How Bestalia works
Bestalia turns what you say into a shopping brief, checks real offers, and explains a recommendation you can verify.
What happens when you search
Understand
Your message becomes a structured brief: goal, budget, location, must-haves, preferences, condition and delivery deadline. Vague wishes turn into concrete criteria, for example "for school" means weight and battery life matter. If something important is missing, you get at most two short questions; otherwise we state our assumptions.
Retrieve
We query the configured shopping-data provider with Spanish search terms. Results are cached briefly and every offer keeps its source and the time it was checked.
Normalize and match
Offers are grouped into products and variants. Only a matching EAN/GTIN, brand plus manufacturer part number, or a catalogue variant counts as the exact same product; storage, size, colour, pack size and condition keep offers apart. Everything else is shown as similar.
Apply your constraints
Budget, condition, delivery area, deadline and must-haves are checked against the evidence. Missing information is marked unknown, never assumed.
Rank
Products are scored in code on the criteria from your brief, price, delivery and (when available) ratings. Commission is not an input.
Explain
You get one recommendation with the reason it fits and its main drawback, plus alternatives and when each would be better. With Claude enabled, explanations are written from the listed facts and checked: text with numbers that are not in the evidence is replaced by the rule-based summary.
How prices are shown
- Totals are computed in integer cents: item price plus shipping when the store states it. VAT already included in Spanish consumer prices is never added twice.
- When shipping isn't stated, the price is labelled "+ shipping not stated" and budget checks say so.
- "Lowest price found among stores checked" appears only when at least two stores offer the exact same variant in the same condition.
Where the data comes from
- Bestalia demo catalog: demo catalogue with fictional products, stores and prices.
- Simulated assistant: rule-based interpreter (no AI provider configured).
How Bestalia makes money
Some store links are affiliate or provider-tracked links, so Bestalia may earn a commission if you buy. Commission never influences which products are recommended or in what order: ranking runs before links are chosen and has no access to commission data. Outbound visits are recorded as clicks only; sales or commissions are recorded only from verified provider reports.
Coming later (not active today)
- Browser extension to check deals while you browse.
- Automatic purchasing on your behalf.
- Multi-item shopping missions (for example, furnishing a room).
- Background price alerts. Bestalia does not monitor prices in the background yet, and won't claim to until a real scheduler and notifications exist.