Black Friday deals season is fast approaching. It's the biggest shopping holiday of the year and overall the best time to find discounts on just about everything. If you're hoping to save some money on gifts and essentials in 2025, this upcoming sales event is your best bet.
With that in mind, Black Friday has evolved well beyond a single day of deals. While plenty of shoppers still tend to do the bulk of their actual shopping over Thanksgiving weekend, you will definitely be able to find good deals well before then. Best Buy has has already launched its early Black Friday sale, so you don't even need to wait.
When Do Black Friday Sales Actually Start?
Black Friday is November 28 this year, but we expect most sales to drop much earlier than that. Based on last year, we expect all of the major online retailers to start offering "early" Black Friday disounts at the beginning of November or on Halloween and continue through the week before Thanksgiving. Right after that, the "official" Black Friday sales start going live.
Best Buy was the first retailer to reveal its sale dates for 2025, and it looks like its Black Friday sales will start on Thursday, November 20 this year. Amazon was one of the first retailers to kick off the sale last year on the Thursday before Thanksgiving weekend, and it would seem that trend has caught on for 2025. Amazon will almost certainly match Best Buy's sale start time. Costco has also announced that part of its sale will begin on November 17 this year with more deals arriving online on Thanksgiving.
Best Buy, Costco, and Walmart have made an announcement about sale dates just yet, but it's probably safe to say that you'll be able to do most of your online Black Friday shopping the weekend before Thanksgiving in 2025. For many brick-and-mortar stores, you may be able to expect the full discounts even earlier. Some sales will still only take place on actual Black Friday, like at the LEGO Store, but for the most part the discounts will start ahead of then.
What Deals to Expect From Major Retailers
With the ongoing tariffs and recent price increases in the U.S., it's difficult to predict exactly what discounts we'll see during the 2025 Black Friday season. Tthe IGN Deals team has been covering shopping events all year and we have a decent idea of what you can expect, even if the prices will be higher than what we saw last year.
Amazon Black Friday
Amazon has one of the biggest Black Friday sales every year and tends to have discounts on just about everything. Based on previous Amazon sales like Prime Day and Prime Big Deal Days, you can expect the same discounts on Amazon devices we saw earlier this year. The lowest prices will most likely be on Kindles and Fire TV sticks, as well as Echo speaker bundles. Amazon has also been pushing a pretty steep discount on the Luna controller and subsequent bundles during every major sale this year. These particular discounts will most likely be exclusive to Prime members.
Outside of Amazon devices, the online retailer will also automatically match prices on popular products that are offered at other retailers. That means you can expect discounts on things like Apple devices, LEGO sets, laptops, TVs, and just about every other brand not exclusively owned by another major retailer. Amazon's Black Friday sale will usually be offering the same low price (or lower) as any of its competitors for these types of items.
To get a better idea of what to expect this year, you can take a look at last year's Amazon Black Friday ad.
Walmart Black Friday
After Amazon, the next biggest Black Friday sale you can expect is at Walmart. These discounts will be both in store and online, but the online savings should start a bit earlier. Walmart usually has some of the best deals on Apple devices like iPad and AirPods. You'll usually also find some of the lowest prices of the year on Walmart-exclusive products like Onn electronics, select Vizio TVs, some gaming PC configurations (see: the recent GeForce sale), and certain home appliances.
In the past, Walmart has also had some great Nintendo Switch deals that Amazon wasn't able to offer. We'd expect to see this again this year, most likely on newer Switch 2 games or Pokémon cards. Expect some of these discounts to be available early for Walmart+ members, which has been the case for other major sales this year.
In addition to popular tech and games, Walmart also tends to have deals on groceries, clothing, and toys. Walmart has been especially known to offer particularly good LEGO discounts, but stock tends to be fairly limited.
You can check out the full Walmart Black Friday ad from last year for more information. Walmart has also released an early deals preview for discounts starting on November 14 this year you can check out.
Best Buy Black Friday
The Best Buy Black Friday sale is usually the best collection of tech deals during the holiday season. Many of these discounts will be price-matched by Amazon and Walmart, but it will still likely have all of the same Apple devices, TVs, and video games on sale as everywhere else. You can also likely expect some sort of video game console deal on the PS5/PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X. With the continued price increases, this could just mean getting a free Best Buy gift card with your purchase, but it will still be a better deal than paying full price with no additional benefits.
