This post comes from partner site DealNews.com.
Halloween is gone, and the winter holidays are up next. For many of us, the season inevitably means shopping. Even if you don’t like shopping, there’s good news: fantastic deals on electronics, clothes and big-ticket appliances that we actually may need. Here’s a rundown of things to consider buying in November at rock-bottom prices, as well as a list of things to avoid purchasing this month.
Large home appliances
Whether you’ve been saving for a high-end Dyson vacuum or your refrigerator is on the fritz, know that November is the very best time of year to shop home appliances. In terms of quantity, one-third of all home deals listed last November were in this category. And if you were wondering about the quality of those offers? Exactly one-third of all 189 deals listed met our coveted Editors’ Choice mark.
The best vacuum deals will be found from Dyson and Hoover; last year almost half of the vacuum deals listed were Editors’ Choice-worthy, with Dyson models falling as low as $200. Big-brand side-by-side refrigerators will fall as low as $750, while chest freezers will sell for around $100. The cheapest dishwasher we saw last year went for $200 at Sears, while hhgregg had the best prices on washers and range ovens. Home Depot will also host its best sale of the year on appliances, likely cutting up to 40 percent off.
iPhone 7 and earlier models
November can be a great time to shop for a new and improved iPhone as long as you follow two simple rules: Buy one generation behind, and don’t buy from the Apple Store. You can expect to see the first-ever price drop on the recently released iPhone 8 (we saw the first discount on last year’s iPhone 7 during Black Friday week), but neither it or the iPhone X will see any significant price reductions until December.
What you will see, however, is a high number of Editors’ Choice deals on previous generations of iPhones, most notably the iPhone 7. Last November, we listed more Editors’ Choice iPhone deals than in any other month of the year, with a massive 62 percent of those on the iPhone 6, so we’re expecting to see a similarly impressive haul of offers on the 7 come this Black Friday season.
It’s likely that Verizon will offer the phone for as low as $1 with a two-year contract, as it did with the 6s last year. Those who don’t mind shopping refurbished to cut down the costs of an unlocked model should shop eBay, where prices have already fallen as low as $450. You can expect that price to drop even lower come Black Friday, while the older iPhone SE is likely to sell for as little as $200 at eBay.
Apple Watches
Again, if you’re looking to shop Apple’s latest selection of gadgets, you don’t stand to save much money this November. The recently released Series 3 Apple Watch is unlikely to see Editors’ Choice-worthy lows, unless you’re willing to make use of bundled store credits to make it worth your while (the best deal we saw on the Series 2 last year was bundled with $105 in Kohl’s Cash).
You can, however, expect to see significant price lows on the first- and second-generation of Apple Watches, as evidenced last year. A massive 76 percent of the deals listed in the category were Editors’ Choice lows on the previous generation of Apple Watch (the Series 1). We’ve already seen the Series 2 fall as low as $290, so you can expect that price to tumble as low as $279 over the coming weeks. Those on a budget should shop the Series 1, which is likely to hit a low of just $149.
Clothing
It may come as no surprise that we list more clothing deals come November than any other type of offer, as department stores and designer outlets host their best sales of the year. And although we actually saw more clothing offers in January, those listed in November of last year were of substantially better quality. In fact, nearly 400 of those listed during the month were Editors’ Choice-worthy lows.
Expect the very best deals to come on Cyber Monday, when retailers like Levi’s, Crocs and Nordstrom Rack offer up their best discounts of the year, coupled with no-minimum free shipping. 6PM will likely offer its best coupon deal of the year again too — around 15 percent off — with which you can save big on already-discounted Nike, The North Face and Columbia items.
4K TVs (and curved TVs)
We’ve been telling our readers to hold off on that big TV purchase for months, but thankfully the time to buy is now as half of all last November’s televisions were at Editors’ Choice prices. You can expect to see the most impressive deals at Dell, if you don’t mind using a bundled gift card to score an all-time low on a discounted set. Best Buy will alternatively host the best outright prices on a wide selection of big- and small-brand units.
We expect to see the bulk of the best offers on 4K sets. Last year, a massive 67 percent of all Editors’ Choice TV offers were on these high-resolution models. You can expect doorbuster deals on 40-inch 4K units to sell for just $170, while 50-inch units will hit the shelves for just $40 more.
Also notable from our research is that curved TVs will be a great buy this Black Friday. Although they won’t make up the bulk of deals listed in the category, you can expect to see around three times the number of deals on curved TVs listed this November when compared with any other month, and over half of them marked as Editors’ Choice.
