Price gaps between stores: almost 11,000 lei

We have long noticed that the same phone can cost as much as two different models, depending on which of two stores you walk into. This time we did the maths properly, for every product sold in at least three stores.

How much do prices for the same product differ between stores?

We took every product in the PriceList.md catalog that was in stock in at least three of the 17 stores on 31 October 2026. That came to 393 products with 1,934 offers. For each one we calculated the gap between the lowest and the highest price.

Put simply: for almost every other popular product, the "wrong" store costs you a fifth of the price or more. That is more than the average discount in most clearance sales.

The biggest gaps in lei are on flagships

In absolute terms, top-end phones lead. The price gap here is comparable to the cost of another budget phone.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra says it all. It costs 19,999 lei at Cactus, Darwin and Maximum both list it at 29,999 lei, and at Bomba it reaches 30,899 lei. For comparison, Samsung launched the Galaxy S26 Ultra in the US from $1,299.99. At the official NBM rate of 30.10.2026 (18.0365 lei per dollar) that is about 23,447 lei, and the US price excludes sales tax. So the lowest price in Moldova is actually below the American one, and the highest is well above it. More on the line-up in Galaxy S26 vs S25 Ultra: Moldova prices and which to buy.

In percentage terms, accessories lead

In percentage terms, cheap accessories come out on top. A mouse that costs 229 lei in one store costs 418 lei in another: almost double.

On small items the overpayment looks trivial, but if you are buying a set (mouse, keyboard, headphones), the "wrong" store easily adds a few hundred lei. More on gaming mice in Gaming mouse prices: same model, twice the price.

How much can you save on an ordinary purchase?

Take a simple basket: an iPhone 16 128 GB Teal, AirPods 4 and a Logitech G102 Black mouse.

The gap between the cheapest and the most expensive option is 6,258 lei, and 2,205 lei compared with a "typical" store. A curious detail: five stores sell the iPhone 16 128 GB Teal at exactly the same 21,099 lei. That looks more like a shared supplier reference price than competition.

Categories with the widest spread

Components, mostly graphics cards, are the most "disciplined" category: prices change quickly and buyers compare them very carefully. Phones are the opposite, with the widest spread, because this is where you find the most stores and the most different supply channels.

Why does the same product cost different amounts?

We don't know how each store works internally, but we can see the usual reasons:

• Supply channel. Official distribution and grey imports can come with different purchase prices and warranty terms.
• How fast prices are updated. Some stores reprice quickly, others keep the old tag for weeks, in both directions.
• Instalments and services. Sometimes the price includes interest-free instalments, delivery or an extended warranty.
• Marketing. A high "base" price makes it possible to advertise a big "discount" later.

Our advice: the lowest price is not a reason to celebrate straight away but a reason to ask the store a few questions. Who provides the warranty, where does the stock come from, how do returns work? If the answers are fine, there is no point paying more elsewhere.

Which stores are cheapest most often?

Among the 17 stores there are clear leaders on lowest price: Gorilla and Cactus most often have the lowest price for products stocked by at least three stores. Their range is smaller, though, so the specific product matters. The full ranking and methodology are in Where electronics are cheapest in Chisinau: 17 stores ranked.

AirPods 4 ANC: one discount, four different prices

Even discounts on the same model vary from store to store. The AirPods 4 ANC got cheaper in four places in the second half of October, by 210 lei in one and by 579 lei in another:

After the cuts, the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive of these four stores on the AirPods 4 ANC is 620 lei. We ignored tiny moves of a few lei: "discounts" like that save you nothing and just waste your time comparing tags.

How not to overpay for the same product

1. Before you buy, open the product page on PriceList.md, where every store and price is on one page.
2. Compare not only the price but also availability, warranty and delivery cost.
3. Check the price history: if one store has just raised its price, another may not have yet.
4. On expensive purchases, a 10–30% gap is a good reason to spend five minutes comparing.
5. Before Black Friday, compare the "sale" price not only with the store's old price but also with competitors' prices.

How we compared: we took products from the PriceList.md catalog that were in stock in at least three of the 17 stores on 31.10.2026. Prices that looked like matching errors were left out. If the store shows a different figure, the price at the till is what counts; we only captured the situation at the end of October. Model prices in the tables and the basket were updated on 01.11.2026.