How often are prices updated?

Prices are updated continuously using our automated scraping network, with most major retailers refreshed every 1–4 hours. During high-demand events (holidays, new product launches), we increase scrape frequency. The "Added X ago" timestamp on every deal card reflects the last confirmed price check.

How is the Deal Tier Score calculated?

The Deal Tier Score uses a rolling 90-day price window for each SKU. We calculate the current price's percentile position within that historical range. S tier = bottom 5% of recorded prices (historic low territory). A+ = 5–15%. A = 15–30%. B = 30–50%. C = 50–70%. D = 70%+. For items with fewer than 14 days of history, we flag them as "New Listing" rather than applying a tier to avoid misleading scores.

Does affiliate revenue affect deal scores?

No. Our tier scoring algorithm runs entirely on price data — it has no access to retailer commission rates and cannot be influenced by them. We maintain a strict technical firewall between our monetization layer and our scoring engine. Deals from retailers who pay us no commission can and regularly do achieve S-tier scores. Deals from premium affiliate partners will receive a D or no-show if their prices are uncompetitive.

Which retailers does Pew Pew Prices track?

We currently track 45+ retailers including major chains, specialty ammo dealers, direct manufacturer stores, and regional outdoor retailers. See the full list in the "Which Retailers We Track" section above. New retailers are added monthly — submit suggestions via our Contact page.

How do I report an incorrect price?

Every deal card has a "Report" flag icon. Clicking it opens a quick-submit form. Our team reviews reports within 24 hours. For urgent corrections (e.g., a deal that sold out or a price that was listed in error), you can also reach us at corrections@pewpewprices.com. Confirmed corrections are applied immediately; the deal card is updated or removed within the hour.

Pew Pew Prices Methodology

PewPewPrices is a price intelligence platform for firearms, ammunition, optics, and tactical gear. This page explains exactly how we collect data, how our tier scoring algorithm works, how we stay editorially independent from our affiliate partners, and how you can help us improve our data accuracy. We believe full transparency is the only way to earn your trust — and Google's.

Section 1: How We Source Prices

PewPewPrices maintains an automated price-scraping network that monitors over 45 online retailers around the clock. Our scrapers are purpose-built for the firearms retail space and handle common edge cases like split SKUs, bulk-quantity pricing, rebate-adjusted prices, and map-pricing enforcement.

Update cadence: Most major retailers are scraped every 1–4 hours. High-volume ammo dealers (e.g., Lucky Gunner, SG Ammo, True Shot) are scraped more frequently due to rapid inventory changes. During major sales events (Black Friday, July 4th, etc.) we increase polling frequency across all targets.

What we capture: For each product listing we record the current price, MSRP or reference price (when published), shipping cost tier, in-stock status, retailer name, product title, image URL, and a unique product identifier. For ammunition we additionally extract round count, price-per-round (CPR), and casing type.

Data normalization: Raw scraped titles often contain inconsistencies — abbreviations, manufacturer codes, different casing formats. We run a normalization pipeline that standardizes caliber names (e.g., "9×19" → "9mm Luger"), product categories, and brand names before any deal is inserted into the database.

Image sourcing: Product images are sourced directly from retailer listing pages. When a retailer does not publish a product image (or when the image link breaks after scraping), our image healing service attempts to find a matching image using manufacturer part numbers and UPC codes. Deals without a verified image are shown with a placeholder rather than a broken image.

Section 2: How the Deal Tier Score Works

Every deal on PewPewPrices carries a Tier Score: S, A+, A, B, C, or D. The score answers one question: Is this price historically good for this product right now?

The Formula

percentile = (current_price − min90) ÷ (max90 − min90)

Where min90 is the lowest recorded price for this SKU in the past 90 days, and max90 is the highest. This produces a 0–1 value representing where the current price sits within its recent range. Lower is better.

Tier Thresholds

SPercentile 0–5% — Historic low. Exceptional deal, rarely seen.

A+Percentile 5–15% — Near historic low. Outstanding value.

APercentile 15–30% — Well below average price. Strong buy.

BPercentile 30–50% — Below or near average price. Fair deal.

CPercentile 50–70% — Above average price. Acceptable if urgent.

DPercentile 70%+ — Near recent high. Not recommended unless unavailable elsewhere.

New listings: Products with fewer than 14 days of price history cannot be reliably scored — the 90-day window is too sparse. These are flagged as "New Listing" with no tier badge until sufficient history accumulates.

Ammo CPR scoring: For ammunition, scores are computed on price-per-round (CPR) rather than total price, so a 500-round box and a 1000-round box of the same load can be compared fairly. The caliber-level 90-day CPR history is used, not the individual SKU, which produces more meaningful benchmarks given the wide variety of pack sizes.

