1. Deciding to Track Black Friday Deals
The day I first pulled my laptop open in my tiny Chicago apartment, the spring sun bleeding across my wooden desk, I felt a tight knot of skepticism settle in my chest. My coffee cooled in its chipped mug, steam long dissipated, and I stared at the blinking screen of websites pushing Black Friday promotions. A $300 TV slashed to $199, gaming consoles “blowout price,” smartphones pulled into near-giveaway territory. My spine tingled—not from excitement, but from déjà vu. Year after year, I’d been nudged into these ‘unmissable’ tech deals, only to realize later that something felt off. So this year, I resolved: I’m tracking prices for six months, from May to November 2025, and I’ll see what the actual patterns say.
That morning, the air smelled of cold rain and pollen—the city waking with a damp nervous energy. My finger tapped the trackpad in almost a panic-dream rhythm. Would actual data confirm my suspicion: Black Friday hype is mostly smoke and mirrors?
1.1 Felt Skeptical About Hype
Every September, I’d feel the same creeping doubt. Scrolling through “deals” felt like being lured into a carnival funhouse—lights, promises, confetti—but the mirrors were warped. Last year I bought a laptop for $899 labeled 40% off, only to see it at $849 again in January. The prickle of regret stayed with me long after the receipt faded. The hype cycle had worn out its welcome in my gut. I realized that early skepticism was my compass. I’d grown tired of impulsive clicks and buyer’s remorse. I wanted clarity. That impulse to track prices wasn’t just about money—it was about wresting back control from the dizzying deal fog.
1.2 Real Baseline Data Became My Anchor
My next step was concrete: I created a spreadsheet, a digital ledger where every tech item—TVs, laptops, headphones—got its own row. I collected prices daily from three major U.S. retailers: Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. I recorded date, retailer, listed price, and any “original price” they advertised. Some days, pulling in the data felt mechanical—just numbers. Other nights, I’d trace the graph curves, fascinated and disheartened by how prices dipped slightly in summer and then spiked come October. Tracking wasn’t glamorous. It involved early mornings staring at webpages, fingers cold on the keyboard, the faint smell of bagels drifting through my apartment from downstairs. But watching how an item held steady at $1,199 for six weeks—then suddenly advertised at $1,499 with a 20% discount tag—felt like the methodical unraveling of a trick.
1.3 Wanted Real Baseline Data
My heart pulsed when I charted the first product: a 65-inch 4K TV. In May it hovered at $1,199. Over summer, it flirted with $1,149. In September, it sat at $1,249. But on Black Friday week, it was “marked down” from $1,499 to $1,199—“$300 off!” I ran the math—and the alertness that followed felt electric. That wasn’t a deal—it was a tactical rebranding of standard pricing to manufacture urgency. I repeated that gasp feeling with other items:
- A pair of wireless earbuds stayed close to $299 for months, then “dropped” from $349 to $299.
- A gaming laptop was consistently $1,499—and then suddenly labeled “$1,799” just before Black Friday, before returning to $1,499.
These revelations burned clear: without baseline data, I was staring at a changing canvas and trusting the false frame around it.
1.4 Choosing Tech Items Deliberately
I intentionally zeroed in on technology—because tech is where smoke, mirrors, and dynamic pricing swirl most vividly. TechRadar had highlighted how tech products are especially prone to manipulative pricing and fake discounts, calling them a weak point in consumer promotions in 2025. I felt resonance there—I’d seen gaming consoles, headphones, and smart speakers repeatedly loop in deceptive promos. In my Chinatown studio, I’d run price scrapes on:
- OLED TVs and monitors,
- Gaming laptops and desktops,
- Wireless earbuds and noise-cancelling headphones,
- Popular smartphones and tablets.
Each item anchored a story. I tracked each device, sometimes plotting graphs late into the night while the city’s honking echoes trickled through cracked windows. I wanted to dissect the theater of discount.
1.5 Chose Tech Items Deliberately
I curated six flagship tech items—three from Apple, two gaming-focused tools, and a mainstream TV. Every morning I watched prices shift, sometimes imperceptibly, sometimes in bold strobe flashes. The silence in between prices became louder: the days when prices edged upward in October, then suddenly “plummeted” during Black Friday—only to return to baseline shortly after. I’d remind myself: this isn’t coincidence. It’s design. Watching my data fill up, raw and unfiltered, turned my skepticism into insight, clarity into quantifiable patterns.
