Setting Up Price Tracking
Begin tracking desired product prices in October, 4-6 weeks before Black Friday. CamelCamelCamel covers Amazon products with detailed 90-day and all-time price history displayed as visual charts. Keepa browser extension overlays price history directly on Amazon product pages during browsing. For non-Amazon retailers, Google Shopping price history and Honey Droplist cover most major UK and US retailers.
Reading Price History Effectively
A product showing a stable price throughout October and early November that drops to its 90-day low in Black Friday week represents a genuine deal worth acting upon. A product showing a price increase in October that returns to its previous level during Black Friday is not genuinely discounted despite appearing to be on sale. The chart history makes the difference immediately obvious to informed buyers.
Setting Target Price Alerts
Set price alerts at 5-10% below the genuine 90-day average price to be notified when prices reach historically low levels. CamelCamelCamel and Google Shopping both support email alerts at target prices. These alerts allow monitoring dozens of products simultaneously without manual daily price checking across multiple retailers.