The websites you NEED to check before shopping on Black Friday
WITH only a few weeks left before Black Friday, you'll want to make sure what you're buying is a real bargain.
The shopping event, which falls on November 24 this year, has gained popularity in the UK.
You can now make big savings on Christmas gifts by bagging deals and bargains in most online and high street stores.
Although it might be tempting to just dive in and snap up products in bulk, some websites can guarantee you're actually getting the best bang for your buck.
Here are our suggestions of the useful websites to check before shopping:
Idealo lists a range of products including tech items, toys, home appliances and video games among other things.
All shoppers need to do is search for the item they need.
The website will let you see how much the product costs at different retailers - including Amazon, Toys R Us, Argos and even auction website eBay.
It also ranks the offers from the cheapest to the most expensive one.
Handily, you can also set up price alerts. So, shoppers can enter their budget for an item, and receive a notification or email when the price drops to that level.
Another handy feature in the quest for the best price takes shoppers beyond the offerings of UK retailers, and shows them the current prices on offer in other countries across Europe.
Sometimes, an item might be completely sold out in the UK, or only available at inflated prices on a site like eBay, but abroad, there are still some bargains to be had.
Pricehistory history can help Argos customers make sure what they're buying is a winning deal.
Last month, shoppers accused Argos of pushing up its toy prices before it's popular 3 for 2 sale.
So if you're worried when shopping at Argos, can help.
The website tracks data for all the items on the retailer's website. You can also set up price alerts and see when is the best time to buy.
We had a quick look on the site - and found some items that had been sold cheaper before.
For example, Argos is selling the popular Think and Learn Teach'n Tag Movi robot from Fisher-Price for £34.99.
But a glance on the website, we found it was being sold in September for just £31.99.
It's also currently selling a Complete Barbie Home set for £59.99.
But in January 2016 the same toy was selling for just £34.99 - a difference of £25.
The website lets customers enter a URL of a product to reveal its price history - and see if it has been sold at a lower price.
You can also set up price alerts so you'll know when what you're after drops in price again.
Using the website, the Sun Online looked at prices of the mega popular Hatchimal Egg Surprise toy.
The recommended retail price of the toy is £74.99.
Amazon is currently selling Hatchimal Egg Surprise for £56.99 - or nearly £20 less.
But CamelCamelCamel reveals it was selling the item for just £47.44 in August this year- almost £10 cheaper than it is currently on sale for.
Fakespot looks at online reviews and makes sure the reviews are genuine, helping shoppers make sure they can trust the reviews they see.
It also cleverly flags up which reviews are dodgy and why.
So for example looking at this Hatchimals Egg Surprise toy the website found that 90 per cent of reviews are reliable and awarded an A.
But when we previously tried it on a Lego set it found that only 75 per cent of reviews were "reliable" and awarded it a "C" rating.
PriceSpy logs the history of how much something cost from over 3000 different retailers, including favourites like Argos, Amazon, eBay and the big four supermarkets.
Once you select an individual product you can quickly compare which stores have the best price and importantly, which have it in stock.
PriceSpy displays the lowest price available for each product and also arrows to show any sudden price changes
You can also read reviews from users and experts.
To get the most out of the site, you can sign up for an account, which allows you to create product lists and set price alerts for the product you want to monitor.
ALL OVER THE SHOPS When is Black Friday 2017 in the UK and which websites and shops are offering the best discounts?
Using the website price history function we spotted that Amazon is currently a flat screen TV from Samusung for £719.99.
A pretty good deal considering it was priced £739 just a month ago.
How do I sign up and get cashback?
IT'S also worth checking if you can get any cashback on the products you're buying. Here are our tips
- Sign up to a cashback website. Topcashback.co.uk and Quidco are two of the best. Click the ‘Join now’ option and enter your email address and password
- Make sure you click the free / basic membership option, otherwise you’ll be charged. If you want premium membership, both websites charge £5 a month for this. The premium membership will reward customers with bonus cashback, ad-free shopping and quicker payouts
- Find a deal that you want to purchase, whether that’s a home insurance policy, a new laptop from Currys, or a Tesco grocery shop. Instead of going directly to the retailer, you can access the shop through a link in the cashback website, and any purchase made will be registered with the cashback site.
- You still receive your item directly from the retailer, and the casback earned will be added to your online account. Once it’s there, you can withdraw it and transfer it to your bank account, or you can turn your cashback into a gift voucher or code to spend at a retailer.
- Bear in mind that it can take a few days or even weeks for the cashback to appear in your account on the website.
More about Black Friday 2017 deals
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Money team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 78 24516