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I ask because - and maybe I just suck at Black Friday'ing - I've had a gander at all the usual places online during Black Friday over the past few years since it ostensibly became a thing in the UK, and I've never seen anything that even approaches the kind of legendary, beating-other-customers-to-death-with-tools-from-the-gardening-section-level discounts that you hear about over in the USA. Certainly not on anything you'd actually want to buy, like quality electronics or recent entertainment products.

And that seems to be bearing out so far this year - I went on the hunt for a monitor that will do justice to the GTX1080 I had to pick up earlier this year when my 7970 died six months before my planned upgrade, figuring that since you can usually pick up a 27" 1440p 120hz+ Gsync monitor for around the £500 mark I might be able to pick something up inside my budget, but noooope. Most e-tailers seem to be following Amazon's lead and just sticking their baseline Black Friday deals up this week and letting them run until the day itself, and the best discounts available sit around the 10% mark.

The UK version of Black Friday just feels like a bit of a con tbh - we've been conditioned by vicarious experience of the US version to expect this huge blowout, but what we get seems to be a normal sale where most stuff gets a couple of quid knocked off and the deep discounts are only on the garbage that nobody usually buys.

Black Friday is next week 25th November.

Anything on sale now is just an appetiser for next week. Which is good because its payday for me.

I know that plenty of companies with American origins do Black Friday sales, Staples has done them for years (but not much longer) and Amazon do them as well. So do ASDA, but companies that comes from British or European backgrounds don't tend to do so much and they just get lobbed in with the rest of the Christmas sales.

Wait till the day itself then see whats available.

Currys PC world usually have some form of BF sale but Amazon is usually the go to.

Some retailers have been pushing Black Friday for a few years. Five years ago no-one had heard of it.

It's something the media have boosted, because of the exciting headlines.

There has been a backlash, though, partly cultural and partly business based.

I've got a few things at a hefty discount (Got about 60% off some X-Wing, 50% off some baby stuff), but generally it's no better a deal than I can get in other sales.

Battlefoam tends to do pretty good sales on old stock too (up to about 60-70% off).

We don't tend to get much in-person sale chaos, thankfully.

Plus, most of the stuff that is on sale is the sort of tat no-one wants anyway.

Good, maybe you can avoid our mistake.

I worked a black Friday once, in the electronics department of a Toys R Us.

If I never work retail again itll be too soon.

I think the recommendation is do your research!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37999897

I don't think you'll find many deals on computer components though except for maybe old, outdated stock. It's one of the areas that has been hit hard by the £'s decline.

Herzlos wrote:
I've got a few things at a hefty discount (Got about 60% off some X-Wing, 50% off some baby stuff), but generally it's no better a deal than I can get in other sales.

Battlefoam tends to do pretty good sales on old stock too (up to about 60-70% off).

We don't tend to get much in-person sale chaos, thankfully.

Plus, most of the stuff that is on sale is the sort of tat no-one wants anyway.

I dunno about that.

Last year we kitted out my father in law with a brand new 42" Flat screen sound bar, speakers and some nice headphones off the back of Black Friday. Hefty savings and looking at what the same kit costs about 12-18 months on he is still about 10% better off.

I always do my BF shopping online, I don't tend to visit physical shops much after October anyway,

Never really seen Black Friday in Ireland. A few of the electrical/home retail stores do it but after that its a non event.

I've never done the Black Friday craziness here in the states, and have no intention of ever doing it in the future.

I don't need that hassle for $100 off a TV set.

No Black Friday please, we're British

No disrespect to American dakka members, but there are some things I wish would stay in the USA (root beer, baseball, the big bang theory) and Black Friday is one of them

If I want to fight my way through people on a British high street, I'll go drinking on a Saturday night.

My list is the same, but also toss in Halloween aka pretend to not be home day.

 MrMoustaffa wrote:
Good, maybe you can avoid our mistake.

I worked a black Friday once, in the electronics department of a Toys R Us.

