Transparency
How ShelfCheck rankings work
A plain explanation of our scoring, guide structure, and affiliate disclosure.
ShelfCheck turns a product catalog into long-form buying guides with category-specific analysis—not the same paragraph pasted onto every page. Each guide recalculates price tiers, medians, brand concentration, title themes, value-per-dollar, and price/rating correlation from that category’s own listings.
How our rankings work
Every product gets a composite score: average star rating × log10(review count + 10). Separately we compute a value index (score ÷ price) so budget over-performers can surface even when they are not #1 on raw score.
What makes each guide unique
- Median vs average price (to spot outlier skew)
- Budget / mid / premium thirds with a tier leader named in prose
- Price–rating correlation interpreted in plain language
- Premium under-performers and budget over-performers called out by name
- Repeated title keywords (themes) extracted from the real product names
- Head-to-head snapshot of best score, lowest price, most reviewed, and best value
- Product pages with competitive positioning against nearest price and score rivals
Affiliate disclosure
Some links are affiliate links. If you buy through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Rankings and analysis are generated from catalog data (price, rating, reviews)—not from commission rates.
Keep prices honest
Marketplaces change constantly. Treat every ShelfCheck page as a starting point, then verify the live retailer listing before you purchase.