--- title: "Is That Black Friday Deal Real? Price Checker | Coupon Rook" description: "Check a Black Friday deal against the prices you saw before: real saving vs the 30-day and 90-day low and the median, a stamped verdict and a price chart." url: https://couponrook.me/ --- Black Friday is Friday 27 November 2026 # Is that Black Friday deal real? A deal is only real if the price is lower than what the shop charged before. Enter the sale price, the “was” price and the prices you have seen, and the checker measures the saving against the lowest price of the last 30 and 90 days, then stamps a verdict. ## What the rules say about “was” prices General consumer information, not legal advice. The checker only works from the prices you enter: it can’t know what a shop charged when you weren’t looking, and it never says a shop has broken a rule. - **EU** A shop announcing a price reduction must show the prior price: the lowest price it applied in at least the 30 days before the reduction, and any percentage off is measured from it (Article 6a of Directive 98/6/EC, applied since 28 May 2022). - **UK** Misleading price claims are unfair commercial practices under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. The CMA says a higher comparison price must be a genuine, usual selling price: not a short-lived hike, an old price, or one at which few items sold. - **US** Under the FTC’s Guides Against Deceptive Pricing, a former price must be one the item was openly and actively offered at, in good faith, for a reasonably substantial period in the recent regular course of business (16 CFR 233.1). - **Australia** The ACCC says a “was” price can mislead if the item was not sold at that price for a reasonable period right before the sale, or only a very small share sold at it. - **Canada** The Competition Bureau tests ordinary price claims by volume (more than half of sales at or above the price, generally within 12 months) or time (offered in good faith for more than half of a period, generally 6 months). ## How the checker works Write down the price each time you look at something you want, or log it in the [price watchlist](https://couponrook.me/price-watchlist/). On sale day, enter the sale price and those earlier prices. The checker looks only at prices dated before the sale day and works out: - **The 30-day low:** the cheapest price you recorded in the 30 days before the sale. This is the comparison the EU rule uses. - **The 90-day low and median:** a longer view, so a price that dipped last month still counts. - **The real saving** against each of them, beside the saving the “was” price claims. The stamp follows fixed thresholds. **Real deal:** at least 10% below the 30-day low, and no dearer than the 90-day low. **Small saving:** below the 30-day low, but by less, or cheaper earlier in the 90 days. **Not a deal:** the same as, or more than, the 30-day low. **Not enough data:** fewer than three prices in the 90 days, or none in the last 30. Prices dated on or after the sale day appear on the chart but not in the sums. Nothing you type leaves your browser. ## Sources - EU prior-price rule: [Directive (EU) 2019/2161](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/2161/oj), Article 2, inserting Article 6a into Directive 98/6/EC (applies from 28 May 2022), and the [Commission Notice on Article 6a, 2021/C 526/02](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52021XC1229(06)). - UK: [Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Part 4, Chapter 1](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/13/part/4/chapter/1) (in force 6 April 2025); CMA, [Unfair commercial practices (CMA207)](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/unfair-commercial-practices-cma207), updated 18 November 2025, which points to the CMA’s [urgency and price reduction claims examples](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/using-urgency-and-price-reduction-claims-online) (March 2023). - US: [16 CFR 233.1, Former price comparisons](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/233.1) (FTC Guides Against Deceptive Pricing). - Australia: ACCC, [Price displays](https://www.accc.gov.au/business/pricing/price-displays). - Canada: Competition Bureau, [Ordinary price claims](https://competition-bureau.canada.ca/how-we-foster-competition/education-and-outreach/ordinary-price-claims) (Competition Act, s. 74.01(2) and (3)). - Research: Which?, [Are the Black Friday sales worth the hype?](https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/are-the-black-friday-sales-worth-the-hype-aUT1h6T5aLgj) (24 November 2025). Rules checked on 2 November 2026. ## More tools for the season Dates to plan around, deadlines to beat, prices to watch. - [Black Friday 2026 dates](https://couponrook.me/black-friday-2026/): Countdown, the season’s shopping days by country, and Black Friday to 2031 by rule. - [Christmas shipping deadlines](https://couponrook.me/christmas-shipping-deadlines/): Last posting dates for Christmas 2026 from eight carriers, with days left. - [Price watchlist](https://couponrook.me/price-watchlist/): Target prices, a price log by date, and the lowest price you have seen. - [Pay-later planner](https://couponrook.me/bnpl-payment-planner/): Pay in 4, pay in 3 and pay in 30 plans on one calendar, with clash warnings. - [Return deadline tracker](https://couponrook.me/return-deadline-tracker/): Shop return windows and the legal cancellation periods, earliest first. - [Coupon code guide](https://couponrook.me/coupon-code-guide/): Why codes fail, where real ones come from, and a checklist before you pay. ## Recommended Two free services for the online side of deal hunting. Temporary email · no sign-up ### CleanTempMail Lots of shops offer a first-order discount if you sign up with an email address, then send offers for months. CleanTempMail gives you a free temporary inbox at once: no sign-up, a random or custom address on hundreds of domains, and messages deleted automatically after 3 days. Use your real address for the order itself, so the receipt and delivery updates reach you. [Get a temporary inbox](https://cleantempmail.com/) Disposable cloud browser · domain lookups ### WebTraceCheck Seen a bargain from a shop you have never heard of? WebTraceCheck’s free DNS and domain lookup shows how long a shop’s domain has existed, and its disposable cloud browser opens unfamiliar links on an isolated desktop that is deleted after each session. Nothing to install, with free time every day. [Try WebTraceCheck](https://webtracecheck.com/) ## Questions **How do I know if a Black Friday deal is real?** Compare the sale price with what the shop charged in the weeks before, not with the “was” price on the label. If it is not cheaper than the lowest price of the last 30 days, it is not much of a deal. **What is the EU 30-day price rule?** Since 28 May 2022, a shop in the EU that announces a price reduction on goods must show the prior price: the lowest price it charged in at least the 30 days before the reduction. **Are Black Friday prices the lowest of the year?** Not reliably. Which? compared 175 products on offer on Black Friday 2024 at eight UK retailers and found every one was the same price or cheaper at other times in the six months before or after. **Does Coupon Rook know a shop’s real price history?** No. It only uses the prices you type in, and it never accuses a shop of anything. The more prices you log before the sale, the more the verdict tells you.