Mainstream and budget laptops
November is the best time of year to buy most things tech, and a budget-friendly laptop is no exception. You can expect to see mainstream laptops with previous-generation Skylake Core i5 CPUs fall below the $300 mark. Gamers who want a build with dedicated graphics can expect to pay around $400 for a basic unit, while those looking for a faster i7 with it will shell out at least $600.
Bargain-hunters in the market for a basic build should shop Dell’s doorbuster sale, where cheap and cheerful units with Intel Celeron processors and 2GB of RAM will sell from just $100 (although stock will be limited). Those willing to pay a little extra will land a Lenovo or HP build with similarly basic specs, but double the RAM, for just $40 more at eBay.
Mid-generation game consoles
As with most electronics, the price of video game consoles drop come November, and big competition from Dell, Walmart and Target will push the cost of popular bundles down to budget-friendly prices. In fact, we saw nearly double the number of console deals in November than in any other month, with nearly 50 percent of them reaching Editors’ Choice lows.
Last year, we saw twice as many Editors’ Choice deals on Xbox bundles than its Sony counterpart, and we’re expecting to see a similar outcome this year, thanks to the release of the Xbox One X. Microsoft’s latest machine will hit the shelves on Nov. 7, so it’s unlikely that we’ll see any significant savings on the console, but you can expect to see major price drops on the previous-generation Xbox One as a result. We’re expecting to see doorbuster offers for the Xbox One S 500GB bundles to fall as low as $159, while the 1TB bundles should cost little more at $179.
PlayStation loyalists are likely to see the best deals on the PS4 Slim 500GB model, which will hopefully fall as low as $169, while the non-Slim unit may not budge from last year’s $209 price tag.
Video and PC games
Not only are we expecting big deals on consoles and gaming laptops, but this November also promises some exciting price lows on video games across all platforms. Last year, more than half of all 198 console games met the mark for the Editors’ Choice nod, which is 30 percent more than came through come December. The most popular AAA titles of the season fell as low as $26 at Walmart and Microsoft, while Amazon price-matched the stores within minutes, so we expect to see the likes of Horizon Zero Dawn and Prey hit similarly low prices this year.
PC gamers can expect to see the year’s best prices drop as Green Man Gaming and Steam host their best sales of the year — knocking up to 90 percent or more off many titles. You can bank on more than half the PC deals listed to be Editors’ Choice prices, too, which means they’ll fall to all-time lows or cost less than half the best price elsewhere.
Kitchen items
From cookware to small appliances, all kitchen necessities see big discounts each year in November. In 2016, we listed an impressive 132 Editors’ Choice price lows on these items, which was nearly one-third the total tally. Kohl’s will be the prime spot for top deals on small appliances, including slow cookers, coffee makers and blenders — all of which fell to just $2 after mail-in rebates last year. You can expect to shop Pyrex kitchenware at Target for just a couple of bucks apiece, while 13- to 14-piece cookware sets will drop to less than half price at Kmart and Macy’s.
Purchases to put off
Even though you can find a lot of great deals in November, we suggest you hold out for even better prices on some items, including the following …
Winter apparel
Those shopping for seasonal outerwear won’t see the best deals of the year hit the virtual shelves until December or January when the winter season is in full swing. Coats and jackets in particular will see their biggest discounts in the run-up to the holiday season, when roughly a quarter of all deals will be marked Editors’ Choice.
High-end computers
Intel’s new Coffee Lake processor is still hard to find in budget-friendly laptops, and we’ve seen just one deal with it in tow so far this month. It won’t see major discounts this month either, but most average consumers don’t need these high-end specs anyway.
Although Apple announced a new line of iMacs and Mac notebooks at WWDC in June, we’re still unlikely to see any major price drops on the brand’s heftier builds. Savings of up to $450 may be found on its Retina MacBooks, and this year’s updated 12-inch MacBook could drop by $100 come Black Friday, but you can expect to see a lower share of Editors’ Choice deals this month when compared with the average monthly figure of 21 percent.
Gift cards
If you’re stocking up on holiday gift cards, know that you’ll see a wider selection of offers come December. Last year, Target knocked 10 percent off all gift cards, while a selection of iTunes, Starbucks and Amazon gift card offers also hit our home page.
Exercise equipment
Few people hit the gym hard outside of January, so wait until the New Year to take advantage of sales on exercise equipment. We saw 40 percent more deals come January and a higher number of Editors’ Choice offers when compared with November’s loot.
Toys
Those shopping for board games, LEGO and all things Star Wars should know that the best kid-friendly offers won’t hit our inboxes until December. It’s true that we saw slightly more toy offers in November last year, but the number of Editors’ Choice offers increased in the run-up to the holidays at Walmart, Toys “R” Us and Target.
What’s your strategy for holiday shopping? Share with us in comments below or on our Facebook page. And be sure to share this list of recommendations with your friends.
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