Black Friday & Cyber Monday Canada: Track Prices, Don't Guess

Before the deals start, settle on what you'd pay for each thing you want, based on its price history rather than its list price. Then set alerts at those prices. You'll hear about a drop whenever it lands, and that might be the first week of November rather than Black Friday.

Waiting doesn't automatically get you a better price, and buying early doesn't automatically mean you missed one. The alert makes the timing someone else's problem.

A short, loud shopping window pushes people into snap decisions. A price chart takes a few seconds and answers the question that matters: is this lower than what the item has sold for before? If a retailer raised the regular price in October, the chart shows that too, and the Black Friday discount shrinks to its real size.

Pricing works differently depending on the chain. At Best Buy, Staples, and Sport Chek, a Black Friday price is the same at every store, so you're only checking stock. Canadian Tire and Home Depot prices can differ between stores, and Walmart prices can differ by province. If a deal you saw online doesn't match your shelf, that's usually why.

Cyber Monday deals are online, so in-store stock stops mattering. Price inflation doesn't. Compare the Cyber Monday price on an item with what it cost on Black Friday. They aren't always the same, and the bigger cut isn't reliably on the day with the bigger name.

Start by searching the items on your list to see their history before November, and browse today's clearance in the meantime. The rest of the year, most markdowns never make a flyer at all.