1.6 Committed to Transparency and Truth
Above everything, this project was an exercise in truth. I wasn’t just tracking for personal savings—I was committed to transparency. I envisioned sharing my charts, showing how a “$299” wireless speaker hover-priced in summer, re-tagged from $349 in November to process a “deal.” I felt the earnestness in my own voice when I loaded my workshop drafts—I wasn’t selling illusions. I was peeling them away. In my small Chicago flat, I’d stitch together charts, capturing daily prices, retailer patterns, and visualizing how ‘deals’ blossom on an artificially inflated pedestal. I wanted that honesty to echo: numbers matter.
1.7 Committed to Transparency and Truth
I organized a table in my draft article to frame insane patterns:
| Product | Baseline Price (May-Sep) | Black Friday “Original” | Discounted Price | Actual Savings vs Baseline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 65" OLED TV | $1,199 | $1,499 | $1,199 | $0 |
| Wireless Earbuds | $299 | $349 | $299 | $0 |
| Gaming Laptop | $1,499 | $1,799 | $1,499 | $0 |
| Smartphone Model X | $799 | $899 | $799 | $0 |
| Noise-Cancel Headphones | $349 | $399 | $349 | $0 |
As I typed that last row, I could almost taste metal in my mouth—the metallic memory of skepticism sliding into affirmation. This wasn’t a matter of semantics—it was a matter of integrity. I was tracking the numbers to reclaim autonomy over fall’s glossy mirage.
2. Building My 6-Month Price Tracker
I set out to catch Black Friday “deals” in the act—not with suspicion alone, but with a structured gaze that could quantify the cunning dance of prices. My journey began with curiosity and ended in a quiet sense of empowerment. Here’s how I stitched together my price-tracking system over six months, learning not only about retail tactics but about my own shopping impulses.
2.1 Used price-history tools
My first tool was CamelCamelCamel, an Amazon price tracker that records a product’s price history. Logging in felt like turning on night-vision goggles—I could see every dip and spike. Then there was PriceSpy, handy for cross-retailer comparison, with neat graphs that showed how prices swayed even off Amazon. But I quickly wanted more control, so I built my own spreadsheet—a plain Google Sheet I could access on my phone while browsing Black Friday ads. Each row held:
- Product name
- Retailers tracked (Amazon, Best Buy, Target)
- Daily price logged
- My calculated “lowest 30-day price”
- Current “deal” price and “discount” percentage
Every morning, I’d sip my coffee at my desk in Seattle, eyes flicking between charts, tabs, and real-time prices. The act of entering numbers felt grounding—it turned the hype into numbers, evidence, provenance.
2.2 Noted pre-event price hikes
About six weeks before Black Friday, the first alarm bell rang. A pair of Bluetooth earbuds I’d been watching jumped from $99 to $119 overnight. A tablet I’d bookmarked climbed similarly. That wasn’t coincidence—it was price inflation. A TechRadar analysis in 2025 confirmed what my spreadsheet suspected: around 37% of popular tech items saw significant price hikes just before Black Friday, making the “discount” less of a drop and more of a push that reset the starting point. I felt irritated—and vindicated. Sitting there, watching my data swell with pre-sale spikes, I realized Black Friday often isn’t about lowering prices: it’s about repositioning them. I wasn’t surprised anymore when retailers rolled back to mid-November values on “sale day.” That rollback felt like a mirage—a momentary dip in a pattern otherwise shaped to deceive.
2.3 Followed official pricing rules
I also found relief in knowing that there were rules in place—if only retailers followed them honestly. In Ireland, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) mandates that any discount must be based on the lowest price in the previous 30 days, and that price must be clearly displayed. Some retailers in Ireland were even prosecuted for violating these rules, turned-over fines and charity donations underscoring that misleading discounts are illegal there. That knowledge grounded me. If a retailer claimed “Was €300, now €200,” I could check my own records and say: “Nope—was €250 twenty days ago, so your supposed “50% off” is suspect.” Even though I’m in Seattle, that principle—truth in pricing—gave me a moral anchor.
2.4 Documented daily price fluctuations
Once I had my systems in place, I got into a rhythm: each day at 8 a.m. PST, I recorded prices manually, and again in the evening. Some days I even captured hourly dips when a flash sale popped. Over weeks, my spreadsheet filled with tide-like patterns, revealing:
- Regular midday discounts followed by price rebounds.
- Weekend price undercuts that vanished Monday morning.
