The model number is the product. The name isn't.
Product names are marketing. Model numbers are identity. If you compare on the name, you will sooner or later compare two different things and think you found a bargain.
Why the same product has different numbers
Manufacturers routinely make near-identical versions for different retailers or regions. They differ in ways that are easy to miss and occasionally matter a lot:
- A different accessory bundle — one fewer attachment, no carry case
- A shorter warranty
- A different panel, chip or capacity in an otherwise identical shell
- A different region entirely, which changes the plug, the software and your warranty rights
These variants often share the marketing name exactly. The model code is frequently the only place the difference shows.
How to read one
Most UK model codes look like letters, digits, then more letters — HW-LS60D, OLED55C4, AF400UK, HS05. The trailing letters are usually the variant: region, colour, or retailer edition.
Two codes that share the core but differ at the end — HW-LS60D versus HW-LS60DXU — are usually the same product written two ways. Two codes that differ in the middle are usually different products.
Where to find it
- In the specification table, usually as “Model number”, “MPN” or “Part number”
- In the product title, often in brackets
- In the web address of the product page
- On the box, or on a label on the item itself
Ignore the shop's own catalogue or product number — that identifies the listing, not the product, and is different at every retailer.
Retailer-exclusive models, and how to recognise one
Large retailers frequently commission their own version of a popular product. It is a legitimate arrangement and it has one predictable consequence: the model cannot be price-compared, because nobody else sells it. If a model code appears at exactly one shop and nowhere else, that is usually why.
Sometimes the exclusive is better value — extra accessories, longer warranty. Sometimes it is the same product with one feature removed. The only way to tell is to compare the specification against the standard model, which takes a minute and is worth it on anything expensive.
What to do when there is no model number
Plenty of products — clothing, furniture, homeware — have no meaningful model code. There, the reliable identifiers are the exact product name, the colour or finish, and the size or dimensions. Two sofas with the same name and different dimensions are different sofas, and the difference is usually the reason one is cheaper.
What Arbi does about it
Arbi pulls the model number out of whatever you give it — a pasted link, a copied title, or a typed search — and uses it to reject results that are the wrong version, including foreign-market imports and accessories that merely mention the product's name. It is also why pasting a link gives a better answer than typing a name: the link almost always contains the model code, and the name almost never does.