CHECK THE INPUT FIRST
A price report is only as useful as its unresolved rows.
Before sorting the largest increases, review the rows the tool could not compare. An invalid price or ambiguous product code should not quietly become a zero or a guessed match.
A duplicate SKU and a blank price are not savings.
This fictional comparison contains DUP-001 twice in the previous list and a blank updated price for BLANK-001. Both SKUs need review. Neither is reported as a saving. Resolve the source rows before making a purchasing decision.
See the rows needing reviewOpens a real comparison using fictional data. No account needed.
What to check and how to resolve it
| Finding | Possible cause | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Duplicate SKU | Two pack options share a code, or a row was repeated | Verify product and pack identity; do not simply keep the cheapest row |
| Missing or invalid price | Blank, currency text, unsupported format | Check the quotation and chosen number format; a blank is not a free item |
| Invalid pack quantity | Zero, negative, fractional or missing item count | Provide a positive whole-number count, or use per-unit pricing if that is the actual basis |
| Added or removed | A SKU occurs in only one file | Check for changed identifiers; do not assume availability or discontinuation |
Zero is not the same as missing
If the previous unit price is zero and the new price is US$2, the absolute difference is US$2. The usual percentage formula divides by the old price, so the percentage increase is undefined. Do not report it as 200% or as a normal increase from a positive baseline.
A five-minute review order
- Confirm currency, underlying unit and pricing basis are comparable. The tool cannot detect every mixed-currency or specification error.
- Resolve duplicate identifiers and invalid rows in a copy of the source.
- Run the comparison again, then investigate unexpected added and removed SKUs.
- Review pack changes and unit-cost increases together. A lower pack price can still mean a higher unit cost.
- Save the full report alongside the two original lists. Do not treat a filtered printout as the full report.
Practice with known results
The previous sample and updated sample are fictional. They produce 3 increases, 1 decrease, 2 unchanged, 1 added, 1 removed and 2 rows requiring review. Use them to understand the findings before comparing business data.
Make next month easier
Sign in before selecting your own files. Save column settings to reuse next month, and explicitly save individual quotes to build price history. Free accounts have 100 saved entries; Pro expands that shared capacity to 1,000 for US$19/month. Original files and full reports are not stored.