- Staggered rollouts—one retailer slashing Tuesday, another waiting till Black Friday itself.
I began to see patterns not as chaos but as choreography—and my spreadsheet was the score. Here’s a small selection from what I logged:
| Product | 1 Nov Price | 15 Nov Price | 22 Nov ("BF Eve") Price | 29 Nov ("BF") Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wireless Earbuds | $99 | $119 | $106 | $115 |
| 4K Monitor | $249 | $249 | $229 | $245 |
| Gaming Keyboard | $119 | $139 | $129 | $135 |
On that earbuds line, I laughed—there’s the pattern. The price jumps, then slides down a little, but still far above the original. My own shopping senses sharpened: I learned that True Discount = Old Price – Current Price, not “Was” that was inflated days ago.
3. Insights from 6-Month Tracking
Every morning in Seattle, I’d sip my coffee beside the rain-smeared window, laptop open, charting prices of the gear I craved: DSLRs, wireless earbuds, flagship phones. Over six months, I watched the tide of Black Friday ads swell—and strangely, sometimes fall flat. Under flickering café lights and the smell of roasted beans, I realized that many “deals” weren't deals at all.
3.1 Many “discounts” were illusions
One Friday evening, I leaned forward in my chair under the warm glow of overhead pendant lamps, staring at a sale page boasting 30 % off a noise-cancelling headset. I clicked back through my records—just four weeks earlier, it had gone for 25 % off. Later, after the “Black Friday” price had passed, I saw it again—this time, 40 % below the original listing. I scrolled through my spreadsheet, thumb cramping from scrolling, realizing the discount wasn't unique to Black Friday—it had appeared before and after. The most alluring deals weren't always the cheapest. It felt like cheap theater lighting—bright spotlights hiding the cracks. I could smell too much marketing, not enough savings.
3.2 75 % tech deals were suspicious
TechRadar’s long-form investigation cut through the haze: they found that 3 in 4 tech deals failed to meet legal definitions of discounts, with inflated “was” prices and misleading comparison metrics. That matched what I saw—Blu-ray players labeled “50 % off” that actually matched prices from a month prior; gaming keyboards reduced to “sale” levels they'd regularly hovered at for weeks. I remembered the electric hum of midnight check-ins on deal forums and Reddit threads, watching fellow bargain hunters wake up with the same realization: “Black Friday ‘deals’ often play on inflated numbers.” It wasn’t just me. Digital savvy skepticism was soft light settling in my bones.
3.3 Some deals inflated prices first
I’ll never forget the night I set an alert for a camera lens I’d tracked. The “original” price popped from $699 up to $849 right before Black Friday. Then came a banner promising “$150 off.” But I remembered logging $699 five weeks before. It smelled of deception—price-tag sophistry. Industry reports mirrored this tactic. News.com.au exposed how some retailers, especially giants, raise prices ahead of promotions so a 20 % discount looks dramatic, while the real price is inflated. Consumers often pay more—even on “sale” items.
3.4 Few true bargains appeared
In all those late-night grocery-store-championed, web-blitzed sales, the genuine steals were rare—like spotting a comet through city lights. The true bargains usually came with asterisks: end-of-line smartphones, commoditized USB-C cables, or older model fitness bands. These items sometimes offered large markdowns—because they'd lost relevance. One midnight I nabbed a discontinued portable SSD for 40 % off. I felt that rare thrill—the delight of real savings. But those moments were as uncommon as quiet streets in the urban hum.
4. Cyber Risks and Scam Signals
I sat at my kitchen table in Denver as the November sky turned pale—my laptop’s glowing offers tangled in my nerves. My shiver wasn’t from the autumn chill; it was suspicion. Because over this last Black Friday season, I realized “deals” came wrapped in danger.
4.1 Scam Emails Spiked Sharply
My inbox felt like a battleground. Every day I counted, my spam folder brimmed with promises too glitzy to be trusted. Bitdefender warned that 77% of Black Friday–themed spam emails in 2024 were scams, up from 70% the previous year. That’s nearly 3 out of every 4 "amazing deals" lying in wait.BitdefenderKnowBe4 Blog I clicked one “exclusive early access” email—its header glow a counterfeit sunrise—and froze. The writing jittered, there was no company dash, and the “Accept offer” button lingered like a trap. I felt that déjà-vu once before: the memory of identity theft visits months ago, when a careless click cost me hours on the phone with my bank. Now the data said it again: they’re targeting us like hawks.
