Americans are obsessed with deals, especially when it comes to Black Friday. Over the years, this annual shopping phenomenon has grown to become an unofficial holiday for many Americans. The truth is that many of us find pleasure in buying merchandise at the deepest discounts and knowing we beat our fellow sale-addicted shoppers to the punch. In fact, 81.7 million Americans shopped in person on Black Friday last year, while 87.3 million made purchases online.
While Black Friday is traditionally associated with the best prices relative to the rest of the year, we should pause from our spending and ask how good of a deal we are really getting. As it turns out, 36% of items will offer no savings compared to their pre-Black Friday prices this year. According to WalletHub’s holiday shopping survey, 85% of American consumers are planning to spend the same amount or less during the 2025 holiday season relative to 2024.
To separate myth from fact, WalletHub compared pre-Black Friday prices to actual Black Friday “sale” prices for a broad selection of items. Using the price difference of each item, we isolated the offers that are truly worth the hassle of participating in America’s biggest shopping craze.
Chip Lupo, WalletHub Analyst
Best Deals Overall
What to Buy on Black Friday
| TRU Large Espresso Machine (UPC: 0655772021397) | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $260 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $400 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $140 Belk |
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| Elizabeth Arden PREVAGE Anti-Aging Daily Serum 2.0, Face Moisturizer with Idebenone (0085805240288) | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $112 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $187 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $75 Belk |
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| HP - OmniBook X Flip - Copilot+ PC - 16" 3K OLED Touch-Screen Laptop - Intel Core Ultra 9 - 32GB Memory - 2TB SSD - Eclipse Gray (16-AS0043dx/BZ0N2UA#ABA) | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $1,000 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $1,499 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $499 Best Buy |
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| Calphalon - Premier™ 11-Piece Set - Stainless Steel (2029640) | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $250 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $400 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $150 Best Buy |
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| Mr. Coffee - Perfect Brew, Intelligent Coffee Maker, Cold Brew Maker & Tea Brewer - Stainless Steel (2205857) | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $150 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $200 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $50 Best Buy |
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| Dell Slim Desktop, Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 265, 20 cores, Windows 11 Home... | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $700 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $1,039 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $339 Dell |
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| Sealy Dreamlife 12" Hybrid Mattress - Queen (330767) | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $500 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $799 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $299 BJ's |
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| Cartier x Sacai Trinity Cuff Earring Earrings 18K Tricolor | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $3,111 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $3,600 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $489 Walmart |
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| La-Z-Boy Jax Rocker Recliner (1837992) | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $550 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $1,189 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $639 Costco |
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| RYOBI SPEED BENCH Mobile Workstation | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $179 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $310 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $131 The Home Depot |
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| KitchenAid® KSM150PS Artisan 5-qt. Stand Mixer | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $350 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $480 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $130 Kohl's |
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| Landing Leathers Men WWII Suede Leather Bomber Jacket | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $315 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $450 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $135 Macy's |
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| Gamma+ Boosted Professional Hair Trimmer | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $80 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $170 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $90 Macy's |
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| ABS Eurus Ruby Gaming PC | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $4,100 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $6,000 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $1,900 Newegg |
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| Yeston Atlantis Radeon RX 9070 XT | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $700 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $850 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $150 Newegg |
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| FUFU&GAGA 3-Combination White Wood Armoires | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $450 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $800 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $350 The Home Depot |
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| Samsung 32" Odyssey G5 QHD 165Hz Curved Gaming Monitor | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $200 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $318 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $118 Costco |
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| Disney Princess Style Collection Fresh Prep Gourmet Kitchen | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $193 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $387 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $194 Target |
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| Michael Kors MK3513 Mini Slim Runway Watch | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $105 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $195 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $90 Walmart |
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| Crazy Cart Shift Lightshow by Razor - 12V Electric Drifting Go-Kart | |
| Black Friday Price After Discount: $228 Pre-Black Friday Price*: $317 Additional Discount for Waiting Until Black Friday: $89 Walmart |
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*Depending on an item, our research team collected one or more of its advertised prices between Oct. 27 and Nov. 17. The “Pre-Black Friday Price” is the lowest of those prices for each item.
In-Depth Look at Best Black Friday Items
Best Apparel & Accessories Deal - Landing Leathers Men WWII Suede Leather Bomber Jacket at Macy’s
The best 2025 Black Friday deal for apparel and accessories is a Landing Leathers Men WWII Suede Leather Bomber Jacket sold at Macy’s, going from a pre-Black Friday price of $449.99 all the way down to $314.99, for a savings of $135 (30% off). That’s a pretty solid deal for a jacket.
