How RefillWatch tracks price hikes, names brands, and finds you the alternative

Our mission

Catch retailer price hikes on routine purchases before readers quietly pay another year’s worth, name the brand and the dollar amount, and point to a cheaper refillable, bulk, or third-party alternative. The goal is specificity — generic “inflation is bad” takes are a dime a dozen.

What we track

• SKU-level price changes at major national retailers (Amazon, Walmart, Target, Kroger, Costco, Trader Joe’s).
• Per-ounce and per-unit pricing to catch shrinkflation (same box, less product).
• Subscription-service price creep (streaming, delivery, household staples auto-ship).
• Private-label pricing relative to the national brand equivalent.
• Ink, bottled water, pet food, detergent, paper goods, coffee, and a rotating roster of routine categories.

How we verify a hike

We don’t publish a price-hike alert based on a single data point. Every alert requires at least two of the following sources agreeing on the hike, the dollar amount, and the approximate date:

• Direct retailer page screenshots across at least two separate dates.
• Price-history databases (Keepa, CamelCamelCamel, Honey) where available.
• Reader submissions with receipts or app screenshots.
• Manufacturer or retailer earnings-call commentary acknowledging the category move.

When evidence is thin or conflicting, we say so. “Possibly rising” is a different headline than “up 9.7% in the last 90 days.”

How we pick the alternative

Every price-hike story ends with a specific alternative — a refillable version, a bulk-refill supplier, a private-label equivalent, or a different category altogether (a SodaStream instead of another case of La Croix). The alternative must clear four bars:

1. Cheaper per unit after factoring in any up-front equipment cost, amortized over 12 months.
2. Actually available at the retailers our readers use — not a drop-ship-only obscure DTC brand.
3. Not the same parent company that owns the brand doing the hike (catching the private-label trick).
4. We’d switch to it ourselves, and most of the time we already have.

Editorial standards

• No sponsored placements. We do not accept paid promotion from any retailer, brand, or manufacturer RefillWatch covers. If that ever changes, the page carrying the promotion will say so plainly.
• Affiliate links go to neutral third parties. When we link to a bulk supplier or refill brand, that affiliate relationship is disclosed. We do not run Amazon affiliate links to the brands we are criticizing for price hikes — that would be a direct conflict.
• Named, dated, numbered. Every hike story states the specific product or SKU, the specific retailer, the specific old price, the specific new price, and the specific date (or date range) of the hike. Soft claims don’t ship.

Disclosure

RefillWatch is funded by affiliate revenue from bulk-refill suppliers and a few category-specific retailers who are not themselves the targets of our price-hike coverage. When you click through an affiliate link and buy, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. See the full affiliate disclosure.

RefillWatch uses AI tools for research drafting and initial article structure. Every piece is reviewed and edited by Dana Wolff before publish. Factual claims, dollar amounts, and brand names are verified by a human before they appear on the site.

Corrections

Wrong price? Wrong date? Link to the receipt or the archived page and email hello@refillwatch.org. We correct fast and leave a visible “corrected on” stamp on the page so readers know what changed and when.

What RefillWatch is not

RefillWatch is consumer-pricing journalism — not financial advice, not investment guidance, not a substitute for a household budget conversation. If a hike is putting real stress on your monthly spending, we’ll point you to the alternative, but we can’t tell you how much to allocate to groceries.