Black Friday falls on 27 November 2026 this year, with Cyber Monday on 30 November. Most of what gets called a deal that week is not one. This page explains how we tell the difference, and it is where our verified findings will appear.
The short version. A retailer’s “was” price is a marketing figure. It can be a recommended price the product never actually sold at, or a price it held briefly so a discount could be advertised against it. The only way to know whether something is genuinely cheaper is to have watched what it cost before.
So we do. We record the price of every product we recommend every night, all year — 528 products last night, every night since 28 July. Since 22 September we count prices from new stock only, so a used listing can never pass for a discount. In November we will show you the discount the retailer claims and the discount against the price we actually observed, side by side.
Why a “was” price usually is not one
If you have ever bought something in a sale and felt slightly cheated afterwards, this is usually why. Discounts are advertised against a reference price, and that reference is chosen by the seller. There are three common versions, and only one of them means you are saving money.
| What you see | What it often means | Is it a saving? |
|---|---|---|
| “RRP £199, now £129” | The recommended price set by the manufacturer. Plenty of products never sell at RRP at all. | Often not |
| “Was £159, now £129” | It was £159 at some point — possibly for a fortnight, specifically so the discount could be advertised. | Sometimes |
| “£129, down from a typical £160” | Measured against what the product has actually cost over months. | Yes, if someone has been watching |
None of this is unique to Black Friday, and none of it is necessarily dishonest. It is simply that the reference price is not evidence, and it is presented as though it were. The fix is unglamorous: write the price down, every day, for months.
What we actually do
- We record the price and stock status of every product we recommend, once a night, all year round.
- When a price falls, we compare it to the median price we observed over the preceding months — not to the retailer’s reference price.
- We deliberately ignore the most recent few days when working out that baseline, so a discount that has quietly been running for a fortnight cannot become its own “normal” price.
- We only report something as a deal if you can actually buy it. A price drop on an out-of-stock product is not an offer.
- If we have not watched a product long enough to say anything useful, we say that instead of guessing.
That last point matters more than it sounds. The temptation on a deal page is to fill it — every category, every day of the week. We would rather publish six products we can stand behind than sixty we cannot.
How to judge a deal yourself
You do not need our data to avoid the worst of it. Four habits cover most of it:
- Check the price history before you check the discount. Browser extensions and price-tracking sites will show you what a product has actually cost.
- Decide what you want before the sale starts. A discount on something you had not planned to buy is not a saving, it is a purchase.
- Ignore the countdown timer. Most run for the whole event, and the genuinely good prices on popular items tend to reappear in the January sales.
- Check the model number, not the name. Retailers often discount an older or slightly different variant that shares a product family name — this is the single most common way people end up with something other than the item they read the reviews for.
What to skip
- No-name electricals with an unclear warranty and a thin set of reviews.
- Duplicate gadgets that do a job something you already own does.
- Extended warranties that cost a big share of the item’s price.
- Bundle padding: extras that make the headline saving look bigger than the thing you actually wanted.
- Anything that won’t fit. Measure the cupboard, the worktop or the clearance under the sofa before you buy.
One more habit worth adopting: read the three-star reviews. They are where owners describe what is annoying in daily use, which the five-star and one-star reviews rarely do.
What we will be covering
These are the categories we maintain buying guides for year-round, so they are the ones where we have both the price history and an opinion worth having:
- Air fryers
- Electric blankets and heated throws
- Heated clothes airers
- Dehumidifiers
- Vacuum Cleaners UK: Complete Guide to Cordless, Robot, Upright & More
- Robot vacuums
- Slow cookers
- Pressure cookers
- Bread makers
- Stand mixers
- Electric heaters
- Oil-filled radiators
Running costs matter as much as the purchase price on most of these — a cheap tumble dryer is not cheap. Our UK Home Running Costs Index has what each of them costs to actually run.
Common questions
When is Black Friday 2026 in the UK?
Black Friday is Friday 27 November 2026, and Cyber Monday is Monday 30 November. In practice most UK retailers run offers for the whole of the preceding week and often the full month of November.
Are Black Friday deals actually worth it?
Some are. The problem is that the advertised discount is measured against a reference price chosen by the seller, so it tells you very little on its own. Compare the price against what the product has genuinely cost over the preceding months, and a minority of offers hold up as real savings.
How do you check whether a discount is real?
We record the price of every product we recommend once a night, all year. When a price falls we compare it to the median price we observed over the months before the discount started, ignoring the most recent few days so that a long-running offer cannot become its own baseline. We publish both figures: what the retailer claims you are saving, and what you are saving against the real prior price.
Should I wait for Black Friday to buy an appliance?
If you need it now, buy it now — the difference is rarely enough to justify shivering through November waiting for a heater. If you can wait and the item is a popular one, late November is a reasonable time to look, though the same prices often return in January.
Last updated 6 October 2026, 52 days before Black Friday. Price observations are collected nightly; the verified deals go on this page in Black Friday week.
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