The best time of the year to buy things

Here in Europe they're forced to show the lowest price of the last 30 days and I was looking at some games in GoG and for several interesting games their Black Friday "discounted" price is €15 whilst the lowest price in the last 30 days is €10.
So the Black Friday "discount" is in fact 50% more expensive than the previous time that game had a "discount" which happenned not even that long ago.
- That's regionally specific then, because they sure as hell don't do that where i live (EU member). They have to compare with non-sale price within a month or something, so it's complete bullshit here because they artificially inflate prices prior to black Friday "sales".
  
  I'm in Canada and I see it.
  
  Guess I've just chosen the right country to point my VPN to then :)
- Oh look, another reason why Europe is superior
- Most companies have adapted to that by now. The raise the orice for (at least) rhirty days so that it still looks legit.
  The one in your example seems like a failure at that.

While you do need to be careful about this bullshit, things do actually often hit lows for black Friday sales. Particularly electronics.
- But definitely double check SKUs. A lot of Black Friday products are more cheaply made than their usual counterparts, even if they outwardly seem like the same product.
  
  I used to work at Best Buy in the Video department. We got all new products shipped in just for Black Friday. One year we got these $40 VCRs (I realize I'm dating myself here) that we must have sold a billion of. Within the week, we had so many returns that we didn't have any place to put them.
  
  I've read this for years but never personally seen it.
- You gotta track stuff you want to buy ahead of the pre-sale price hikes. Depending on where you live, what you want to buy and how much money you make that might be too much time and energy so checking price history sites (like camelcamelcamel for amazon) when they're available also works in a pinch.
- For like the first ten of them and you have to get to the store 6 hours before it opens and then fight gladiator matches with all the other crazy people to be at the cash register first. No thanks, man!
  
  Wrong decade.
  
  at least you said "the other crazy people"
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02XhcmLLZQ4
- I went clothes shopping in the US today and saved 496 dollars with all the coupons and sales, and got mountains of stuff. I always do it that way, but I shop the day after Black Friday and the deals are still the same. US department stores on holiday long weekends are the best deal ever, I save money all year and go for a great big shop.
- Yep, most smart home stuff I would not recommend buying for the regular prices.
- I've gotten a lot of cheap electronics in early January too.

This is why camelcamelcamel.com is great
- Yeah, always gotta check price history. Especially on Aliexpress.
  Was looking at buying a particular retro game emulator handheld. Black friday pricing was the same as non-black-friday pricing, but it was "discounted" from $300, which it has never actually been sold at. Still bit the bullet and bought it because it did end up decently cheaper using one of their "spend $x and get $y off" coupons.
- Keppa is a bit better imo. A lot of price history goes back pre covid (not like it matters I just find it interesting to see), camelcamelcamel doesn't. IIRC had something to do with Amazon making them

Most price changes I have seen goes like this:
September: 300
Start of november: 500
Black friday: 250 - 50% off!
- What I've seen many times (and what often still is a pretty good deal)
  JAN: product X, 1100 bucks
  FEB: product X EOL. last items BUY NOW - 20%!
  MAR
  APR
  MAY
  JUN
  JUL
  AUG
  SEP
  OCT: some warehouse: Fuck. Is that a a stash of product X?
  NOV: BLACK FRIDAY WEEK! Product X -45%! LIMITED STOCK!
- In the UK, Which (a consumer group) did a study. I think 90% of products were cheaper or same price at other parts of the year.
  The only thing cheaper is usually the shit that no one wants that they cannot shift, or those 5 TVs at the start of the day that make people believe there are good deals available.
  
  Do you think you have a link for it, I'd help me in a policy paper I'm helping write.

I’ve learned my lesson. I bought a graphics card and a monitor a few weeks ago. They were the kinds of desirable purchases that were never going to get discounted on Black Friday.
- If you happen to be in the US, better to make those sorts of purchases now before prices go up under tariffs.
- Been watching a new GPU for the last week, waiting for my paycheck to come in
  35% discount, steepest in it's history according to CCC, holds right until this morning, payday, now it's a 5% discount
  Its not the usual scummy price shit but I'm def pissed off
  
  May as well wait just a little longer..
- Idk, I bought a 4k 240 hz oled monitor for $300 off for black Friday, the lowest price it's ever been. I think deals are still out there.
  
  Deals are there, many are not worth the wait and the real (good) deals are often less desireable items.
  At least from what i've seen myself.
  But i always hope the more expensive stuff gets a discount so i can get something better than what i would've bought otherwise.
  Right now there are a couple 4080 super's discounted but it's only like €80 difference for a model i would only buy if the difference was larger, so i almost ended up buying a non discounted 4080 super model.
  
  4k 240 hz OLED
  300$ off
  So it was a 10% discount ? /s
- I bought two hard drives when Trump got elected.
  They're still the same price.

Capitalism is cancer, no it really is. It's a system demanding infinite growth in a finite system. What the fuck else would you call that?
- I thought capitalism was just that the market should be open.
  I didn't recall any mentions of infinite growth.
  
  There's really no point arguing with someone who thinks in memes, and definitely not with someone who leads with "Capitalism is cancer." But business does have a "grow or die" philosophy, which could be what the person means by misapplying the term "infinite". The mainstream business world knows literally infinite growth isn't possible - although many people in business don't see or acknowledge specific limits, or think they're so far away they can be treated as infinite right now.
  
  No, but it follows. It's what the open market demands.
  
  If that's all it was or if that was actually what it was, but the markets aren't open. They're closed off to anyone but the rich

"Damn Valve, pick a price..."

But srsly there are best times of the year to buy a lot of things. For example, Christmas decorations are marked way down right after Christmas, and TVs are discounted right before the Super Bowl. Month-by-month guide

I read this meme in an anti-semitic voice.