How we rank gift ideas

What decides the order

Two things outrank the score when we pick the featured idea at the top. First, how well the price fits your budget. An idea priced close to your answer beats a higher-scoring idea above your ceiling. Second, whether the idea has a working offer to buy, so the top of your report is normally something you act on. Among the ideas clearing both, the highest score wins.

Themed sections group the rest. Each section shows up to three ideas first and keeps the others behind 'show more'. Inside a section the same budget rule applies: ideas priced within your budget come before higher-scoring ideas above your ceiling. We also limit near-duplicates, so three versions of one product never fill a row.

What the score measures

Eight factors make up the score, listed from heaviest to lightest.

1. Interests - How well the idea matches the interests you picked. The heaviest factor by a wide margin. Matching several of your interests counts for more than matching one.
2. Occasion - Whether the idea suits the occasion you named.
3. Relationship - Whether the idea fits how close you are to the recipient.
4. Vibe - The tone you chose, from practical to playful.
5. Age - Whether the idea suits the age range you gave.
6. Fit to the section - How well the idea belongs under its section heading.
7. Gift style and completeness - Your feminine, masculine or neutral preference, and whether we hold enough detail to present the idea properly. Both carry equal weight and rank lightest of the eight. Skip the style question and every idea scores full marks there – except for a mother, father, grandma or grandpa, where we preselect the matching style. Switch to "Either works" if that's not right.

We publish the order of importance, not the raw point values. The values are tuning parameters and change as we improve the engine. The order of importance stays meaningful to you.

Rules we never bend

Some answers set limits, not preferences. These hold no matter how few ideas remain.

• Your budget. Ideas above your ceiling carry a visible flag. Ideas far above your ceiling never appear.
• Your avoid list. We remove matching ideas before scoring starts.
• Your gift style – chosen by you, or preselected from the relationship for a mother, father, grandma or grandpa.
• Child safety. For a recipient aged 0 to 12, only ideas cleared for the age group appear, and we exclude alcohol automatically.

Some answers leave too few ideas to fill a report. We then loosen the optional preferences in steps and say so at the top of your report. The rules above stay locked at every step.

How offers are ordered

Where an idea has several offers from different retailers, we list them cheapest first. Switch to most expensive first at any time. No other ordering exists.

What plays no part

Commission never enters the score or the order. No retailer pays us for a better position, and we sell no placement. Which offers exist at all depends on which retailers provide product data, so a well-fitting idea sometimes carries no offer. Availability never changes where an idea sits in the report.