With Black Friday now just a few days away, now’s the best time to arm yourself with some savvy shopping tips to help you make the most of the sale.
Whether you love it or loathe it, Black Friday is the biggest sale of the year by far. There’s no other time quite like it for finding bargains on all the latest tech, so for those who are on the lookout for an upgrade – November is the ideal opportunity to get exactly what you’re after at a discount.
The sheer scale of Black Friday isn’t without its setbacks however, as it can be tricky to navigate, particularly if you’re approaching the sale for the first time and aren’t quite sure where to start. If you find yourself in exactly that position then we’ve compiled this list of shopping tips to help you avoid any potential pitfalls and find the best Black Friday deals.
Make a list of what you want
When the big discounts start dropping, it can be quite easy to get distracted by something you don’t really need, just because it’s cheap. I once bought Nintedo Switch Lite during Black Friday, only to realise that I had no use for it and returned it two days later.
You can avoid making a similar mistake by writing a list ahead of time of the products you actually want. This way, you won’t waste any money on things you don’t need, and you’re more likely to find what you want as you won’t be distracted by other deals.
Don’t use the same retailer
After a while, it can be easy to develop shopping habits and settle on a go-to retailer for all your purchases. Let’s face it, if you have an Amazon Prime membership then you’re more likely to shop at Amazon (that’s how the company’s ecosystem works), but if you stick to just one retailer this Black Friday then you’ll be missing out.
Almost every major retailer gets in on the action (Currys, AO, Very, Argos, you name it) – if a company has an online presence, you can be sure that they’ll have a Black Friday sale, with each one trying to outdo the other with better discounts. It might take a bit more time, but it helps to shop around.
Use price history tools
Do you ever get the feeling that a deal might not be what it seems. Well, thanks to price history tools, you can find out. With browser extensions like Keepa and CamelCamelCamel, you can view the price history of any product you like on Amazon.
This gives you the chance see if a product has been cheaper in the past, letting you find out if the current deal is actually worth buying, or if it’s better to hold off for another discount later on.
Price matching
Most major retailers offer some form of price matching service wherein, if you can show them that a competitor has a product listed at a more affordable price, they’ll lower their prices to the same rate, just for you. It’s a great service to make use of at any time of the year, but especially during Black Friday.
Bear in mind that some retailers will withhold on price matching throughout Black Friday, but for the ones that don’t, it helps to keep an eye on what the competition’s is up to and to have your go-to retailer on speed dial.
Try going refurbished
When buying something as a gift, it’s understandable to want to buy a product as new, but when you’re buying for yourself, there is some fantastic value to be had by going refurbished. Now, before you get up in arms, let me assure you – refurbished products are not what they used to be.
With a more stringent refurbishment process on sites like eBay and Amazon, a lot of refurbished products now come in like-new condition. In fact, eBay’s highest tier ‘Certified Refurbished’, relies on the involvement of the original manufacturer to make sure that a particular product is up to standard. So let’s say you’re buying a Certified Refurbished iPhone, this means that Apple will have had a hand in the approval process of that phone. As a way of getting premium products on the cheap, refurbished is not a bad way to go.
Stick with Trusted Reviews
As has been the case since the dawn of time, the Trusted Reviews team will be on hand to bring you all the best Black Friday deals, so while the advice I’ve given you up until this point is still solid, you can bypass it all by simply headng to Trusted Reviews and letting us do the hard work for you.
With offers across all major types of tech including TVs, games consoles, phones, laptops, cameras and more, there’ll be something for everyone as you get to enjoy the rewards of the Black Friday sale – without all the stress.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.