Top 15 shopping tips for Black Friday

Follow our expert tips to ensure you pay the lowest prices for the right products this Black Friday.

Visit our Black Friday insider's guide for news and advice before and during the Black Friday sales. 

1. Research the products you want beforehand

It's pointless grabbing a bargain if the product's not any good. Sale season often sees shoppers battling over items we wouldn't recommend at all. 

It pays to do your research. We've lab test results for thousands of products, so use our reviews to find out which are best for you and your budget. 

• Download the Which? reviews app to find out whether the product you're looking at is a dud or a delight

2. Be wary of unusual brands

Samsung and Sony are known for their TVs, but what about Polaroid and Blaupunkt? Dirt-cheap deals are everywhere on Black Friday, but just because a TV has 4K and HDR plastered on the box doesn't mean it's going to have as good a picture as one of our best TVs. 

We're not saying every brand you've never heard of is bad, but there is a reason why some are household names and some only ever crop up in a sale. The odds are, if we haven't reviewed devices from a certain brand then they aren't worth buying.

• Find out more: how to avoid buying dangerous products online

3. If you're shopping for tech, know the life cycles

Most technology, including smartphones, TVs and tablets, is released on a one-year cycle, so you only need to wait 12 months before there's a shiny new device to get excited about.

Big tech companies will do their greatest to tempt you into buying their latest release, but the forgotten device celebrating its first birthday could still be more than adequate and it's also far more likely to be on sale. 

4. Research the price history of your favourite products

When we investigated Black Friday deals this year, we found that 92% of products in 2023's Black Friday sales fortnight had already been available for the same price or less at other times of the year.

There are useful web tools that let you check how much a product has actually been sold for previously, so you can work out whether the 'sale' price really represents good value.

CamelCamelCamel, for example, provides price history for products sold on Amazon, whereas PriceRunner has wider market coverage.

• Find out more: how to avoid fake Black Friday deals 

5. Find out whether retailers will match prices

Retailers including AO, Currys, Euronics, Halfords, Hughes and John Lewis have price match promises – and Richer Sounds offers to beat the cheapest price you find by between £5 and £100 (depending on the value of the product).

Even shops that don't have price matching policies may agree to refund the difference if you challenge them about a price drop soon after you’ve bought something.

• Find out more: John Lewis brings back 'never knowingly undersold' pledge

6. Set up online accounts in advance

It's not unheard of for websites to slow to a crawl on Black Friday and for popular deals to sell out quickly, so you'll want to get in and out as swiftly as possible. 

Open online accounts with your favourite retailers, pre-enter your payment and shipping details, and then save them to your account so you can complete purchases quickly once deals are live.

It's also worth signing up to your favourite retailers’ newsletters and following them on social media as this may give you early access to deals.

• Find out more: best home appliance stores

7. Create a wish list

Some websites let you set up a wish list for all the things you want to buy. 

Having a pre-created list makes it easier to see when prices drop, which can be especially useful on Black Friday when websites can be flooded with deals on things you don't want. Rather than trawling through every product on sale, you can just click into your list to see whether anything you have your eye on is on offer.

• Find out more: how to get the best price when shopping online

8. Start your Black Friday shopping early

In recent years many retailers have launched deals a week or two before Black Friday or even at the start of November.

If you're waiting for Black Friday itself to search for bargains, remember the best deals are likely to be snapped up quickly – especially big-ticket items – and some products may already have sold out. 

Keep an eye out for deals throughout the month, and check out our Black Friday insider's guide to stay on top of offers as they're announced. 

9. Earn as you spend

If you're splashing out on a big purchase (or several), check whether you could be getting something back in the process. 

Cashback sites Quidco and Topcashback both offer deals at more than 4,000 retailers – and it's free to sign up. But don’t let the lure of cashback lead you towards a poor-value product. Think of it as a bonus, rather than using it as your starting point for deciding what to buy and where from.

An easy way to boost your cashback is to pay with a credit card that rewards you for your spending, whether that's in air miles, retail vouchers or money off your credit card statement. Remember to pay the balance off in full each month to avoid interest charges. 

• Find out more: best cashback credit cards

10. Shopping in store on Black Friday? Use your phone, too

If you're hitting the high street this Black Friday, that doesn't mean you need to neglect the online stores. As long as you have a data connection on your phone you can be in Currys and on Amazon at the same time. 

Having access to websites means you can compare prices to make sure you're getting the right deal in store.

Don't forget that you can use the Which? reviews app on Android and iOS devices to quickly look up product reviews, too. If you're not a member, you can join Which? for full access to the app.

11. Look at the price, not the 'saving'

Don't assume a deal is worth it just because it claims to offer a big saving. Offers such as ‘was £100, now £50’ often exaggerate the discount you're actually getting. 

Our latest Black Friday investigation found that 92% of the products we spotted in the 2023 Black Friday sales fortnight were cheaper or the same price at other times in the six months before and after.

• Find out more: how to check if a Black Friday deal is real

12. Check the returns policy

If you've bought in store, you can only return non-faulty goods for an exchange or refund if the retailer has a returns policy. Almost all shops do, but they're not required to by law.

Buying online gives you more rights: you have 14 days from the date of delivery to cancel an order and a further 14 days to return it for a full refund.

Many shops offer extended returns periods in the run up to Christmas – handy if you're buying a gift. Check whether the policies entitles you to the actual money back or just a store credit/exchange.

• Find out more: your online shopping rights explained

13. Consider buying online and picking up later

Some retailers, such as Argos, will hold your product for seven days. This means you can order it online, then go and collect it at a quiet time. Shopping this way can also help you save on delivery fees. 

• Find out more: best and worst tech stores

14. Don't forget about Cyber Monday and beyond

Historically, Black Friday was for hitting the high street and Cyber Monday was for online deals. Now, more money is spent on the internet than in-store on Black Friday, but that doesn't mean you should ignore Cyber Monday – or the wider sales period more generally.

Some retailers, particularly those focused on computing, will have deals on laptops, desktop PCs, printers and more. If you didn't get the product you wanted on Black Friday, then keep checking over the weekend and the following week to see more deals.

• Find out more: computing guides and reviews from Which?

15. Bookmark Which?

Our experts spend hours every day combing through hundreds of Black Friday offers, using their decades' worth of experience and detailed pricing history analysis to separate the deals from the duds.

We will only ever recommend genuinely impressive deals on products that are actually worth buying.

You can see this year's pick by heading over to our Black Friday insider's guide.

Looking for deals now? See our monthly deals pages:

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• Best mobile phone and Sim-only deals
• Best washing machine deals
• Best laptop deals
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