Black Friday prices: Nearly 30% of products rose in price before the sale, survey finds

Prisjakt has examined price trends for half a million products sold online during October. Almost 30 percent of them have risen in price, and just over 14 percent have increased by at least 10 percent.

Among the products with the largest price increases are televisions, jackets, computers, game consoles and perfumes.

“We see that a larger proportion of prices increase significantly in the month before Black Friday, and this may be preparation for the sale,” says the site’s consumer expert Isabella Ahmadi in a press release.

Sneaky price increases exploit a legal loophole

Since 2022, stores have been required to state the lowest price a product has had in the previous 30 days when advertising a price reduction.

But if you raise prices even earlier, for example 31 days before Black Friday, it is not covered by the Price Information Act, says Anton Mattsson, a lawyer at the Swedish Consumer Agency.

Since the change in 2022, Prisjakt has noted a higher proportion of price increases in October than before. Last year, one in ten Black Friday offers had increased in price during October.

It is therefore necessary to look further back than 30 days to know how good the offer actually is, says Isabella Ahmadi at Prisjakt.

Four in ten break the rules

It is also common for stores to make mistakes during the Black Friday sale.

We did an audit last year, when 39 percent of all the companies we audited violated the Price Information Act, says Mattsson.

Companies often fail to state the correct comparison price.

When you have a sale, you should state the lowest price the item had in the 30 days before the price reduction, and then it may simply be incorrect. We have various tools to catch it.

What should you do during the Black Friday sale if you want to be sure the offer is actually a bargain?

Considering how many cases we have had in recent years, I would definitely recommend comparing prices on a comparison site, says Mattsson.

There are several different price comparison sites, such as Pricerunner and Prisbot.se. There are also niche comparison sites for specific goods such as books, games and computers.