Black Friday Deals: How to Tell Real Discounts from Fake Ones

The season for mega sales — and mega spending — is upon us. According to the National Retail Federation, 202.9 million people shopped from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday in 2025. Over those five days, these shoppers spent an average of $337.86 on gifts, decorations, and other seasonal items.

Before you spend anything on holiday shopping this year, learn how to check whether a sale price is a real discount. WorkMoney has a guide to spotting a real discount versus a fake one, which free tools to use to check prices, and how to avoid turning good deals into long-term debt.

Are Black Friday Deals Really Cheaper?

Some Black Friday deals beat prices at other times of year, and some don’t. Last year, WalletHub compared Black Friday ad prices with what the same items cost on Amazon from Oct. 27 to Nov. 17, 2025. It found that 36% of items offered no savings, and 9.5% cost more on Black Friday.

The other 64% offered real savings. Stores do cut prices this time of year. On Cyber Monday 2025, online electronics prices dropped up to 31% off list price, according to Adobe.

How Stores Make a Price Look Like a Bigger Discount

Retailers use a few common tricks to get you to buy. Here’s what to watch for.

1. The crossed-out “was” price

Some retailers run the same sale again and call it a Black Friday deal. An initial high price makes the sale price look better, even when few people ever paid the higher amount. 

The FTC’s pricing guides say a former price should be one the store offered regularly for a reasonably long time, but stores don’t always follow that. Oxylabs tracked more than 61,000 products on two major U.S. shopping sites in fall 2024. Of the 4,529 Black Friday products it could check over three months, about 60% showed a “was” price the seller likely hadn’t charged regularly.

2. List prices and “compare at” prices

These are the numbers that a store claims others charge. Instead of taking their word for it, check that store to see what the item actually sells for today.

3. Countdown clocks and “only 3 left”-type alerts

These push you to decide fast, before you’ve checked the price. If you feel rushed, slow down.

How to Check Whether a Black Friday Deal Is Real

Before you check out, a few quick checks can show whether the deal is real.

1. Make your list early. Before sales start, write down what you need and the most you’ll pay for each item. A list gives you a number to check every deal against, so the ad doesn’t set your budget for you. If a deal shows up on something you didn’t plan for, ask yourself what you’d give up to make room for it.

2. Look up the price history. There are a few free tools to see what an item has cost over time:

• CamelCamelCamel and Keepa track Amazon prices and can alert you when prices drop.

• Google Shopping shows whether a price is low, typical, or high compared with recent months, and you can set an alert to track it.

• A notebook or phone note works too. You can start tracking prices as early as Labor Day to see if the cost fluctuates.

3. Match the exact model number. Some electronics are made just for holiday sales, which makes them hard to compare. If you can’t find the model number at other stores, or you can’t find reviews for it, that can be a sign to skip it.

4. Read reviews. Look for reviews that describe how the product held up over weeks or months. But be mindful of fakes. A 2024 FTC rule bans fake reviews, including AI-written ones.

5. Add up the full cost. Check the retail price, other charges (like tax and shipping), the refund policy, who pays for return shipping (you or the retailer), and any restocking fee. A low price with costly shipping or no returns may cost you more in the end.

6. Use discounts you already have. Use AccessPerks to browse discounts for offers from stores like Best Buy and Home Depot. Compare those with Black Friday prices to see which is the better buy.

7. Check used pricing. You may be able to find an identical item on eBay or Facebook Marketplace. Having an idea of the used price can help you make a more educated decision on its new price.

How to Avoid Fake Stores and Scam Deals

Scammers know you’re shopping for deals this time of year. The FTC warns that scammers run social media ads with very low prices, sometimes pretending to be real companies. If you click the ad, you could pay for a fake item or get nothing at all.

To protect yourself, the FTC suggests you:

• Search the seller’s name and web address with words like “review,” “complaint,” or “scam” before you buy.

• Pay with a credit card when you can. You can dispute the charge if your order never arrives or shows up damaged.

• Skip any seller who wants payment by gift card, wire transfer, payment app, or cryptocurrency.

• Keep your receipt and order number.

Also type the store’s web address yourself so you know you’re on the real site.

How a Black Friday Deal Can Cost You More

Holiday debt is common. In 2025, 37% of U.S. consumers took on holiday debt, averaging $1,223. Of those, 41% were still paying off debt from the year before.

The math can work against you. Say you save $50 on a TV and put the $250 you paid on a credit card. At 22.15%, the rate on interest-bearing credit cards, paying $15 a month would take about 21 months and cost about $51 in interest. The interest would cost more than you saved.

Buy now, pay later plans are convenient, but they can make big buys feel smaller. Adobe expected shoppers to spend $20.2 billion online through these plans during the 2025 holiday season. Before you split a purchase into payments, add up what you’ll owe each month and check that it fits your budget.

If you already carry holiday debt, WorkMoney partner GreenPath can help.* GreenPath Financial Wellness is a nonprofit debt management company that can help you understand your debt and repayment options. GreenPath offers credit counseling to WorkMoney members as part of a partnership between WorkMoney and GreenPath. Some additional GreenPath services may include fees, which GreenPath will disclose to you.

*WorkMoney does not provide credit repair, credit counseling, debt settlement, or debt management services. To the extent such services are provided by WorkMoney partners, please consult with those partners to determine whether such services are right for your specific situation.