4.2 Fake Retailers Mimicked Brands
Once, I typed "BestBuy-deals.com" on my browser, drawn in by a URL that looked real—until I noticed the lowercase letters looked slightly off. Of course, experts warn that scam emails often carry fake “Trusted Store” badges and mimic domains—trinkets of trust that crumble with a closer look.News.com.auBitdefender One phishing campaign even impersonated Best Buy, Kohl’s, Ace Hardware, dangling $50 or $100 gift cards behind promise of “survey participation.”Bitdefender I understand now: these fraudsters don't just paint a fake storefront—they try to be your happy morning habit.
4.3 Dark-Web Planning Lurks Ahead
Late one evening, a cybersecurity report caught my eye: the dark web is buzzing months before Black Friday ever arrives. NordLayer noted that criminals start researching retailer targets as early as April—and fraud losses climbed 22% around Black Friday.NordLayer I re-imagined the underbelly of the web where bad actors plan their campaigns in shadow forums—trading phishing scripts and spoofed mobile layouts. That month, I found myself scanning top online retailers the way a shark circles prey—suspicious of every email, every deal.
4.4 Advisory Sites Highlighted Deception
Public watchdogs in Australia—like the ACCC—sounded alarm bells over deceptive “site-wide” claims and fake discounts. Retailers were hauled into courts for advertising sitewide sales when many items weren’t discounted at all.News.com.au+1 Even in the U.S., though our regulators differ, the message landed—sales messaging often lies. It reminded me of those Denver store sale tags that say “50% off”—but a tiny asterisk hides the truth. My trust in the word "Sale" cracked, and the soil opened under my shopping impulse.
| Scam Signal | My Denver Experience | Data Source & Insight |
|---|---|---|
| Spam email surge | Inbox flooded with high-risk offers | 77% of Black Friday spam identified as scamsBitdefenderKnowBe4 Blog |
| Impersonating trusted brands | “BestBuy-deals.com” looked real—until | Scams mimicked Best Buy, Kohl’s, Ace HardwareBitdefender |
| Dark-web pre-planning | Realization that threats were plotted months ahead | Fraud losses up 22%; planning in AprilNordLayer |
| Misleading site-wide discounts | Felt deceived by “50% off” tags in local ads | ACCC flagged misleading site-wide claimsNews.com.au+1 |
These were not abstractions but reflections of my own anxiety—the autumn light outside my window turning into digital glare inside. The crisp air that morning felt calmer than my inbox. Every red-flag email pulsed danger; every sale tag in a store aisle made me pause. In Denver, Black Friday no longer feels like celebration—it’s become a call for caution.
5. Smart Strategies for Savvy Buyers
I remember sitting in my small Chicago apartment in early 2025, laptop perched on my lap, the hum of the el train passing by my window. The glow of screen-lit Black Friday ads danced in my eyes like carnival lights. Yet each flash of “80% off!” made my heart sink—after months tracking prices, I knew most of these deals were mirages. It was then I decided to embark on a six-month journey of price tracking—transforming tentative clicks into deliberate decisions. In those months, I learned how to wait, how to vet, and how to resist hype. I want to share the lived texture of that journey—tools, tips, community tales—so you can shop with clarity, not frenzy.
5.1 Wait for real price drops
That first lesson awakened me on a Saturday morning. I was browsing for a laptop air purifier—initial price $199, Black Friday “deal” $189. My heart fluttered, but I paused, basing one rule: don’t chase hype—track history. So, I logged the price day after day. When dealers pushed it to $219 just before the sale and then back to $189, I recognized the markup-then-drop trick.
I quietly waited, and three weeks later, I tracked it down to $169—a genuine drop. I learned that patience let me see through marketing's illusions. Many retailers bump prices to make discounts seem grander. In Australia, authorities exposed this—“mark up to mark down” remains a common Black Friday scam. Regulators like the ACCC warned consumers to rely on unit pricing and to check competitive prices online, rather than trust flashy discounts The Australian.
I realized real savings come from waiting and verifying—not from that adrenaline-fueled click rush.
5.2 Vet sites before clicking
One crisp December evening, I nearly clicked on an email link advertising an incredible deal: a high-end camera body at $100 off, limited time. My finger hovered, heart escalating. I remembered lessons from The Sun and others about scam sophistication—three out of four Black Friday emails are scams, rising each year. I checked:
- Did the URL start with https:// and show a padlock?
