hour), and never between 01:00 and 07:00 UK time. Each listing shows the date it was last checked. A listing that has sold or ended is removed after two complete catalogue checks fail to find it.

Finding retailer prices

To find the same laptop new, we search for its brand, model and processor using web search services (Google via Vertex AI grounding, Serper and Brave). Search results are only leads. Every retailer price we show comes from our own check of the retailer's product page, reading the structured product data on that page and recording the price, condition, stock status and time checked.

Freshness

Same configuration

Two laptops are the same configuration when they share brand and model, processor, RAM and storage. Display details only block a match when both sides state them and they differ; screen sizes within 0.35″ count as the same. Nearby configurations are shown with their differences listed, never as a saving.

"Save £X vs new"

This compares item prices only, without delivery, against a new offer that is:

Value ranking

Each laptop gets a spec score based on benchmarks for its processor (multi-core and single-core), graphics, RAM, storage, screen resolution and panel. The ranking divides that score by the price. Laptops with at least four scored components, including the processor, rank first. Soldered RAM isn't scored, but we state it on the product page.

Grades A, B and C are the seller's own labels, not a common standard. See grades explained.

Limitations