Watch out for price hikes and fake sales ahead of Black Friday

Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central

What y'all need to know

Blackness Friday is on Nov. 26, 2022.
Ahead of Black Friday, some retailers will raise their prices to make deals look better afterward.
Some sites will claim items are discounted when in reality, you aren't getting the best deal.

Blackness Friday is a great fourth dimension to pick up your favorite gadgets and gizmos at a discount. Unfortunately, some retailers resort to shady and misleading tactics to make deals expect more than alluring. Leading up to Black Friday, some sites volition enhance prices so that they tin can "lower" them subsequently on. Additionally, some listings will claim that they are offering you lot a deal when in reality, the same item was at a lower price simply a few weeks ago.

These strategies aren't exclusive to Black Friday shopping, but they're more prevalent this time of year. As such, we wanted to share a quick PSA and to provide some advice on how to avoid fake deals and price hikes.

Follow our dedicated deals squad

Surface Pro 8 Vs Surface Pro 7 Compare Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central

At Windows Central and all of our sibling sites, there are deals teams that check out the best discounts on your favorite gear. We follow the advice in this article and keep rail of prices throughout the year. If yous're on the hunt for a device this holiday flavor, make certain to check out our guides on the best Black Friday Microsoft Surface deals, all-time Black Friday Xbox Series X deals, and more. We keep our guides upwardly to appointment and write spotlight deals that assist you save money.

Ask the camel

Camelcamelcamel is a handy tool that lets you cheque the historical pricing of an item. The site is geared toward Amazon listings, but it also has pricing data for other sites.

Permit'south look at a specific example to prove the value of camelcamelcamel. The Microsoft Arc Mouse is currently "on sale" for $44.37 through Amazon. The list price of this item is $69.99. Considering of this, you may believe that you're saving $25.62. That's truthful, in a sense, just y'all aren't actually getting the best deal if you purchase an Arc Mouse right now.

Hop on over to camelcamelcamel, and yous'll see that the very aforementioned Amazon listing for the Arc Mouse was only $34.99 a couple of months ago. The Arc Mouse has even gone upwards in cost compared to a few weeks ago. While I can't guarantee that the Arc Mouse will dip down near $35 over again, I wouldn't exist surprised to run into a Blackness Friday sale on the device for less than its current cost.

Get a guarantee

Best Buy store Source: All-time Buy

Since people are cautious about purchasing items in the weeks leading upwardly to Black Friday, Best Buy has a guarantee for discounted items. Substantially, items that proceed sale leading up to Black Friday are guaranteed to exist at their best cost. In the rare consequence that an item does drop in price, All-time Buy will refund you the difference. The retailer outlines the fine print of the guarantee on its website. Make sure to read up on the terms and conditions to ensure that you go the best price on anything y'all buy through Best Buy ahead of Black Fri.

Nosotros may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.

An internet connection will soon be required when setting up Windows 11 Pro

UH OH

An net connection volition soon exist required when setting up Windows 11 Pro

Microsoft has announced that later this year, users will be required to connect to the internet and sign-in with a Microsoft Account during the out of box setup experience on Windows 11 Pro. Microsoft has already been enforcing this requirement on Windows xi Domicile since launch last Oct, and Windows xi Pro is now expected to follow suit before long.