How to get a good deal on Black Friday: A buyer’s guide
We help you navigate the chaos of Black Friday, and explain how to score yourself a bargain
Every year, the Black Friday carnage leaves us up to our eyeballs in deals. It’s often difficult to separate the wheat from the proverbial chaff: Black Friday deals are usually presented in bulk with flashing icons and capital letters, which is probably the least helpful way to process what’s going on.
If you’re hoping to actually score a bargain this November, you’re in the right place. We at Expert Reviews are going to be covering Black Friday in all its glory, bringing you the absolute best deals on our favourite products.
Below, we’ll be explaining how to sort the good deals from the bad using some of our favourite tools, so you can get to grips with finding the best bargains throughout the coming weeks.
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How to get a good deal on Black Friday
1. Read our articles
Shameless plug incoming: we’ll be spending the next few weeks bringing you the best of the Black Friday sales in the form of news stories and deal round-ups. If you’d rather not spend hours trawling through the catalogues of various online retailers – which is what we’ll be doing – then keep checking back with us for the hottest Black Friday gossip.
2. Do your homework
Finding a good deal is about knowing where to look. Fortunately, there are websites or Chrome extensions that offer totally impartial, free price information on any product you care to name.
PriceSpy
Our favourite price comparison site is PriceSpy UK: it’s straightforward to use and provides a comprehensive list of prices from major retailers (and quite a few minor ones, too). Just type the product name into the search bar and, hey presto, PriceSpy will display the current price from each of the top sellers.
The Camelizer
Amazon is undoubtedly where you will do most of your Black Friday shopping, so it’s well worth doing some research before you commit to a purchase. You’ll often find that Amazon uses the RRP (recommended retail price, or the launch price) of a product to calculate the saving that you’ll see on the product page, which can make the discount look better than it actually is – particularly if the price of the item in question has dropped since launch.
ABOVE: The Camelizer Chrome extension. See how this steam iron hasn’t ACTUALLY been £199.99 for any real length of time?
The Camelizer provides Amazon-specific price information in the form of a graph that records exactly how the cost of the item you’re viewing has changed since launch. Install it as a Chrome extension and activate it when you’re staring at an Amazon product page, and you’ll be able to see whether the discount is as good as Amazon claims it is.
3. Sign up for Amazon Prime
Subscribing to Amazon Prime is a crucial part of making the most of the Black Friday sales. Aside from the benefits of free next day delivery, you’ll also be able to take advantage of some Prime-exclusive deals throughout the year, and you’ll receive a subscription to Amazon Prime Music and Prime Video as well.
An Amazon Prime annual membership will set you back £79/yr, or £40/yr if you’re a student. There are plenty of reasons to fork out for the full membership, but if you don’t fancy doing that, you can pay £8 on a month-by-month basis or sign up for a 30-day free trial just for the Black Friday period.
4. Watch out for hidden fees
If you’re not a Prime member, or you find a product that isn’t on Prime, you may have to pay additional shipping fees. On rare occasions, these fees will be high enough to push the price of the product back up to where it was pre-discount; always check before you buy to avoid missing out on what might otherwise have been a good deal.
5. Know the product
It’s easy to get sucked into the Black Friday hype without giving a second thought to the product you’re being enticed into buying. You’ll want to check two things: first, that you’re not about to pay up for an outdated product; and second, that the product is actually worth your money.
That’s where we come in. We will only be promoting deals that apply to products we thoroughly recommend, so if you’re eyeing up a great offer on a product from a brand you’ve never heard of, check with us (or have a browse of user reviews) before you buy.
6. Prepare yourself
If you’re really hoping to score a bargain on an item you’ve been dying to buy, it’s worth doing a bit of advanced preparation. Comparison sites like PriceSpy, for example, allow you to set up notifications that will let you know if a product has dropped in price.
In addition, keeping a close eye on our dedicated deals pages will make sure you’re ahead of the game – after all, we’re scouring the web on a daily basis to bring you the best deals as soon as they launch.