How we pick the gifts
Three things happen before a gift reaches you. We choose the seller, we screen every product they sell, and then the matching decides which of what's left fits the person you have in mind. Nobody pays to be in it.
We choose the sellers
We look for makers and brands whose work is distinctive, well made and worth giving, and we decide on each one ourselves. A seller joins when we'd be glad to give what they make.
Joining doesn't put their whole shop on Giftsnatch. When a luggage retailer joined us, we left out almost every brand you could already find on big online marketplaces, and about one in eight of its 617 products made it in.
We screen every product
Every product a seller offers goes through the same checks before it can appear.
- It has to be a gift. Spare parts, refills, empty packaging and digital downloads are taken out.
- It has to cost at least £10. Below that, most things read as a shop-shelf buy rather than a present.
- We read every product and ask one question of it: would someone be glad to give this as a present? Anything that fails is left out.
- We look at every photo for craft and for how well the piece is shown. Among gifts that fit equally well, the more distinctive one comes first.
- Age and gender work as checks. They keep a gift away from someone it wasn't made for, such as a child's toy from an adult's list. What someone likes comes from what you tell us about them.
- A person reviews every change to the catalogue before it goes live: what is being added, what has changed and what is being removed.
Then we match what's left to the person
You describe who they are: who they are to you, their age, the kind of person they are (a foodie, outdoorsy, bookish) and, if you like, a word or two about their thing, like tennis or sourdough. Choose a kind of person and you only see gifts that suit it.
Each gift is also placed on six scales, which the matching reads: from the heart or practical, one of a kind or a bestseller, made for their interest or for anyone, an experience or a thing, something to share or just for them, fun or functional. With Tune, you can lean your matches along the first three yourself.
Swipe right and gifts like that one come sooner. Swipe left and near-copies of it disappear. Tell us why you passed, too pricey or not for their age, and the matching takes it into account for the rest of your visit. And at most three gifts from one seller come in a row, so no single shop takes over.
Why we start from the person at all is the subject of our article on gift ideas and gift matching, and the studies the matching rests on are listed in the research behind Giftsnatch.
What never changes the order
No seller can pay to appear, or to appear higher. When you buy, the seller may pay us a commission, and that never changes which gifts you see or the order they come in. The gift of the day and our featured picks are chosen by us and are never paid for. The full rule is in our terms.
What we don't check
We choose which gifts appear, and the seller is responsible for the gift itself: what it is, its price, delivery and returns. Prices and stock come from each seller's own shop and are refreshed regularly, but the seller's checkout has the final word.
Ratings come from each seller's own reviews, and we never write, buy or edit any. If something on a gift page looks wrong, press "Found a problem?" at the bottom of it and we'll look into it. You can also read who we are or email info@giftsnatch.com.
Read next: About Giftsnatch