Buy Now
The bulk of toys and holiday decorations, as well as a large portion of clothing and electronics sold in the US, are manufactured in China. The ongoing trade war may lead to price hikes or product shortages this season.
More than three-quarters of holiday shoppers (74%) believe that tariffs will have an impact on their gift-buying, per NerdWallet’s 2025 Holiday Spending Report. In order to avoid any shortages, 28% of respondents said they would shop earlier than usual. Edgar Dworsky, the creator and publisher of ConsumerWorld.org, suggests getting started early, especially for any “must-have” items on your list.
On Checkbook’s Consumerpedia podcast, Dworsky claims that big-box stores like Amazon, Best Buy, Macy’s, Target, and Walmart are already utilising “early Black Friday sales.” It can be difficult to decide whether to buy now or wait for the official Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals because the items you want may not be available.
According to Dworsky, most big-box stores provide a price guarantee or a generous return policy for holiday shoppers. Therefore, if you decide to buy early in November and the price goes down later, you might be able to get the difference back just by going to the courtesy desk.
A Comparative Shop
“Don’t use a’sale’ as an excuse to buy something,” Jamie Lettis, associate editor at Chequebook, suggested. Investigate the validity of that “sale pricing.” After a six-month investigation, Checkbook’s researchers found that “sale” pricing is usually a scam. Online resources make it easy to check prices. Camelcamelcamel monitors the prices on Amazon over time. Amazon is a helpful tool for helping you separate genuine bargains from “super sale” marketing jargon, even though it doesn’t always offer the best prices.
Additionally, you can check the most recent prices offered by major retailers using comparison websites such as Shopzilla, PriceGrabber, Bizrate, and PayPal’s Honey.Lettis uses her smartphone to “do research on the fly” while she’s in the store. This allows her to determine whether the price she is excited about is the best one out there. If Lettis finds a better deal online or from another retailer, she will go to customer service and ask for a price match.
Lettis also searches for discount codes on her favourite cashback shopping portals, like Rakuten and RetailMeNot, to see if she can get a better deal or a refund if she buys that item online.
Lettis believes that what counts is the final figure. Even though an item might cost the same in-store, I could still receive $20 back because Rakuten was giving 10% cash back that day. That’s worth it, in my opinion. I’ll buy it online and wait for it to arrive at my house.
Let AI Do Some of the Work
A shopping expert Lisa Lee Freeman, a former top editor of ShopSmart magazine from Consumer Reports, uses artificial intelligence to find products, assess prices, and suggest similar but less expensive options.
Her “AI shopping buddies” also help her summarise customer reviews and answer specific questions.
You can ask it to summarise reviews for, say, a pair of running trainers and find out what the reviewers are saying about whether it runs narrow or wide,or how much padding it offers, Freeman mentioned during the “Holiday Shopping Tips” episode of the Consumerpedia podcast.
Freeman cautioned against using AI because it could lead you to a scammer’s website that was scraped from its online search or provide you with misleading information (known as “hallucinating”). Check the links to confirm the results and the validity of the URLs. Better yet, go straight to the retailer’s website.
Consider Alternatives
Freeman is adamant that buying “refurbished” products benefits the environment and her wallet. She plans to give the reconditioned items she buys for herself as gifts. Many manufacturers (such as Apple, Dell, Kitchen Aid, Lenovo, Samsung, and Sony) and retailers (such as Amazon, Best Buy, eBay, Target, and Walmart) are now offering these used goods at steep discounts.
Select certified refurbished, meaning that the manufacturer has inspected, repaired, and restored the products to factory standards. These are occasionally returned items that have never been used or even taken out of the box, so they cannot be sold as new.Review the return and warranty policies carefully before finalizing your purchase.
Think About Returns Ahead of Time
Most big-box retailers have more lenient policies regarding holiday returns, and Dworsky expects this year to be no different. Returns for the majority of holiday merchandise are accepted through the end of January. Pricey items like computers and cell phones typically have a much shorter return window, and some retailers charge restocking fees.
To combat return fraud, some retailers may have more stringent return policies than in the past.
Returning an item can be made easier if you give the recipient a gift receipt that includes the item’s purchase date and location. Without a receipt, the store can only issue a refund for the lowest price the item sold for in the preceding 90 or 180 days.
Remember that if the signs say ,All Sales Final, retailers are usually free to refuse exchanges or refunds.
