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Top 15 shopping tips for Black Friday
Hannah is an investigative journalist covering retail issues from fake reviews and unsafe products to supermarket pricing practices. She's been at Which? for 13 years.
In this article
- 1. Research products you want beforehand
- 2. Be wary of unusual brands
- 3. If you're shopping for tech, know the lifecycles
- 4. Research the price history of your favourite products
- 5. Check for retailer price match schemes
- 6. Sign up for alerts and newsletters
- 7. Create a wish list
- 8. Earn as you spend
Black Friday falls on 27 November this year, but you could start to see deals much sooner.
In recent years, many retailers have launched deals a week or two before Black Friday, or even at the start of November.
So how do you cut through the noise and know the right time to strike to get items on your shopping list?
Here, we set out our top expert tips to ensure you pay the lowest prices for the right products this Black Friday.
- For more tips to help you shop smart in the sales, take a look at our Black Friday 2026 advice.
1. Research products you want beforehand
It's pointless grabbing a bargain if the product isn't any good. Sale season often sees shoppers focusing on 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 Blaupunkt and Polaroid? Dirt-cheap deals are everywhere on Black Friday, but just because a TV has 4K and HDR plastered on the box doesn't mean that 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. We recommend giving a wide berth to electricals, toys and cosmetics from brands that you don't recognise, and for everything else, check if the brand has a website, contact details and returns information.
- Find out more: How to avoid buying dangerous products online.
3. If you're shopping for tech, know the lifecycles
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 best 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, we found that 83% of products in 2024's Black Friday sales fortnight had already been available for the same price or less at other times of the year.
There are helpful 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. Check for retailer price match schemes
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: Best tech and Best furniture retailers.
6. Sign up for alerts and newsletters
More often than not, retailers begin deals earlier, so you'll want to be in the know as soon as discounts go live.
Sign up for their newsletters and follow them on social media, as this may give you early access to deals.
The Which? deals newsletter is also worth signing up for, to get the best offers straight to your inbox. Each year, our team of experts scours the sales to find genuine deals on products that we rate highly and are from retailers we trust.
7. Create a wish list
Some websites let you set up a wish list of everything you want to buy.
Having a pre-made 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 items you don't want. Rather than trawling through every product on sale, you can just click on 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. 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.
9. 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.
Remember, you can use the Which? reviews app to quickly look up product reviews.
10. Use Ask Which? to find the best products
Members can use Ask Which? to quickly research and compare details of products.
Our new AI tool is powered by our reviews content, so you can be sure you get an answer you can trust.
If you're not a member, you can join Which? for full access to Ask Which?.
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. We've found 'was' prices that weren't the most recent previous price, meaning offers such as ‘was £100, now £50’ may not offer the saving you initially think.
- Find out more: Which? exposes dodgy TV deals with 'was/now' pricing
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, which is handy if you're buying a gift. Check whether the policies entitle you to your money back or just a store credit/exchange.
Bear in mind that practice doesn't always live up to policy either. We recently investigated the returns practices and policies of the 17 biggest online shops in June and July 2026.
We asked 12 mystery shoppers to place orders at each of these retailers and then return their purchases by post and record everything that happened after, from whether they were refunded correctly, to how much it cost and how long it took. We found some shocking practices with several big-name retailers not refunding at all and others failing to reimburse delivery fees.
- Find out more: your online shopping rights explained.
13. Buy online and pick 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 quieter time. Shopping this way can also help you save on delivery fees.
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 for more deals.
- Find out more: Best Black Friday deals for 2026
15. Use the Which? experts to save
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.
- For more tips to help you shop smart in the sales, take a look at our Black Friday 2026 advice.