Black Friday is bargain hunting day. Every year, around one month before Christmas, retailers and manufacturers lure in countless offers and discounts. This year the date falls on November 25th. At Amazon, the bargain week even starts on November 18th. But what kind of mines are lurking in the sea of discounts and how can you tell if a bargain is really a bargain?
The tag originally comes from America and was first introduced by Apple in Germany in 2006. Traditionally, Black Friday falls on the Friday after Thanksgiving each year. There is also a lot for technology fans – Black Friday offers from Amazon, Apple, Saturn, Otto, Media Markt and Co. lure with supposedly attractive deals and worthwhile bargains. But when hunting, users should keep calm and watch out for some pitfalls.
The best strategies for bargain shopping on Black Friday
Keep a Cool Head
With all the discount battles that retailers not only fight in shops, but above all online, you quickly fall into a buying spree. Be careful here! The discounts are often more apparent than real, because many dealers often give the recommended retail price of a product as the starting price for the percentages. This makes them appear particularly cheap, although they can also be had for less money on other days. This procedure has already come under heavy criticism.
With this bargain trap, sellers try to fool their customers. In this case, price search engines such as idealo.de, billiger.de or billiger.de can help. They compile the offers from several thousand dealers and even compare the prices of goods in history. But also on mydealz.de you can find indications as to whether a supposed bargain for Black Friday is really worthwhile.
Amazon has been taking action against fake offer prices for some time with more transparency. Instead of the RRP, the retailer lists the last cheapest price for a large number of products. Buyers can see at a glance how high the savings really are. You can read more about this here: New price information on Amazon – bad for retailers, good for customers.
Online shops also put a lot of pressure on customers to buy on Black Friday. The most popular trick: Certain products are only available for a limited time at a low price. The rule here is: stay cool and don’t let yourself be put under pressure.
Identify fake shops and scammers
The next bargain trap is often set by scammers who hope to make big business with fake shops at such a huge shopping event. Not every online shop is reputable. If there is no imprint, information on data protection and the cancellation policy on the website or if payment is only offered in advance, caution is advised. Often the money is gone, you don’t get any goods and you can’t contact the dealer. A look at the price search engines brings the last certainty. Stores that do not appear here or are not yet rated should be avoided. Seals of approval such as that from Trusted Shops also show whether the seller is a reputable seller.
A special type of fake shop are the Amazon Marketplace dealers, there have been many reports of fraud attempts in the past. The first clues in this profession can be the dealer ratings: Are there any at all and how do they read?
Also read: Browser extension detects fraudulent shops on the Internet
Don’t just watch your money…
… but also on the personal data. Fraudsters don’t always pretend to be a fake shop on Black Friday, but can also hide behind price comparison portals or bargain sites. They want the customer’s personal data and for this they use so-called affiliate sites. They store the information and then sell it on to large companies. You should therefore be careful about where you enter your personal data and which cookies are emitted from the website.
When is a bargain a bargain?
Since mega discounts and bargains are advertised on Black Friday, idealo.de carried out a study to determine whether you could really save that much on that day. The average price saving in the 50 categories with the highest demand was only six percent in the previous year. A few products were reduced by at least 20 percent. So here’s a tip: Don’t just look at the percentages, but convert the savings into euros.
If you really want to save, you should prepare yourself for Black Friday. Do not let yourself be guided by impulse purchases, but deliberately consider which products are needed and have been desired for a long time. You can start the price comparison before Black Friday and possibly identify a price development. This can help to keep track.
With material from dpa