The Premium Myth
StudyThe best-specced product isn't the most expensive in 86% of categories — you pay for the brand, not the hardware.
The Front Desk Review · Research · Updated September 2026
Original data studies
Cross-category findings you can only compute from a sourced, dated record of what things actually cost. Each study below is built from the same dataset that powers every product page — no survey, no wall-clock, no guessing — and each is downloadable as JSON and CSV so anyone can check it.
We track 6,821 products across 780 categories, every price dated and linked to its source. What the data shows that no press release will: in 59 categories a cheaper product meets or beats the priciest one on the specs we track — the steepest badge premium is $12,901 on the Kohler 24RCLA; 542 of the 5780 products we price-track now cost less than the first price we recorded; and independent testers raise more red flags than raves in 23% of the categories deep enough to measure.
As of 2026-09-04 · every figure sourced & downloadable
The studies
Each is a live index — the figures update on every build as new products and prices land. Read the study for the full method and table, or take the raw data.
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The Premium Tax
StudyIn 59 categories a cheaper product meets or beats the priciest on tracked specs — the steepest badge premium is $12,901 on the Kohler 24RCLA.
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The Hype Gap
StudyIndependent testers flag more than they praise in 23% of categories — gadgets overpromise, tools deliver.
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The pay-blind Deskmark champion in 420 categories, 367 of them earning Platinum.
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The Testing Gap
StudyOf the 6,821 products we track, 1,537 have a review on record among the 140 outlets we cite — and 880 carry at least one instrumented measurement on record. A coverage census of our evidence ledger.
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The Price Drop Report
Study542 tracked products now cost less than their first-recorded price — the biggest drop, Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar, is down 72%.
How the research is built
Every study here is pure and deterministic: it reads the flat, version-controlled dataset on disk and computes the finding — no clock, no random sampling, no editorial thumb on the scale. A number appears only where the data supports it; where it doesn't, the study returns nothing rather than a guess. Each figure carries the date we recorded it and links back to the page it came from, so any row can be checked line by line. Nothing here is sponsored, and no vendor can buy a placement, a score, or a verdict.
Open data & methodology · Our accuracy standard · Corrections log · The Price Index