If I never work retail again itll be too soon.

Here here. I worked as a back-house manager for them for 3 years. Insanity would happen on that day

5 Black Fridays at Borders for me. I remember once when the lines were 50 people long, some guy in the middle just gave an exasperated "feth this" sigh and stormed out of the store with his arms loaded with product. We all looked over at the GM to see his reaction, and he just said, "keep ringing."

I'm so sorry you have to deal with this all the way over there too. Bad enough getting the same nonsense here.

I imagine Black Friday is done in Canada and the UK simply because it's such a big thing for business here in the US. Internet stores such as eBay, Amazon.com, and other online retailers have been doing Black Friday sales and allowing foreign buyers to participate, so it only makes sense that other countries would want to get in on the buying spree that the sales are generating.

 Breotan wrote:
I imagine Black Friday is done in Canada and the UK simply because it's such a big thing for business here in the US. Internet stores such as eBay, Amazon.com, and other online retailers have been doing Black Friday sales and allowing foreign buyers to participate, so it only makes sense that other countries would want to get in on the buying spree that the sales are generating.

But that's the point though - they generate big sales because, at least in theory, there are huge discounts on offer for things people actually want to buy, so they show up/camp the website and end up buying stuff they hadn't planned to that isn't as heavily discounted. I think the best deal I've seen on UK Amazon was last year when they had 20% off a couple of no-name brands of TV, most of the deep discounts are on the sort of tat you see on shopping channels. It seems like over here they're just going through the motions and hoping nobody notices that it's really no more of a bargain opportunity than any other sale, and often even just regular online discount pricing.

 Yodhrin wrote:

 Breotan wrote:
I imagine Black Friday is done in Canada and the UK simply because it's such a big thing for business here in the US. Internet stores such as eBay, Amazon.com, and other online retailers have been doing Black Friday sales and allowing foreign buyers to participate, so it only makes sense that other countries would want to get in on the buying spree that the sales are generating.

But that's the point though - they generate big sales because, at least in theory, there are huge discounts on offer for things people actually want to buy, so they show up/camp the website and end up buying stuff they hadn't planned to that isn't as heavily discounted. I think the best deal I've seen on UK Amazon was last year when they had 20% off a couple of no-name brands of TV, most of the deep discounts are on the sort of tat you see on shopping channels. It seems like over here they're just going through the motions and hoping nobody notices that it's really no more of a bargain opportunity than any other sale, and often even just regular online discount pricing.

Many retailers/vendors have scheduled sales throughout the year. It's just more obvious on Black Friday because the Thanksgiving holiday acts as a starter gun for the Christmas buying season. As with any other time of the year, you need to do a little research to see if the sales are worth your while.

<Inert South Park's Black Friday/Game of Thrones 3 parter here>

Occasionally got some okay savings on black friday on amazon for christmas presents. Nothing huge, though.

Well...I'll find out soon enough.

Trying to get a 'New 3DS' and whatever the rest of the family wants at Toys R Us. Not looking forward to it as the one I'm going to is a pretty big store.

Never really seen Black Friday in Ireland. A few of the electrical/home retail stores do it but after that its a non event.

http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2016/1125/834293-black-friday-sales/

My ignorance knows no bounds.....

Well, there may as well not be a Black Friday for me since work have somehow managed to screw my wages up.

On a more positive note, for me. There could be more sales heading up towards Christmas so I may still be able to find a bargain on the the things I need.

I grabbed a new mouse and a USB 3.0 to Type C cable off Amazon.

Oh, and my new laptop went down £28 (Technically £50 but that took it below the minimum price for free delivery ), so woo I guess

I got a kindle fire for £30 and 10% off some shelving. No crowds or anything

 n0t_u wrote:
My list is the same, but also toss in Halloween aka pretend to not be home day.

Halloween is a UK thing. Trick-or-treating isn't; Lazy American kids clearly find protection rackets easier than learning a party piece.