Black Friday 2023 is upon us, and there are loads of great deals about (see our pick of the best Apple Black Friday deals, for example). But with major brands and retailers now running their Black Friday sales, there is also a lot of trash about too, including offers that are just plain misleading.
From fake or novelty products designed to look like big brand tech to inflated prices and second-hand gear that's more expensive than new products, there are a lot of apparent discounts about that could fool the unwary deal hunter. Here are four Black Friday deals to avoid (and a genuine alternative for each one).
4 Black Friday deals to avoid
Nintendo Switch OLED (renewed): $349 $309.99 at Amazon
The Amazon renewed store can be a great source of unexpected savings on unboxed or used items. but this isn't one of those cases. It's always a good idea to check around to see if there isn't a better saving on a new version of the product. In this case there is. Walmart has the Switch OLED for under $300, though the flash sale may not last long.
Better option: Nintendo Switch OLED (new) $349 $297.99 at Walmart
MacBook Air 13 M2 (renewed): $979 $919 at Amazon
Here's another example. This is billed as a 'Renewed Premium' product, which means it's been certified by Amazon to work and look like new and to have at least 90% battery capacity... but for $30 more you can ge an Apple-certified genuinely new copy of the same laptop with 100% battery capacity at B&H Photo.
Better option: MacBook Air 13: $949 at B&H Photo
SanDisk Extreme Pro 4TB SSD: $319 $239.99 at Amazon
25% off a massive 4TB external SSD might sound like a pretty good deal, but there are a couple of things to be aware of. One: SSDs are so often reduced in price that nobody would should ever sensibly pay the full price. Second, this is the SanDisk SSD that was at the centre of controversy earlier this year amid a spate of complaints of it failing. This batch could be just fine, but the incident, and SanDisk's lack of response, seriously damaged confidence in the product. I'd go for a different option
Better option: Samsung T7 Shield 4TB SSD $239 $199 at Amazon: This is a smaller saving, but I've been using this SSD almost every day for over a year and can vouch for its speed and reliability.
Mini Smartphone 15 Pro: $137.90 $131.01 at Amazon
This claims to be the world's smallest '15 Pro Max', and if that sounds like a contradiction in terms, it is. It does look a little like a very tiny iPhone 15 Pro Max, but this isn't going to get you Apple's new 5x telephoto lens. Some of our writers do miss the iPhone mini, but it's hard to imagine that a phone the size of a cigarette lighter is going to be capable of doing very much at all.
Genuine alternative: up to $1,000 trade in with Verizon
How to avoid fake Black Friday deals
1) Check the brand
Although online retailers like Amazon and Walmart have made shopping very easy in some respects, they have also made identifying genuine products a little more complex because they include a lot of products from third-party retailers who use their markeplaces, and a lot of dubious products from unknown brands that try to pass themselves off as real brands. But it's rare to come across a deal that directly tries to pass off a fake product. In most cases, the real brand name will appear in the listing. And while you might see phones advertised as 'Pro Max' to make them sound like iPhones, it will be unsual for someone to get away with claiming their product is an Apple iPhone when it isn't
2) Check who the seller is
Don't assume that because you're buying from Amazon or Walmart, these are the ultimate sellers of the album you're buying. A lot of third-party sellers use their platforms. I'm not saying that third-part sellers are unreliable – far from it. In most cases, they will deliver the product advertised, but it is worth knowing who you're actually buying from and what reputation they have.
3) Check if the product is new or 'renewed'
There's nothing wrong with buying renewed products. They can be a great way to save money, and reselling products rather than throwing them away is also a lot better for the environment. In many cases, products advertised as renewed have barely been used. Some may have been opened and shipped back without even being switched on. However, the savings on renewed products can sometimes be far smaller than what they should be.
I feel the way the discount on renewed products is measured is a little misleading really. Retailers often cite the original cost of the product when it was new, which doesn't take account of whether the new product itself might be on sale. This means that of there's a good Black Friday deal on a new version of the product, sometimes the renewed 'deal' is actually more expensive.
4) Follow our own Black Friday 2023 guides
At Creative Bloq, we're running several pages where we're rounding up the best genuine Black Friday deals on a range of products for creatives. On these pages, we guarantee that we're only including the best real savings on real products. See our guides to the best MacBook Black Friday deals, drawing tablet Black Friday deals, 3D printer Back Friday deals and more.
