How Try1Second Compares Live Prices (And What It Cannot See)

Try1Second editorial · Updated 2026-11-02 · 7 verticals covered

How the comparison works, end to end — How the scan works, why the same seat or room has a different price on every seller, what our ranking means, and the limits you should know before you book.

What actually happens when you search

You type one query. We fan it out to the seller sites and airline, hotel, bus, cab and merchant systems that publish that product, read the price each one returns for the exact route, dates and party size you asked for, and then show the answers side by side. Each row is one seller quoting one option, not an average and not an estimate.

The scan is done live. That is why a result page sometimes fills in over a few seconds: the first sellers answer quickly, and slower ones (airline systems, hotel chains, ticketing platforms) arrive after. When a seller refuses to answer, we say so in the scan status instead of quietly filling the gap with an older price.

Why the same seat or room is priced differently everywhere

A fare or a room rate is not a single number. It is a set of rules applied to a base price. The rules differ by seller, so the checkout total differs even when the base looks identical.

• Seller margin and commission: a travel agent and an airline app can sell the same seat with different mark-ups.
• Fare class rules: the cheapest bucket sells out first, so two sellers quoting "economy" may be quoting different booking classes with different baggage and change rules.
• Taxes, surcharges and convenience fees: some sellers show a fare before fees, others after. Always compare the final payable amount.
• Bank offers and cashback: a card discount can change the ranking, and it is usually conditional on a minimum spend or a specific card network.
• Time: inventory is repriced continuously. Two scans a minute apart can legitimately differ.

What our ranking means, and what it does not

Our default sort is by the effective price we read from each seller: the number that includes the mandatory fees that seller publishes. Optional extras, seat selection, extra baggage, insurance add-ons and pay-at-hotel surcharges are shown by the partner on their own checkout, not always in the quote we receive. A row is a quote, not a guarantee: the partner is the seller of record.

Limits you should know

• If a seller hides prices behind a login or a bot check, we cannot read it. We show that the source was attempted and why it failed rather than inventing a number.
• Some sellers quote only a starting price for a category. Treat that as "from" pricing, not the price of the specific seat, room or seat class you want.
• Our cache exists to answer instantly, and a cached answer is always re-verified against the seller when you open the offer. If the seller has moved on, the seller page wins.

How we make money (and why it does not change your price)

When you leave for a partner site and complete a purchase, the partner may pay us a commission. That commission is paid by the partner out of its own margin; it is not added to your checkout, and it never reorders our results. If a seller pays us nothing, it still appears if it has the better price. Our affiliate disclosure page spells this out in full.

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