Best Appliance Deal - Calphalon - Premier 11-Piece Stainless Steel Cookware Set at Best Buy
High-quality cookware sets like the Calphalon Premier 11-Piece Stainless Steel collection can be pretty pricey for $399.87 under normal conditions. But if you swing by Best Buy on Black Friday, you’ll be able to snag it for $249.99, saving yourself a cool $149.88 (37.48% off).
Best Consumer Electronics Deal - Gamma+ Boosted Professional Hair Trimmer at Macy’s
A high-performance hair trimmer can make professional-quality grooming much easier, and Black Friday is the perfect time to pick one up for less. The Gamma+ Boosted Professional Hair Trimmer, normally priced at $169.95 will be on sale at Macy’s for $79.97, which is $89.98 off (52.94% savings).
Best Computer or Phone Deal - ABS Eurus Ruby Gaming PC - 9950X3D, RTX 5090, 32GB, 2TB SSD from Newegg
Many people wait for Black Friday deals to upgrade their setup, and now you can get the ABS Eurus Ruby Gaming PC for $4,099.99 instead of the usual price of $5,999.99 at Newegg. That saves you $1,900 (31.67%) on a powerhouse desktop featuring Windows 11, AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D, GeForce RTX 5090, 32GB DDR5 RAM, and a 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD—perfect for high-end gaming and AI-powered performance.
Best Furniture Deal - La-Z-Boy Jax Rocker Recliner from Costco
If you are looking to upgrade your comfort, the La-Z-Boy Jax Rocker Recliner has a significant discount at Costco this Black Friday. You can get this item for $549.99, compared to the normal price of $1,189.3. That saves you $639.31 (53.76%).
Best & Worst Product Categories
Percentages were calculated based on only the items in each category that matched offers posted on Amazon.com prior to Black Friday.
Share of Good Deals by Retailer
Below is a comparison of retailers according to the percentage of “good” deals they offer — that is, compared with the same products from Amazon.com. If the price offered by retailers is lower than the price on Amazon.com, this was considered a good deal, with the opposite representing a bad deal. Please note that complete data were not available for some items and therefore were excluded from our analysis.
Top 5 Deals by Retailer
*Depending on an item, our research team collected one or more of its advertised prices between Oct. 27 and Nov. 17. The “Pre-Black Friday Price” is the lowest of those prices for each item.
**A negative value indicates that a shopper would spend less by waiting until Black Friday to purchase the item.
Ask the Experts
Black Friday deals may seem like an early holiday gift for consumers, but that isn’t always the case. We asked a panel of experts to share some insider secrets for Black Friday shoppers. Click on the experts’ profiles below to read their bios and responses to the following key questions:
- What types of products are better to buy on Black Friday versus other times of the year?
- Should most consumers ignore promotional deals where retailers provide deep discounts on a limited stock of an item? How can consumers judge if these doorbusters are worth the race to snag a deal?
- What is a good strategy in identifying the best deals on Black Friday?
- All things considered, are Black Friday discounts worth the hassle?
- What items do you think will be in higher demand this year compared to previous years?
Ask the Experts
Ph.D. "Dr. C" - Assistant Professor, Marketing, TMU Business Leadership Club Advisor - Thomas More University
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Ph.D., Professor of Management - Eastern Illinois University
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Assistant Professor and Academic Chair, Anheuser-Busch School of Business, Harris-Stowe State University
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Dean's Chair in Marketing Science, Professor of Marketing, Robert H. Smith School of Business - University of Maryland
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Ph.D, Associate Professor, College of Business and Management - Lynn University
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Associate Professor of Marketing - Bentley University
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Methodology
In order to determine the best and worst items to buy on Black Friday, WalletHub first determined each item’s “Pre-Black Friday Price” by collecting its advertised price on Amazon.com between Oct. 27 and Nov. 17. For certain items, we collected two prices during that period and in such cases chose the lowest to represent the “Pre-Black Friday Price.”
We then collected the advertised price on 2025 Black Friday Ads for the same item on Black Friday in order to determine its “Black Friday Price.” Our sample excludes deals that did not have calculable percentage markdowns.
Finally, we ranked the items according to the overall difference in their prices between the two dates and determined which products would pay off the most for a shopper’s Black Friday hassle.
Sources: Data used to conduct this study were collected from each retailer’s official website, BlackFriday.com and Amazon.com.
WalletHub's personal finance experts are frequently cited by leading media outlets. Contact our media team to arrange an interview.