My inbox is flooded with Black Friday deals, but it’s hard to know what’s actually worth buying and what will drop to the same price in the new year. And while we all want a bargain, are these sales ever as good as they seem?
I've been working as a home writer and product tester long enough to know that some discounts aren’t always as good as they seem, and I have devised my own method for deciding what’s worth picking up on sale and what’s best left behind.
These are my 3 top tips for shopping wisely this Black Friday.
1. Don't wait until the sale day
It might be called the Black Friday sales, but you really don’t have to wait until after Thanksgiving to get a bargain. Retailers don’t wait for the short window to sell discounted products; they maximize their sales throughout the whole of November. You’ll find plenty of products are discounted before the holidays, which we’ve already been covering at Tom’s Guide.
Right now, for instance, I spotted an excellent 60% price cut on Chefman’s Indoor Pizza Oven, discounted to $199 at Amazon. While my colleague and expert barista, Erin Bashford, has shared a great $200 price drop on the Breville Barista Express, which is $499 at Amazon.
If you don’t stay ahead of the game, popular products and colorways may already be sold out by the time Black Friday arrives. And why wait until after Thanksgiving to enjoy a product that could give you some serious clout when you're hosting?
2. Do your research
Do a bit of snooping before you press ‘checkout’ to see if the discount is genuine or if the price was super-inflated right before the sale. You can use free tools like CamelCamelCamel to track Amazon price histories.
I used the price checker on one of my favorite KitchenAid stand mixers — KitchenAid’s Artisan 5-quart tilt-head stand mixer in the milkshake colorway. It’s currently listed at $349 at Amazon, down from $499.
But is the 30% discount as good as it looks? The price checker says yes: it is the lowest price in the past 12 months, beating its $400 average, and undercutting Walmart’s current $399 price tag. If I didn’t already have a KitchenAid stand mixer on my countertop, it would be straight in my basket.
You can also check Google Shopping to find the best price. Right now, it shows the same stand mixer for $349 at Williams Sonama. However, it won’t give you the extensive historical data that CamelCamelCamel provides, since it only shows 30 days of prices.
3. It's not a bargain if you won't use it
As a dedicated home baker and interior enthusiast, Black Friday isn’t about buying novelty gadgets — it’s the time of year I hunt for investments. I look for appliances and decor items that are usually outside my budget. It’s the ultimate excuse to upgrade my home and my kitchen without paying full price.
This is part of my strategy, and I’m rarely swayed by a product just because it’s on sale. I take a pragmatic approach and treat the sales as a targeted event rather than an impulsive shopping spree.
I keep a running wish list of appliances and homeware throughout the year, and I try my best to enforce a ‘cool-down’ period before hitting the checkout. It gives me a reality check on whether that niche gadget I desperately needed last month still feels like an essential today. If the initial excitement has worn off, it comes off the list.
What does this look like in reality? New kitchen knives that are easy to sharpen, like Ninja’s Premium Knives, are staying on my wish list; I consider them a kitchen essential for meal prep. But I’ll think more about whether I really need yet another comfy throw to snuggle up on my sofa. Perhaps Ugg’s Duffield Throw, reduced to $83 at Amazon, might end up in Santa's sleigh, if I’m good!
Over to you
What’s your go-to trick for finding genuine bargains during the sales? Drop your best tips in the comments below.
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