Deal or no deal? How to tell a genuine Black Friday discount from a fake one

Black Friday falls on Friday 27 November this year, and the simplest test of any deal is to find out what the product has actually sold for in recent months. A genuine discount is measured against a price the shop really charged, recently and for a reasonable stretch. And a Black Friday price is often not the lowest of the year: when Which? tracked 175 home, tech and health appliances for a year around Black Friday 2024, it found that 83 per cent were cheaper or the same price at least once outside the four-week sales period.

Check the price history first

Before the sales start, note or screenshot the prices of anything you plan to buy. Price-history websites can show how a price has moved over months, and Which? suggests checking them beforehand so you know the price you are looking for. On Black Friday itself, it found no deals at all at their cheapest of the year around the sale, which, it says, suggests there is no need to rush on the day.

What a 'was' price is supposed to mean

Since 6 April 2025, misleading prices have been covered by the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which replaced the old unfair trading regulations. The law sets no fixed number of days. Instead, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute's pricing guidance, updated in April 2026, asks whether the comparison is fair: how long the higher price was charged compared with how long the discount runs, how recently it applied, whether significant sales were made at it, and whether an out-of-season price is being used as the reference.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been more specific for online mattress sellers: the 'was' price should apply immediately before the discount, for at least as long as the discount lasts. The CMA says it will have regard to those principles in other sectors too.

An RRP should be clearly labelled as one and must be a genuine selling price, not created to manufacture a discount; Which? found one that had applied for just 13 days in the six months before the sale. An "up to half price" banner should only be used if the top discount covers a significant share of the range.

Watch the total, not the headline price

The 2024 Act also bans "drip pricing", where extra fees appear as you move through checkout. CMA guidance says the headline price should normally include all mandatory charges, from VAT and booking or processing fees to delivery when you can't collect the item yourself. Trading standards guidance adds that a price should not change between your online basket and the checkout.

Countdown clocks and other pressure

Falsely claiming that a product, or a price, is available only for a limited time, to push you into deciding on the spot, is banned outright; the CMA's example is a countdown clock that simply restarts when it runs out. Messages that are literally true can still mislead, such as a pop-up boasting of ten sales in five minutes from a shop with plenty of stock. Breaking these rules can bring penalties of up to £300,000 or 10 per cent of worldwide turnover, whichever is higher.

Your 14 days to change your mind

Buy online and the Consumer Contracts Regulations give you 14 days after the goods arrive to cancel without giving a reason, or up to 12 months if the seller never told you about that right. Once you have told the seller, you have 14 days to send the goods back, and the seller must refund you, including standard delivery, within 14 days of getting them back or of receiving proof that you posted them. You usually pay the return postage, unless the seller agreed to cover it or failed to tell you that you would.

The right does not apply to personalised items or goods that deteriorate quickly, and it is lost on sealed hygiene products, recordings and software once you unseal them. Handle goods only as you would in a shop; go further and the seller can deduct for any loss in value.

Deal, or no deal?

If you can't trace the 'was' price, the offer leans on a ticking clock, or you wouldn't buy the item at that price on an ordinary day, walk away.

The question in the headline comes from Deal or No Deal, the game show that began on Channel 4 in 2005 and returned on ITV in 2023, in which a contestant weighs the Banker's offers against a sealed box. The format has lived on beyond television, too: fortunegames.com has a guide to Slingo Deal or No Deal, a Gaming Realms game that mixes slot-style reels with a bingo-style grid of the show's red boxes, for adults aged 18 and over only. Its results are random, and it is paid entertainment, never a way to save or make money.

For your Black Friday shopping, the show's question still applies to every offer: if the answer isn't clear, it's no deal.

18+ only. Treat any game as paid entertainment, never a way to make money. Free, confidential help 24/7: National Gambling Helpline, 0808 8020 133.