In addition to consoles, video games, and video game accessories, Best Buy also tends to be one of the best places to buy handheld gaming PCs and laptops. With the recent release of the ROG Xbox Ally X, Best Buy has been the only retailer to keep stock. You can likely expect price cuts on the previous generation ROG Ally devices at Best Buy this year, as well as other popular handhelds. We also expect competitive pricing around newer laptops with the latest 50-series GPUs.
For more information on what to expect, check out the Best Buy Black Friday ad from last year. Best Buy has stated that it will have new doorbuster deals dropping every friday starting on Halloween this year, so expect the deals to arrive early.
Target Black Friday
The Target Black Friday sale is usually pretty similar to Walmart's Black Friday sale every year. Expect similar discounts on video games, toys, Apple products, and appliances that you'll find everywhere else. Where Target tends to differentiate from competitors in its exclusives. The retailer has partnered with a bunch of different home brands and is usually the only place you'll be able to buy those items at a discount during Black Friday shopping season. This makes it a great place to do your shopping if you're planning on buying any decor upgrades for your home.
Target has also been consistently offering some unique discounts on select toys that Amazon hasn't been able to price match. The most recent example is a LEGO sale on new 2025 sets. Amazon did match prices on a few of the sets, but not all of them. We'd expect this to happen on Black Friday too, so you'll need to check prices between retailers on the more popular toy items.
For more information on what to expect this year, check out the Target Black Friday ad from last year.
Costco Black Friday
Costco is a bit of a wildcard during the Black Friday season as it offers deals on pretty much everthing. For 2025, the full Costco Black Friday schedule has already been revealed and you can already see what deals to expect. Included in the holiday booklet there steep discounts on furniture, jewelry, and electronics. The same discounts you find at Amazon for select TVs and video games will likely also be available at Costco even if they aren't featured in the ad. You can also expect steeper warehouse discounts, like on the Kirkland Signature jewelry or various furniture items that are only featured for a limited time.
In addition to things like toys, gifts, and household items, Costco usually has some pretty decent grocery deals during the holiday season. You can usually find these ahead of Thanksgiving on things like turkey, snacks, and various other items. You will still need to buy in bulk, but the stacked savings on top of that are usually worth it.
For more information on what to expect this year, check out the expansive Costco Black Friday ad for 2025.
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Wayfair Black Friday
Other major retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, and Target will all have discounts on furniture as part of their Black Friday sales. But the overall largest discounts on furniture will be at Wayfair during this time. Wayfair consistently has the best furniture deals anywhere during the holiday season and you should be able to find a good deal on just about everything you can purchase for your home.
As for what specific discounts to expect, we can check out the Wayfair early Black Friday sale to get a better idea. On average you can save around 50% on chairs, tables, rugs, decor, and even pool tables. These discounts will sometimes be locked to a specific color or material type, and sometimes you'll be able to find steeper discounts on overtock items if you dig deep enough. The early access sale is happening right now through November 10 and we expect the main Black Friday sale to replace that with more deals sometime before Thanksgiving.
eBay Black Friday
eBay is still the Wild West when it comes to tracking down deals. There are plenty of bargains to be found, but a fair amount of research is required to be able to identify them from the other listings masquerading as deals. Most deals won't be discounted during Black Friday, however eBay will likely offer a sitewide coupon code – typically anywhere between 15% and 30% off – that will work on thousands of items from tech, apparel, sporting goods, home improvement, and more. General eBay codes will always be advertised on eBay's Deals page. Currently eBay is offering a 20% off coupon code "TECH4THEM" that works on over 2,500 refurbished items including the Meta Quest 3 and LG Evo C5 OLED TVs.
What to Buy on Black Friday This Year
Black Friday is the best time to buy most things online or in stores, but there are some items that get significantly bigger discounts during this time. If you're looking to save as much money as possible during Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year, here a few product categories that we expect will massive discounts this year.
TVs and Monitors
The best time to buy a TV or a new gaming monitor is without a doubt Black Friday season. This has been the case since Black Friday first became a thing and will long continue to be a trend we see repeated in the years to come. There are cheap TVs and monitors available pretty much year-round, but it's during this time of year that we see the steepest discounts on newer models. The popular LG C-Series TVs, for example, have already started dropping in price ahead of November. Many of these brands are not affectd by U.S. tariffs as well, so we likely won't see the same markup we're seeing on other products this year.
