In exactly a week it will be that time again: then the bargain festival Black Friday will start in full force. In the United States, the sales craze is accompanied by endless queues at the till and literal fights for the last bargain. The extremely low prices trigger a lot in the American.

In our own little country, things slow down a lot on Black Friday and we mainly shop online. But here too, the spectacular discount day is gaining popularity, says Koen Crijns from comparison site Hardware.Info. Together with his team, he closely follows the price development of gadgets and other technical gadgets. From smartphone to game computer and from camera to laptop. “In the last two years, we have seen a sharp increase in our visitor numbers in the run-up to Black Friday,” Crijns says about the growing interest among consumers. “The highlight last year was on Black Friday itself, when we attracted almost seven times more visitors than on a normal Friday”.

Those thousands of bargain hunters are all looking for the same thing: the best deal. But are there real discounts? “Certainly not everything that web shops present as a spectacular Black Friday offer is a real offer,” says Crijns based on his own data. “But in general the prices are considerably lower than normal, often tens of percentages”.

The data also clears stores of sneaky advance price increases. A frequently heard reproach against Mediamarkt during the company’s VAT-free promotional days. “We have not yet caught webshops in such practices in the run-up to Black Friday,” says Crijns. “And that is actually quite logical given the fierce competition: if you increase the price as a webshop, the customer and turnover will go to a cheaper competitor.”

Anyone who thinks that only dated products are discounted is wrong. The latest of the newest is also on offer. Crijns: “You see accessible and affordable equipment, but also more exclusive top products with a substantial discount. So it is certainly not just a leftovers party ”.

If you want to get hold of such a cheap top device, you have to be quick. The stock is limited. “Offers are generally a collaboration between web shops and manufacturers,” explains Crijns. “This means that specific products are usually only available in limited numbers and at one store”. Missed a nice offer? Don’t worry, because Saturday and Sunday are also full of offers. So you may still make your move and maybe even cheaper.

But how do you find the best deals? How do you prepare? And what should you pay attention to? You will not be disappointed with the following tips and tricks.

1) Make a wish list of products you would like to have in advance and bookmark the products at a price comparison site such as Hardware.Info or  Tweakers. just. By setting price alarms, you will automatically receive an email when the product becomes available for the desired price.

2) Discount is nice, but not on a bad product. That is a waste of money. So first immerse yourself in the product and read reviews, for example from Tweakers or the Consumentenbond.

3) Check the price history of the offered product. Is it really cheaper than say two weeks ago? Our tech editors and Hardware.Info have a special tool for this that shows the price trend of the past months. This way you know what historically the lowest price of the product was and you see through fake offers faster.

4) Take the suggested retail price with a good grain of salt. This is often increased to make the discount appear larger.

5) View and compare the product price across multiple stores. This prevents you from paying unnecessarily too much. This can also be done easily via Hardware.Info or Tweakers.nett.

6) Do not only check whether products are on sale during Black Friday , but also on the days before and the weekend after. A company like Amazon, for example, will only go big after the Black Friday weekend, with what is called ‘Cyber ​​Monday’.

7) Many Black Friday offers are while supplies last. So checking the web on Friday morning is a better idea than late Friday night. Anyone who arrives late is missing out.

8) Finally, pay attention to the promised shipping period , especially if you still want to use the items as a Sinterklaas present.