How results are ranked

Last updated 26 September 2026

Where Sameling’s results come from, what their prices mean, and how they are put in order.

Where results come from

Only from AliExpress. Sameling finds listings through AliExpress’s affiliate search, which does not cover every listing on AliExpress; other shops and marketplaces are not searched at all. Each search looks at one batch of AliExpress’s results for your search terms, and “Load more results” looks at the next. AliExpress decides which listings its API returns and in what batches; Sameling then filters and ranks those results. Listings found to be unavailable for the destination can be removed, but availability checks may be incomplete. This is not a guarantee of finding the cheapest offer, even on AliExpress.

What the prices mean

• Prices are in euros, for delivery to Bulgaria, as AliExpress quoted them when you searched. They can change at any time; the price at AliExpress’s checkout is the one that counts.
• An item price is marked verified when Sameling checked it against AliExpress’s option-price data, using the tax information supplied by the API. Verification does not always identify a unique option: several options can share the same price. This is a source check, not a checkout or independent tax verification. Otherwise the displayed listing price is an estimate. A separately selected comparison option uses that option’s own quoted price.
• Shipping is AliExpress’s own quote. Where AliExpress gave none, the offer shows no total.
• Prices are compared per unit: when an option is a pack of several, its price is divided by the pack size the option states.

How listings are grouped

An AI language model from OpenAI reads each listing’s title and details and groups the listings that appear to be the same product. Listings it judges not to match your search are moved to “Not relevant products” below the results.

For groups where at least two listings have option evidence, the model can also propose the configuration to compare, such as a length and a colour, and which option of each listing matches it. The matching request uses option descriptions rather than structured price amounts; prices are used afterwards for ranking. Listings whose options could not be confirmed to match are labelled that way. Seller text and incomplete source data can still influence the proposal.

Matching is checked against the available option descriptions and a confidence threshold. A confirmed match means it passed these automated checks, not that a person inspected the products. Matching confidence is not a measured probability of correctness. Search relevance and configuration matching are different judgements. The model and these checks can make mistakes; check the exact option before you buy.

How offers are ordered in a group

Configuration matching takes priority; price ordering depends on whether a usable match was found:

1. Confirmed configuration with a usable price. When available, these offers come first, ordered by the selected option’s price per unit plus its shipping quote or the substitute described below. This step does not give an extra preference to the original listing price’s verified label. An offer without a usable confirmed option price cannot become the main offer through matching.
2. Fallback ordering for other offers. If no usable confirmed match is available, or for the remaining offers behind confirmed matches, the original listing prices are used. Where shipping can be quoted or estimated, verified item prices come before estimates, then lower price per unit comes first.
3. Missing shipping. For ordering only, missing shipping uses the dearest available shipping quote. The server uses quotes from the fetched result set; configuration comparisons in the displayed group use quotes from that group. This is an estimate, not a guaranteed upper limit: the actual charge may be higher. It is not displayed as a known shipping price or checkout total. With no shipping quotes available to use, offers are compared by item price per unit alone, without the verified-first preference.
4. Ties. Initial fallback ordering uses search relevance to break equal-price ties. Confirmed configuration ordering and later merging retain the existing order for equal ranking values; relevance is not a separate tie-break for those steps.

The main offer is the first usable confirmed configuration offer, or otherwise the first fallback offer whose priced option is known. If no offer qualifies, the group has no main offer. A fallback main offer is not a confirmed like-for-like match or a recommendation to buy.

How groups are ordered

Initial group order is set before configuration matching, using each group’s best eligible original listing price under the fallback price rules above. Groups with no known priced option come last; equal ranking values keep their existing group order. Selecting a different comparison option does not re-sort groups by its new price. “Load more results” can update offers within an existing group but adds new groups below those already shown. The whole page is therefore not a lowest-price-first list.

What plays no part

Sameling does not use commission rates, payments for placement or advertising to rank results. Seller ratings are not a ranking factor; a product rating is not a seller-reliability check. This describes Sameling’s ordering, not how AliExpress selects the API results. See the affiliate disclosure.