Section 3: Editorial Independence

PewPewPrices earns revenue through affiliate commissions. When you click a "Buy Now" link and make a purchase, we may receive a small percentage of the sale from participating retailers. This is clearly disclosed on every deal card.

What affiliate revenue does NOT do: It does not influence tier scores, deal rankings, or which products appear on the site. Our scoring algorithm operates on raw price data only. It has no access to retailer commission rates, affiliate agreements, or partnership status. This is enforced at the architectural level — the scoring service is a separate computation layer that never touches monetization data.

Retailers with no affiliate relationship are scraped, scored, and shown identically to retailers who do pay commissions. If an unaffiliated retailer has the best price, it will rank first. We link to it anyway — user trust is more valuable to us long-term than any single commission.

No paid placements, no sponsored rankings. Retailers cannot pay to boost their deals' tier scores or improve their position in search results. The only way to rank higher is to have a genuinely better price.

Section 4: Data Accuracy & Corrections

Automated scraping is not perfect. Prices can change faster than our refresh cycle, products go out of stock mid-crawl, or a retailer's page structure changes in a way that temporarily breaks our parser. We invest heavily in monitoring for these failures, but some slip through.

How to report an error: Every deal card has a flag icon in the bottom-right corner. Click it, select the issue type (wrong price, out of stock, broken link, wrong product), and optionally add a note. Reports go directly to our data quality queue. We review and act on reports within 24 hours. For time-sensitive corrections, email us at [email protected].

Confirmed errors are corrected in the database immediately. If a deal price was wrong, the historical price record is annotated but preserved — we do not delete history. Erroneous price points are excluded from tier score calculations once flagged.

Update cadence summary: Home feed and category pages revalidate every 5 minutes in production. Individual deal pages cache for up to 24 hours but are purged on any confirmed price change for that SKU. Sitemap is regenerated on every build.

Section 5: Which Retailers We Track

We currently track 45+ retailers across ammo, firearms, optics, parts, and tactical gear. The full current list:

Palmetto State Armory
Brownells
Midway USA
Sportsman's Guide
Lucky Gunner
Optics Planet
Aim Surplus
Grab a Gun
True Shot Ammo
Ammo.com
Natchez Shooters Supplies
Cheaper Than Dirt
Cabela's
Bass Pro Shops
Academy Sports
Sportsman's Warehouse
Bud's Gun Shop
GrabAGun
Shoot Steel
SG Ammo
Ventura Munitions
Freedom Munitions
Norma Ammunition
Federal Premium
Hornady
Fiocchi
CCI
Speer
Blazer
Winchester
Wolf Performance
Sellier & Bellot
Magtech
PMC Bronze
Remington
Sig Sauer
Springfield Armory
Smith & Wesson
Glock
Taurus
Beretta
Holosun
Vortex Optics
Primary Arms
Sportsmans Outdoor Superstore

New retailers are evaluated monthly. To nominate a retailer for inclusion, use the Contact page or email us at [email protected]. We prioritize retailers with a wide SKU catalog, consistent stock availability, and verifiable prices. We do not add retailers with known shipping fraud, excessive hidden fees, or a pattern of bait-and-switch pricing.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often are prices updated?: Prices are updated continuously using our automated scraping network, with most major retailers refreshed every 1–4 hours. During high-demand events (holidays, new product launches), we increase scrape frequency. The "Added X ago" timestamp on every deal card reflects the last confirmed price check.
How is the Deal Tier Score calculated?: The Deal Tier Score uses a rolling 90-day price window for each SKU. We calculate the current price's percentile position within that historical range. S tier = bottom 5% of recorded prices (historic low territory). A+ = 5–15%. A = 15–30%. B = 30–50%. C = 50–70%. D = 70%+. For items with fewer than 14 days of history, we flag them as "New Listing" rather than applying a tier to avoid misleading scores.
Does affiliate revenue affect deal scores?: No. Our tier scoring algorithm runs entirely on price data — it has no access to retailer commission rates and cannot be influenced by them. We maintain a strict technical firewall between our monetization layer and our scoring engine. Deals from retailers who pay us no commission can and regularly do achieve S-tier scores. Deals from premium affiliate partners will receive a D or no-show if their prices are uncompetitive.
Which retailers does Pew Pew Prices track?: We currently track 45+ retailers including major chains, specialty ammo dealers, direct manufacturer stores, and regional outdoor retailers. See the full list in the "Which Retailers We Track" section above. New retailers are added monthly — submit suggestions via our Contact page.
How do I report an incorrect price?: Every deal card has a "Report" flag icon. Clicking it opens a quick-submit form. Our team reviews reports within 24 hours. For urgent corrections (e.g., a deal that sold out or a price that was listed in error), you can also reach us at [email protected]. Confirmed corrections are applied immediately; the deal card is updated or removed within the hour.

Last updated: April 27, 2026