How to find the best deals this Black Friday

By George Storr

Published: Friday, 19 November 2021 at 12:00 am

Black Friday is one of the year’s biggest shopping events, and the amount of deals on offer is already mind-boggling. So, with just over a week until the big day, how can you cut through the noise and find the best deals? Our experts have been scanning the web and speaking to retailers to get you the best advice and the best Black Friday deals.

Each year the Black Friday sales seem to start earlier and earlier. We’ve already seen swathes of discounts from AO, Currys, Amazon and a whole range of retailers. With so many sales and pre-sales running simultaneously, it can be very hard to keep track of all the best deals on offer. Our team is updating our selection of Black Friday pages daily, and – in this article – we’re passing on all the deal-hunting tips and knowledge that we’ve picked up along the way.

The excitement doesn’t end after Black Friday either, with deals set to continue into Cyber Monday 2021 and perhaps even beyond. For some of the latest deals, take a look at our John Lewis Black Friday deals and Amazon Black Friday deals pages.

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How to save on Black Friday

Use price-comparison tools

One of the most under-appreciated tools in any deal-hunters arsenal is camelcamelcamel.com.

The site offers a plug-in that, when downloaded and used in your browser, offers up-to-date price tracking on any product on Amazon.

The images below show off a good example of why this plug-in can be useful. This example takes the Amazon page for the Samsung Galaxy S20 5G with 128GB of storage. Currently, it’s priced at £419.99.

Pressing the small camel icon – which appears at the end of your search bar after installing the plug-in – will open the window pictured below. This window displays the current price, the highest price and the lowest price that the product has been sold for on Amazon. There’s also a handy graph helping you to visualise whether the current price is a good one.

So, why is this useful? As you can see below, the main Amazon product page displays the current price and suggests that this has been discounted from £709.97. However, a quick look at the Camelizer graph shows that the phone hasn’t been at that price for a while. It also shows us that the phone was cheaper in October than it is now, suggesting that a better price is likely to be available in the near future.

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Do your research

Martin Lewis, founder of Money Saving Expert, places a huge emphasis on doing your research before Black Friday begins.

He said: “If you have your eye on something, check prices NOW. Then when it comes to Black Friday, you’ll know if the ‘discounts’ are really cheaper. Check prices at the retailer you were planning to buy from, and do a wider price comparison.”

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Martin Lewis (Getty)

Set budgets and be sensible

While there are a lot of tempting deals available online and in stores during Black Friday, it’s important to keep a cool head and avoid getting overexcited and overspending.

89% of shoppers get stressed out by Black Friday, and 24% have regretted purchasing something on Black Friday, according to figures from price comparison site Idealo. This shows how important it is to keep on top of your spending and not get swept up in the momentum of the Black Friday deals stream.

If you’ve got certain products in mind, it’s worth setting clear budgets which you won’t go beyond. This will give you clear rules with your spending and make sure that you’re responsible during the Black Friday rush, rather than ending up with buyers’ remorse. TVs, phones and PlayStations were the most commonly regretted items.

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Best Black Friday deals available today

There’s a huge selection of Black Friday deals on offer already, and they’re listed across the pages linked below, divided by categories, products and brands. Take a look at those for more inspiration, or check out the deals below for some of the best buys we’ve seen so far.

Nintendo Switch phone bundle

What’s the deal: This appealing Black Friday bundle sees the Oppo Find X3 Lite paired with Nintendo’s hybrid games console – the Nintendo Switch. Starting at just £25 a month (2GB of phone data) for the bundle, this is an eye-catching deal. For £30 a month, you’ll get 100GB of data, and for £35, you’ll get unlimited data.

Why we chose it: The recent refresh of the Switch – the Nintendo Switch OLED – reminded us just what a versatile and fun gaming system the Switch is. For more on Nintendo Switch gaming, take a look at our full Nintendo Switch OLED review.

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Google Pixel 6 (10GB+ data plans) with Xbox Series S and 3 months’ Xbox Game Pass Ultimate | from £45 per month and £30 upfront

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What’s the deal: Bag the new Google Pixel 6, an Xbox Series S, three months’ Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, 10GB (5G) data and unlimited texts and minutes for £45 per month and £30 upfront.

Why we chose it: Technically, this isn’t even a Black Friday offer, but it’s one of the best bundle phone deals we’ve seen in a very long time. A new phone and a new console all at once.

Roku Express | £29 £13.99 (save £15.01 or 52%)

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What’s the deal: Get £16 off Roku’s most affordable streaming player. With an RRP of £29.99, the Roku Express is now just £13.99.

Why we chose it: Featured on our best streaming stick guide, the Roku Express is an affordable way to get HD streaming of smart TV apps such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video on an old TV. This is the lowest price we’ve seen the streaming stick sold for.

Read more on Black Friday

For the latest news and deals, check out the RadioTimes.com Technology section. Want affordable tech? Read our full guides to the best budget smartphones, best budget tablets, best budget wireless earbuds and best budget smartwatches.