Black Friday 2022 deals: the when, what, and where

Black Friday officially kicks off on November 25th, but if you plan to make that the only day you buy gifts this holiday season, you’re missing out. Several retailers, including Best Buy and Target, are already getting a head start on rolling out their holiday discounts. Both are even offering price protection through most of the holiday shopping season, so if you buy early and the same item drops to a lower price you can retroactively get that better deal.

Whether you take advantage of the slew of early Black Friday deals or hold off until the day after Thanksgiving, it’s important to know how every major retailer is handling the shopping event this year. If you plan to spend some money, here are the schedules and expectations for the retailers that we know so far.

Amazon didn’t announce a full Black Friday playbook ahead of time, but its daily deals page has been updated to feature a range of early Black Friday deals. This is likely where Amazon will be listing all its Black Friday deals in the lead-up to the main event and throughout the shopping holiday, as well as Cyber Monday.

Just be aware that Amazon does not offer price matching, so price “protection” for many Amazon shoppers means buying the item at the lower price point and returning the original — which is pretty wasteful.

Black Friday savings have already kicked off to some degree at Best Buy. The retailer is currently offering various specials through its Black Friday deals event, with premium Totaltech members gaining early access to more deals on November 17th. If you have a free My Best Buy account, however, you’ll just wait until November 18th to gain early access.

Early Best Buy shoppers with a Totaltech or My Best Buy account also get price protection, ensuring that if you purchase a qualifying item and it goes on to receive a bigger discount during the return or exchange period, you can request a refund for the difference. As with some of the Black Friday promos, you’ll want to make sure you’re signed in with your My Best Buy account while browsing to see the lowest price.

Target recently announced a host of early Black Friday savings, billed as “Weeklong Black Friday Deals,” which began in mid-October. Each Sunday in November, Target will showcase new deals at brick-and-mortar stores and online. Target says it will be offering the best prices throughout the season; however, the retailer also has a holiday price match policy in place if it happens to offer a better deal on an item before December 24th. Keep in mind that you may need to return to the store for a price match on an item purchased there, or call Target’s guest services for online purchases.

Walmart plans to start rolling out Black Friday deals early as part of its latest Deals for Days event, which begins online Monday, November 7th, at 7PM ET and in-store Wednesday, November 9th, at 6AM local time. Some of the deals can already be previewed, with more yet to come. Paying Walmart Plus subscribers will also get early access to all of the retailer’s Black Friday deals, beginning at 12PM ET instead of the regular 7PM ET, and Walmart is offering a six-month membership free of charge to anyone who signs up for an annual subscription before November 4th.

Upcoming deals for November 7th include those on the last-gen Apple AirPods Pro, which can be had for $159 ($90 off their original price), and the JBL Flip 4 Bluetooth speaker, which will be on sale for $59 (about $40 off).

There is no word yet on Black Friday details from GameStop. Although the gaming retailer occasionally offers some Black Friday-like deals when we least expect it — it recently sold a Sony’s Pulse 3D wireless headset in refurbished condition for just $31.99, for instance — there is certainly more to come. We expect to hear more soon regarding store hours on Black Friday and possibly Thanksgiving, as well as some specifics regarding what kind of gaming deals it plans to offer throughout the holiday season.

Newegg hasn’t announced all its deals for Black Friday yet, but it is currently offering a bunch of early discounts with Black Friday price protection. The retailer is flagging price-protected purchases with a big yellow banner on each qualifying item, and if you purchase one of these items before November 21st and it receives a bigger discount on or before November 26th, you’ll qualify for a credit back. While that’s not nearly as wide a window as that being offered by Best Buy or Target, Newegg says it will credit you the difference back automatically by December 6th — so you don’t have to keep an eye out for a lower price during that timeframe.

Costco recently announced what it calls “Holiday Savings” deals for Thanksgiving Day online. It also announced a mix of in-warehouse and online deals running from November 24th through November 28th, with some select deals marked for an early start as soon as November 17th. There’s a mention of Apple deals starting on the 24th, though we don’t yet know what they’ll be. Some notable upcoming deals we are aware of, however, include the Xbox Series S for an online-only price of $239.99 ($60 off), the Sonos One SL speaker for $70 off, and LG’s 42-inch C2 OLED for $979.99 ($420 off), among other deals.