How to Spot a Real Black Friday Deal

A price is only a deal if it is lower than what the item normally sells for. If a product's 'regular' price rose a few weeks before the sale, the Black Friday price may simply be a return to normal.

Independent price-history tools, usually specific to a retailer, can show whether a price has genuinely dropped. Note the price yourself in the weeks before the event.

The same product is often sold by several Canadian retailers. Sale pricing is not consistent across stores, even in the same weekend, so a quick check of another retailer for the identical model number is worthwhile.

Some listings show a struck-through 'compare at' or MSRP figure that does not reflect what the product usually sells for anywhere. If the percentage off looks unusually large for a well-known product, look again.

Canada's Competition Bureau enforces rules against misleading price claims, but you are the best judge of whether a listed regular price matches what you have seen.

A discounted bundle can be a genuine deal or can add items you do not need at a price barely better than the main product alone. Check whether the core item is discounted on its own first.

A low price can be offset by shipping, especially from outside Canada, where duties and carrier fees can apply. Compare deals by the total at checkout.

We show a regular price and a discount only when the retailer or its product feed supplies them, and we calculate the percentage only from those two numbers. We show when we last checked a deal where we have recorded it, and we do not use price-history data or guarantee that a price is the lowest available.