BLACK Friday is almost upon us and you may have started to see a few tech deals already.
With all the hype and excitement it can be hard to differentiate between a true bargain and a bad deal or even a scam.
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Consumer choice company Which? said: “In 2020, our investigation into Black Friday deals revealed that 98% of the discounts advertised the previous year – including promotions on popular tech, home and personal care products – were available for the same price or cheaper in the six months after the sales.
“And, while you might expect some products to fall in price over time, we also found that 85% of the items had also been the same price or cheaper in the six months before Black Friday.
“In fact, just three of the 119 products we tracked – that’s 1% – were at their very cheapest price on Black Friday.”
You should also take into account that there will be scammers trying to take advantage of Black Friday and they could steal your money and provide nothing in return.
In light of that, here are three ways to try and make sure your Black Friday tech deal is actually real.
Check the product price on multiple websites
If you see something you want to buy, try cross checking the price on multiple websites.
You may find some retailers selling the item for cheaper.
You may even spot that the ‘deal’ price is very similar to what the item costs without a sale.
It’s always best to spend a little bit of extra time researching your ‘deal’ in order to get the best bargain for you.
Avoid ‘too good to be true deals’ from sites you’ve never heard of
If a deal seems to good to be true, it often is.
Scammers can jump on Black Friday and promote pretend deals on products they don’t have in order to get you to part with your cash.
If you receive an odd email or message about a deal from an unknown source then it’s best to ignore it.
The same goes for suspicious social media posts about ‘amazing’ tech deals.
Do your research into who is selling the product and whether they’re legitimate.
Don’t be fooled by ‘Was’ prices
Lots of deals use the words ‘Was’ and ‘Now’ to grab your attention about a big price drop.
Which? revealed: “When we looked at items on special offer across major retailers for the first half of 2020, we found that several products were listed at their lower price for longer than they were at their full ‘was’ price.”
That means you might be better off buying certain products at a different time of year when no holidays are approaching.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
