Early Black Friday deals have landed at Best Buy, so I've been scrolling the full sale all morning. While gathering all the biggest discounts, though, I noticed a problem. I price check every deal I find, to make sure it's the lowest on the web, and have found that Amazon has snuck into Best Buy's party this week.
The online retail giant is cheaper than Best Buy's official sale most of the time right now. I've found eight early Black Friday gaming deals that are actually worth buying ahead of the official sale - they sit on top recommended tech and are at or near record-low prices. Five are currently cheaper at Amazon, and three are only available at Best Buy. I price matched dozens of discounts, and the trend remains. Where the yellow label retailer has exclusivity or outlasting stock it tends to win, but for the majority of big-brand products (from Razer, SteelSeries, Corsair, Logitech etc.), Amazon is currently considerably cheaper.
Take the Logitech G Pro X Superlight, for example. Right now, it's up at Best Buy for $99.99, apparently 'on sale'. The problem is that's the price Amazon has had on this model for months now, and the online giant has dropped a further $11 on the cost this week, down to $88.95. It goes to show how important it is to check both other retailers and individual product price histories when hunting for holiday sales - especially when big Black Friday banners are hung. I've rounded up the top discounts on products featured in Best Buy's sale from both retailers just below.
Winner: Amazon
Winner: Best Buy
How to make sure you're getting the best deals this Black Friday
Black Friday is an endlessly competitive season, where retailers work to outprice each other as quickly as possible. That can mean pricing changes in a matter of minutes on the big day itself, but those wars rage on even weeks ahead of the event. Amazon often undercuts its competitors' prices by a few dollars in an attempt to maintain its edge, so I always recommend checking a deal from Best Buy, Walmart, or Newegg against those online shelves. However, that's not the end of the story.
Even if you've found the web's lowest prices on top tech, it's important to make sure you're actually getting the best deal of the year. Black Friday is renowned for introducing new record-low prices, particularly on previous generation tech as retailers look to shift older stock ahead of the new year. Checking the price history of a product using a tool like CamelCamelCamel means you always know you're actually getting a Black Friday-level discount. You'd be surprised how many prices are upped ahead of a big sale, just so that sub-par savings can be headline news on the day itself.
So you've price checked your deal across a range of retailers, found the cheapest one, and its price history checks out. There's still one more move in your arsenal to make sure you're getting the best deals this Black Friday, and that's bundles. Where a retailer simply can't compete on price, it will often throw in extras to sweeten the pot. I see this happening most often with Best Buy and Newegg. Be sure to check any additional offers available with your product - free subscriptions, accessories, or even games are commonplace over Black Friday and could offer better value for you than a straight saving.
We're also getting you prepped for all this year's Black Friday PS5 deals and Black Friday Nintendo Switch deals. Or, take a look at Black Friday Xbox deals if you're in Microsoft's camp.
