Shop smarter this Black Friday with price tracking.
Is that product really a good deal? Here’s how to find out…
Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping events of the year. Every retailer seems to have a sale on, every website is covered in discount labels, and every product suddenly seems like a must-have bargain. Here’s the thing though, not every Black Friday deal is actually a great one.
The good news is that you don’t have to guess whether a deal is worth it. There are tons of free price-tracking tools that’ll show you exactly how much a product has cost over time! With a quick check, you can see if you’re getting a genuine bargain or if it’s just some clever marketing.
Remember that discount labels don’t tell the full story.
Most shoppers focus on the discount percentage and it’s easy to see why. A giant ‘50% OFF’ banner grabs your attention straight away, yet the percentage only tells a small part of the story.
Retailers usually compare a sale price against a product’s Recommended Retail Price (RRP) or a previous selling price. While those prices might be accurate, they don’t always reflect what customers have been paying recently.
For instance, imagine a pair of headphones usually sells for £120. If the RRP is £200, a Black Friday price of £120 could be advertised as a huge discount. But in reality, shoppers are simply paying the usual price.
Checking a product’s price history helps you understand how the current offer compares with previous prices. You can quickly see whether today’s deal is genuinely good or if the same discount appears every couple of months.
Check a product’s price history.
Price tracking websites make it easy to see how prices have changed over time. Some of the most popular tools for this are CamelCamelCamel, Keepa and PriceRunner. These services record product prices and display them on a set of easy-to-read charts.
At first glance, a price history graph might look a little bit intimidating. In practice, they’ve very simple to use. When checking a product, keep an eye out for a few key details:
- Is it the lowest price recently?
- If the current price is lower than anything you’ve seen over the last few months, that’s usually a good sign.
- If the current price is lower than anything you’ve seen over the last few months, that’s usually a good sign.
- How often is it discounted?
- Some products to be on sale all the time. If a gadget drops to the same price every few weeks, there’s less pressure to buy it straight away.
- Some products to be on sale all the time. If a gadget drops to the same price every few weeks, there’s less pressure to buy it straight away.
- What’s the normal selling price?
- The average selling price is often more useful than RRP. This gives you a better idea of what shoppers usually pay throughout the year.
- The average selling price is often more useful than RRP. This gives you a better idea of what shoppers usually pay throughout the year.
- Is the Black Friday deal better than previous sales?
- Compare the current offer with earlier promotions. If the product reached the same price during the summer sales, the Black Friday label might not be as exciting as it seems.
Let browser extensions do the hard work .
If you don’t want to click through a bunch of separate websites while you shop, browser extensions make the process even easier.
- One of the most popular is Keepa (on Chrome, Edge and Firefox). It shows you price history charts directly on Amazon product pages, so you can view pricing info at a glance without opening another tab. It’ll also send you alerts when a product reaches your preferred price.
- Another good one is The Camelizer. It overlays historical Amazon pricing data while you browse, making it simple to check whether a deal is actually worth your time.
- You can also try PriceRunner. It compares prices from multiple retailers. Rather than checking several websites manually, you can see other prices without leaving the page you’re on.
Buy at the right time!
One of the biggest myths about Black Friday is that it’s always the cheapest time to buy. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t! Retail pricing changes throughout the year, and different retailers may offer better deals before or after Black Friday. That’s why comparing prices across different stores is really important.
If you’re shopping for something non-essential, setting up a price alert can be a smart move. Lots of tracking tools will let you know when a product falls below a target price, helping you to avoid paying more than necessary.
This approach also reduces impulse buying. Rather than rushing into a purchase because a countdown timer says there’s only a few hours left, you can make decisions based on actual pricing trends.
Before buying something, ask yourself one question: “If I skip this deal today, am I likely to see the same price again in a few weeks?” Price history tools will be able to answer that surprisingly quickly.
On Black Friday, are you usually an impulse buyer? Or a patient price tracker? Let us know in the comments below!
