Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) and Cyber Monday (the following Monday) are the two biggest tech sale events of the year in the US. Prices genuinely do drop on real products during this window – but so does the number of scams and fake “deals” that aren’t actually discounted at all. Here’s how to shop it well.
What’s actually worth buying then
Electronics are one of the categories with the deepest real discounts over this period – tablets, laptops, smart speakers, headphones, and TVs regularly drop to their lowest prices of the year. If there’s a specific gadget on your list – an iPad, an Echo Show, a laptop for a relative – it’s usually worth waiting for this window rather than buying at full price beforehand.
Check it’s a real discount
Some retailers raise a price a few weeks before the sale, then “discount” it back down to roughly where it started – so the percentage off looks bigger than the saving actually is. A quick search for the product name plus “price history” (or a free price-tracking tool) shows what it’s actually sold for over the past few months, which makes it easy to tell a genuine drop from a marketing trick.
Stick to retailers you already trust
This is the time of year scammers lean hardest on fake ads and copycat websites promising huge discounts on popular gadgets. If a deal for a well-known product appears on an unfamiliar website or through a social media ad, it’s safer to search for that same deal directly on a retailer already trusted, like Amazon or the brand’s own site, rather than clicking through and entering payment details somewhere new. Our guide to avoiding online shopping scams covers the warning signs in more detail.
Don’t feel rushed
Countdown timers and “deal ends in 2 hours” banners are designed to make a purchase feel more urgent than it really is. Most of the good discounts run for the full Black Friday to Cyber Monday stretch, not just a couple of hours, so there’s usually time to compare a couple of options before deciding.
We’ll update this guide with specific picks and prices as the sale gets closer each year. In the meantime, our existing buying guides – including the best computer for seniors – are a good starting point for what to actually look for.