Black Friday - is it all a big con....?

[Cobnapint]

I'm looking at getting a new smart phone at the minute and while I'm reading all the reviews going, I'm also keeping a close eye on prices.

I've been tracking the prices of the Samsung Galaxy A5 and S7, and also the Moto G5 on Curry's, Argos, John Lewis and Debenhams Plus/Appliances direct.

For some 'strange' reason, in the last couple of days, the prices have all crept up, some quite substantially.

Black Friday is on the 24th November - I smell a rat.

[jonm01]

Yes, pretty much. They inflate the price for a couple of weeks so they can get the headline grabbing figure later on.

[kurt535]

Ive got some very impressive deals on big ticket items over the years but its noticeable they have declined in the last couple. Am dubious you will score a home run on a phone of the sort you are considering though?

[Challo]

You can get some good deals, but a large percentage are increased in price in the run then discounted again. Also some of the products are last years versions and discounted to shift unwanted stock.

[Roger Irrelevant]

I am rather skeptical about the whole thing, but as long as it allows me to chuckle at pictures of the lower orders fighting over obscurely branded 60" tellies then long may it continue.

[PurpleMoonlight]

Wouldn't it be good for the consumer if where a discount is claimed by the retailer they had to display the prices over the last 6 months.

[Croutons]

You can see this in Currys a mile off- boggo white goods with low spec (like a Beko washing machine) at £600, so when the 20 lawful days are up it will be at £299 "better than half price".

Yes, the bullst price.

[Wacky Racer]

Roger Irrelevant said:

I am rather skeptical about the whole thing, but as long as it allows me to chuckle at pictures of the lower orders fighting over obscurely branded 60" tellies then long may it continue.

[Andy 308GTB]

Wacky Racer said:

Roger Irrelevant said:

I am rather skeptical about the whole thing, but as long as it allows me to chuckle at pictures of the lower orders fighting over obscurely branded 60" tellies then long may it continue.

Every photo had the same, fat, track suited Waynetta type woman with purple hair.

[Stormfly1985]

When I lived in the US back in the early 2000's, the Black Friday deals were genuine and the lines were long outside the store. These days, as previously said, it's all just marketing bks.

Amazon occasionally have a good deal - it's easy to check the price history using camelcamelcamel.

[HTP99]

Andy 308GTB said:

Wacky Racer said:

Roger Irrelevant said:

I am rather skeptical about the whole thing, but as long as it allows me to chuckle at pictures of the lower orders fighting over obscurely branded 60" tellies then long may it continue.

Every photo had the same, fat, track suited Waynetta type woman with purple hair.

Love it.

Was it last year there was a photo of a rather large (fat large) family trying to load up their Zafira with about 6 Polaroid TV's, hoping to make a quick buck selling them on eBay

[schmunk]

Yes and no - there is some preemptive price inflation as mentioned above, but equally I am in the market for a Google Home speaker, which are at the £129 list price everywhere (and have been for weeks/months). I expect to pay £99 on Black Friday.

[DonkeyApple]

Croutons said:

You can see this in Currys a mile off- boggo white goods with low spec (like a Beko washing machine) at £600, so when the 20 lawful days are up it will be at £299 "better than half price".

Yes, the bullst price.

Yup. The whole event is a scam bonanza to milk the morlocks.

However, as with all of these events that are designed to get the consumption addicts buying even more crap they don't need and can't afford there are good pickings for the tiny minority of remaining thinkers in society.

If there is something that you need or want and you know the typical price of it and you can sit and wait to see if it crops up in a deal on Black Monday then the normal thinker can save some money. It's like car finance, it's all set up to milk tards but this creates small windows where sane people can take advantage.

[rufusgti]

I’d rather pay full price and not have to que next to these people. 😂

[hairyben]

Croutons said:

You can see this in Currys a mile off- boggo white goods with low spec (like a Beko washing machine) at £600, so when the 20 lawful days are up it will be at £299 "better than half price".

Yes, the bullst price.

Yup, maybe even a special model number avalible to order only, obstensibly identical to a stocked model but twice the price then for black friday they can legally sell it for "massive discount".

Stores miss a trick here, they should lay a few amusing obstacles to trip the idiots up etc, film it and flog the footage

[DonkeyApple]

rufusgti said:

I’d rather pay full price and not have to que next to these people. ??

Inclined to agree. In terms of physically going shopping, all the chimps are drawn away from the nice shops and are busy scrabbling like animals in the chain stores so it creates an opportunity to wander around more pleasant places without the biffa bin rutters. I was assuming that most posts were more regarding online shopping.

[Jon39]

If this topic is only about conventional shops, I cannot comment. You would not see me anywhere near such an awful frenzy, even if the whole shop was being sold for £1.

However last year, there was a tip on one of the PH car forums, about a 'black Friday' Amazon 50% reduction, on the known usual price of a CTEK trickle charger. I was thinking of buying a second one at the time. I bought one and noticed later, that the price reduction only lasted for a few hours.

It all appeared to be a genuine temporary price drop, for a brand new product.
Not an enormous amount of money involved, but satisfying. Everyone happy.

Edited by Jon39 on Saturday 11th November 17:18

[rufusgti]

I’d rather pay full price and not have to que next to these people. 😂

[CoolHands]

Polaroid telly!

[Trophy Husband]

Personally, I'm waiting for White Friday.