Video Game Consoles
While you shouldn't expect discounts on the new Nintendo Switch 2, both PS5 and Xbox consoles will most likely be getting discounts this year. Costco has already confirmed a price cut on the PlayStation Slim console, which means November is for sure going to be the best time to buy to buy a PS5. These prices cuts aren't as steep as previous years, but they are notable due to consoles seeing price increases this year. The PS5 models got a price hike back in August and Xbox has already raised its prices twice this year. Even older consoles are getting a price increase as the original Nintendo Switch also got more expensive with the release of the Switch 2. If you are still planning on buying a console in 2025, Black Friday is the only time you should do it. You can check out what Xbox Black Friday deals we are expecting for what we know about Microsoft's offerings this year.
Discounts on consoles also mean that this time of year is usually the best time to find discounts on games. This is especially true if you're looking to buy actual physical games as Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart will all have some sort of sale worth checking out. GameStop usually has a pretty good Black Friday sale as well. Expect popular titles to drop below $30 for the first time and $10 discounts on recently released games in some cases.
Toys and LEGO Sets
Due to its proximity to Christmas, Black Friday is undoubtedly the best time to buy LEGO sets and other toys. In all of the previews we have gotten so far (from Walmart and Costco), toys heavily featured in those discounts. That doesn't necessarily mean every type of toy or LEGO set will get discounted, but you can expect to see price cuts on items that haven't gone on sale all year during this time.
Apple Products
Although Apple does usually offer some sort of Black Friday promotion every year, but it's the other retailers that tend to have the best discounts. Black Friday is always the best time to buy a new iPad, AirPods, Apple Watches, and pretty much all other iOS accessories. Major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy will all be competing for the lowest price on the latest devices and we usually see the lowest prices all year on the latest Apple releases. This season is also a generally good time to buy an iPhone as most carriers will start offering their holiday promotions in November for the new iPhone 17 models.
Gaming Laptops and PCs
Black Friday has always been one of the best times to buy a new gaming PC or laptop. In 2025 this is especially true as we're finally starting to see the first discounts on prebuilt machines with 50-series GPUs included. Major retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, and Walmart will usually have atleast one really good deal over the holiday weekend worth checking out. You can also expect significant discounts direct from manufacturers like Dell, Lenovo, and HP that are just as good if not better than what we've seen all year long.
Phones
Black Friday is by far the best time to buy a new phone. This is mostly because we see all of the biggest discounts around this time, but it's also thanks to the release schedules of new phones. Both Google and Apple launch their new flagship phones in the fall and it's around November that we start seeing prices drop on new and previous generation phones.
If you're looking for deals on unlocked phones, some of those discounts have already begun. You can already get a great deal on a Google Pixel 10 smartphone at Amazon right now. We also expect the Samsung Galaxy phones to get similar discount later in the season.
What Won't Go on Sale This Year
Black Friday is the best time to buy pretty much everything, but that doesn't mean everything will go on sale. There are some products that won't see any discounts at all simply because they are too new or demand is just too high. This is particularly true when it comes to things like tech and popular toys. For example Nintendo just launched the Switch 2 this year and there's very little chance we'll see any Black Friday deals on the new console outside of bundles that already exist. The same thing goes for the recently released Xbox Ally X, which has very little chance of receiving a discount so soon after launch.
When it comes to toys, don't expect discount on anything that has come out in the last few months. This is especially true for new LEGO releases as we usually don't see discounts on those until six months or more after the initial release date.
Tips for Black Friday Shopping Online
It may seem silly to start planning your Black Friday shopping right now, but doing so can help you save a lot of money when it comes time to actually start making purchases. Here are a few Black Friday tips that you should consider ahead of the event:
- Set a Budget – Keeping track of how much money you can actually spend is important to avoid overspending. When everything is on sale, it can be easy to buy more than you really should just because things are at their lowest price of the year.
- Create a Shopping List – Knowing exactly what you're trying to find discounts on is a great way to avoid making unnecessary purchases. It can also make it easier for you to compare prices between retailers or set price drop alerts ahead of time.
- Compare Prices – Retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart make it really easy to do all of your shopping there. That being said, those retailers don't always have the best price on the items you're looking for. Make sure to compare prices across the web before you buy something for more than you have to.
- Research Before You Buy – If you're making an expensive purchase, make sure you do at least some research before you buy it. This means looking for independent reviews or testimony from trusted sources about those products. You shouldn't necessarily trust Amazon reviews, for example.
- Be Wary of Search Results and AI Summaries – Search platforms, such as Google, have a tendency to be flooded with sponsored links in the results as well as AI summaries that are potentially biased. Be careful to avoid clicking on a sponsored ad if you're looking for reviews or searching for specific products by price.