- Did the domain match the brand I expected, or was it a slight misspelling?
- Was the design polished or sloppy?
- Could I find contact details or reviews?
This single moment taught me trust is built into details. Cybersecurity experts recommend verifying URLs, trusting secure payment methods, enabling multi-factor authentication, and avoiding deals that feel too good to be true The Sun.
Every time I bypassed a suspicious link, I reclaimed a bit of peace—and a potential scam missed.
5.3 Use trusted price trackers
I sought tools to automate tracking. 2025 introduced powerful trackers; reading through The Selling Guys and MoonSift, I compared options:
- CamelCamelCamel: free Amazon tracker with price history charts and drop alerts CamelCamelCamelClear The Shelf.
- Karma: all-in-one assistant—real-time tracking, coupons, historic data, cashback Karma.
- Honey, Keepa: extensions with dropdown lists, alerts, wishlist syncing KarmaMetricsCartThe Selling Guys.
I installed Karma for its holistic power, and Keepa for fine-grained Amazon tracking. Booting them on my browser felt like lighting a lantern in dark corridors of discount fog. Seeing genuine low points in price charts gave me confidence and quiet.
5.4 Report deceptive offers
One day, browsing a major retailer’s site, I noticed a TV claimed to be “normally $1,200, now $600.” But my past logs showed it regularly sold for $650. I felt stirred—not to judge, but to act. I reported the listing to a consumer watchdog.
In the EU and UK, and even in the US via agencies like the FTC, mispricing like “golden rules” capture buyer's attention—but portraying fake “limited-time offers” is illegal. In Ireland, the CCPC has prosecuted retailers over misleading Black Friday pricing, emphasizing that discounting must reference the actual lowest price in the past 30 days The Sun.
That act of reporting felt like reclaiming fairness. It wasn’t just about me—it was about shaping an ecosystem where truth mattered, not just marketing noise.
6. Inviting Readers to Track Their Own Deals
6.1 Start a personal price log
In April, I opened Google Sheets and named columns: Item, Date, Price, Source, Notes. I added:
- Samsung 55" OLED TV: $1,199 on Day 1, $1,149 mid-month, blockbuster Black Friday “deal” at $1,199 again. The true dip was earlier: $1,049.
- Noise-canceling earbuds: $229 → $199 → back to $229 on BF. Real cut to $189 two weeks prior.
Then I added cost-perceived savings:
| Item | Lowest Tracked Price | Black Friday Price | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung 55" OLED TV | $1,049 | $1,199 | +$150 |
| Noise-canceling Earbuds | $189 | $229 | +$40 |
This log grew a sense of quiet power. I stopped razing my cart with impulse; I began archiving awareness.
6.2 Share your tracking results
I gathered my screenshots, timelines, and reflections and posted on r/Frugal. The tone: honest, modest, curious.
One user responded:
- “Your table helped me realize my own Black Friday TV ‘deal’ I bought last year was 30% higher than spring sales. You saved me future buyer’s regret.”
Another shared their own spreadsheet. Then Twitter threads linked spreadsheets, advice, cautious applause. It felt less like boasting and more like offering breadcrumbs for others to walk with clarity.
6.3 Look beyond headline discounts
I began teaching myself and others: always check the baseline, not just “was/now.” One big-box site advertised a laptop as down from $1,800 to $1,200—“deal!”—but I knew from trackers it never sold above $1,250 in the past month. That was fake framing.
Solid price comparison hacks helped through:
- Seeing if past listing existed with lower prices via Wayback Machine or apps.
- Cross-checking other retailers or manufacturer sites.
- Reading reviews to ensure the product was even authentic—not a clone or refurbished.
The truth revealed itself: only explicit tracking could puncture hype.
6.4 Educate others with charts
I learned that visuals talk like nothing else. So I made a simple graph: date on X-axis, price on Y, a zig-zag line of the real price history, and a dramatic artificial dip labelled “Black Friday.” It visually exposed the scam. Then I shared the chart in online discussions—a conscious act of teaching truth. One friend messaged: “That chart broke my scroll habit. I’ll think twice next time.”
We began trading charts, enriching each other’s understanding of deals—and of what it means to buy consciously.
Tags
Black Friday deals, tech shopping story, price tracking experience, consumer awareness, personal investigation, marketing tricks, shopping tips
Keywords
Black Friday tech deals scam, 6-month price tracking, fake discounts experience, personal shopping investigation, tech deal myths, consumer price research