How DealzScan Checks Prices and Expired Deals
Every deal on DealzScan carries an Active or Inactive status and, where we have enough observations, price-history information. Here's what those indicators actually mean.
How a deal stays Active
DealzScan's pipeline regularly refreshes tracked listings. Each time an offer appears again in our source data, DealzScan records that it was observed and keeps the offer Active.
If an offer stops appearing in our data, it doesn't immediately disappear or become Inactive. It remains Active for up to 7 days from the last date DealzScan observed it.
A listing may stop appearing for several reasons. For example, a promotion may have ended, an item may have become unavailable, or the listing may simply not have appeared in the latest source data. Because DealzScan cannot always determine the reason a listing disappeared, we don't immediately assume that the deal has expired.
Once an offer has gone more than 7 days without being observed again, DealzScan marks it Inactive.
What "Inactive" means
An Inactive badge means DealzScan has not observed that offer in its source data within the active window.
It doesn't necessarily mean the product or promotion is permanently gone.
If the same tracked offer appears again in a later data refresh, DealzScan automatically reactivates it and resets its active window.
Treat the price displayed on an Inactive deal as unconfirmed. Always check the retailer's own page for the current price and availability before purchasing.
Price history — what it shows and its limits
DealzScan's price history is built from prices we have actually observed while tracking a specific offer.
The amount of history available therefore depends on how long we've been tracking it. An offer DealzScan has observed over several months may have much more useful history than one first discovered recently.
Our price history represents DealzScan's observations. It should not be interpreted as a complete record of every price the retailer may have offered between those observations.
DealzScan deliberately does not label a price as an "historical low" or "all-time low" unless sufficient data exists to support that conclusion. For many listings, our observation history is not yet long enough to make that claim responsibly.
See How DealzScan Works for more information about how the deal-processing pipeline works.
Why every unchanged price doesn't create another history row
DealzScan doesn't add another price-history entry simply because an offer was observed again.
If both the current sale price and reference/original price are unchanged, DealzScan confirms that the offer was observed and keeps its Active status updated without creating a duplicate price-history entry.
A new price-history entry is created when:
- an offer is observed for the first time;
- its sale price changes;
- its reference/original price changes; or
- a previously Inactive offer reappears and is reactivated.
This keeps the history focused on meaningful price observations rather than filling it with identical entries every time the pipeline runs.
Always verify before buying
DealzScan's Active/Inactive status and price history describe what our system has observed. They are not guarantees of a retailer's current price, inventory or promotion status.
Prices and availability can change between DealzScan observations.
Before purchasing, always confirm the current price, seller, product configuration and availability directly on the retailer's website.