Almost all of the official Black Friday sales are already live. In fact, a lot of them actually went live last weekend. Black Friday as a sales event has continued to extend further and further every year, and it can be difficult to figure out exactly when the right time to shop is. Do you need to jump on the deals available now before they're gone? Or should you wait for a better discount to drop after Thanksgiving?
Unfortunately, there is no cut and dry answer to this question. Some of the deals live right now will probably be gone before actual Black Friday, and some will be better on the actual day. If you don't want to spend an entire week shopping for savings this year, I can help you cut through the noise.
The Friday After Thanksgiving Will Still Have the Best Deals
Lets just get this out of the way to start. Despite retailers stating that their full Black Friday sales are live, that isn't really true. Every major online retailer has released their partial Black Friday sale, with more coming later this week. That isn't to say that the current deal prices aren't worth checking out, but that, traditionally, the best deals drop on actual Black Friday because that's when most people will do the bulk of their shopping. Some retailers have already released ads that prove more deals are on their way.
Target released its Black Friday ad recently
Perhaps the most obvious indicator that better deals are scheduled for November 28 is that Target has flat out said so. In its latest Black Friday sales ad, Target has stated that more discounts will be arriving on Friday and hours earlier for Target Circle 360 members. While it hasn't given that many specifics about what will be on sale, we know that LEGO sets will be 40% off and a ton of clothing and outerwear will be 40% off as well. This announcement came alongside Target launching its official Black Friday sale on sale over the weekend.
Costco released a Black Friday ad almost a month ago
The Costco Black Friday sale has been happening pretty much all month long, but we've known for a while that the best discounts at Costco would come on Thanksgiving. That's because Costco released its full Black Friday schedule and holiday ad back in October. Outside of its regularly scheduled sale, it'll offer online-only discounts on November 27 that will then be available in stores on Black Friday. You can check out the full ad scan for those sale dates below to see what's coming tomorrow.
Best Buy Is Doing Doorbuster Fridays
Best Buy has been offering discounts since Halloween, but its official sale didn't kick off until November 20 this year. Every Friday since that first sale went live, Best Buy has been dropping new "Doorbuster" deals on tech that haven't regularly been a part of its sale. You can expect the retailer to do this same thing again on Black Friday this year, but with a lot more gusto. So while there are already some good deals in the Best Buy sale, the best ones are still probably arriving this Friday.
The LEGO Black Friday Sale Starts on Friday
Despite most sales already going live, the LEGO Store Black Friday sale doesn't launch until actual Black Friday. The plastic brick company did offer its usual Insider's Weekend sale just a few days ago, but the official sale that will be available to all will be taking place on November 28. Alongside these discount, LEGO has confirmed that it will be launching its annual Black Friday set, which is the U.S.S Enterprise from Star Trek this year.
Amazon and Walmart Will Price Match New Deals
Of all of the Black Friday sales every year, Walmart and Amazon tend to have the biggest overall offerings. The simple explanation for this is that they have the largest stock of everything and can price match deals across the web. Amazon launched its Black Friday sale on November 20 this year and has been copying whatever new deals arrive whenever they do. As an example, Target launched a "3 for 2" sale on November 23 and Amazon pretty quickly launched its own 3 for 2 sale at the same time. And yesterday, Walmart dropped some great Apple deals that Amazon quickly copied. There are some exceptions to this, but generally speaking, if we know other retailers are lauching better deals on Friday, then so will Amazon and Walmart.
What Deals Should You Shop Right Now?
It's true that bigger and better discounts will arrive starting tomorrow, but some deals you'll want to snap up now while stock lasts, like Black Friday video game deals. These discounts are mostly regulated by the actual gaming companies and have been going pretty fast. The PlayStation Black Friday deals launched on November 21 and the Nintendo Black Friday deals started on November 23. Because stock is limited on things like physical games and the deals are incredibly popular, we're already seeing stuff sell out at Amazon and other retailers.
Nintendo Switch Deals Are Going Fast
All of the Nintendo discounts are live and we're already seeing stuff sell out at Amazon. Most notably both Super Mario Odyssey and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door are now only available at Walmart and will likely be gone before Black Friday proper. There's also the Nintendo Switch 2 bundles, which aren't on sale at all, but are still incredibly popular ahead of the holidays. If you're planning on picking up the new console, you'll want to do it as soon as possible.
PlayStation Deals Are Also Selling Quickly
The PlayStation deals this year haven't been as popular as Nintendo, but the discounts are currently as good as they're going to get. Most of the items available aren't at that high a risk of selling out, although some discounted PS5 games are no longer available at Amazon. And among DualSense controller deals going on right now, the limited-edition ones that will probably go out of stock before Cyber Monday or earlier. Limited-edition console bundles also tend to sell out faster at these lower prices than a standard PS5.
Xbox Deals Are Limited
This year's round of Xbox Black Friday deals has been fairly disappointing so far. There are some game discounts available, but only a few of the Xbox controllers are on sale. And there are absolutely no Xbox console deals this year to speak of. That's a bummer considering Xbox raised its prices multiple times in 2025, but it is what it is.
Some of the best Xbox controller deals have come and gone (including the recent Xbox Elite Series 2 deal), so if you are looking for a discount there you'll want to act quickly. Most of the Xbox video game discounts have stuck around, however, so you should be find to pick those up any time over the weekend.
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