Black Friday 2026 falls on Friday 27 November, and Cyber Monday on Monday 30 November. Neither has happened yet, so this is not a list of deals: it is what we do every year to be ready before the prices move.
We have shopped every Amazon Black Friday since we started travelling full time, mostly for camera gear, hard drives and packing kit. The short version is that the day itself matters much less than it used to, and that two things people still get wrong cost them real money.
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The dates that matter in 2026
- Prime Big Deal Days: 6–7 October 2026. Amazon’s October sale, 48 hours, Prime members only. Confirmed by Amazon.
- Thanksgiving: Thursday 26 November 2026.
- Black Friday: Friday 27 November 2026.
- Cyber Monday: Monday 30 November 2026.
One date is missing from that list on purpose. Amazon has not yet published when its Black Friday Week starts in 2026. We are not going to invent it. What we can tell you is what Amazon actually did the last two years: in 2024 the event ran 21 November to 2 December, and in 2025 it ran 20 November to 1 December. Both started roughly a week before Thanksgiving and finished on Cyber Monday. If 2026 follows the same shape, the sale will be well under way before the 27th — but treat that as a pattern, not a promise, and check Amazon’s own page once they announce it.
Black Friday is not a day any more
This is the single biggest change since we first wrote this post. Amazon has not run a one-day Black Friday for years: the last two editions were roughly twelve-day events, with new batches of deals released through the day rather than one “Deal of the Day”.
Two practical consequences:
- Sitting at your laptop on Friday morning is the wrong plan. Plenty of the good stock is gone by then, and plenty more has not launched yet.
- There is an earlier sale. Prime Big Deal Days on 6–7 October is the same machinery, seven weeks earlier. If what you want is discounted there, buy it there — Amazon’s holiday returns window has historically run long enough to cover an October purchase, which makes an early buy much less risky than it sounds.
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How we get ready
1. Build the list now, not in November
Every year the same thing happens: the discount appears, and you have no idea whether it is a discount. Put the things you actually want into an Amazon list now, while nothing is on sale, and write down what you would be happy to pay. That number is the only thing that stops you buying a bag you did not want because it was 40% off.
2. Check the price history — Amazon now shows it itself
This is the part a 2019 shopping guide gets wrong. You no longer need a third-party tool to see whether a “deal” is a deal: Amazon has added a Price History view on the product page showing up to a year of movement, along with price alerts and the option to buy automatically when an item hits a price you set. Amazon describes the feature here. Keepa still exists and still goes deeper, but for “is this actually cheap?” the native chart now answers it in one tap.
3. Know your returns window before you buy, not after
Amazon’s standard policy is 30 days from delivery for most items. On top of that, Amazon has extended the window over the holidays every year recently — for the 2025 season, items bought between 1 November and 31 December could be returned until 31 January 2026. The 2026 window has not been published yet, so check it on the product page before you order rather than assuming it.
4. If you are buying to travel, buy boring things
The gear we have been glad to own years later is almost never the discounted gadget. It is memory cards, a second battery, a power bank, packing cubes, a decent adaptor — the things that are annoying to buy at full price and never go out of date. The flashy discount on a drone or an action camera is the one most likely to be sitting unused in a drawer by March.
If you want ideas rather than deals, our travel gift guide and our travel backpack comparison are the kit we actually carry.
Is Amazon Prime worth it for the sale?
For the October event, it is not optional: Prime Big Deal Days is members-only. For Black Friday week itself, most deals are open to everyone, but Prime gets you the faster shipping that matters when you are buying in the last week of November. If you only want it for the sale, the free trial covers the period and can be cancelled afterwards.
You can start the 30-day Amazon Prime free trial here.
One thing worth knowing if you are in the US: Amazon has shown an NFL game on Black Friday since 2023, and the 2026 game is on 27 November, free to any Amazon account. It is the clearest signal of how Amazon now treats the day: as a broadcast event at the end of a long sale, not the sale itself.
Conclusion
Decide what you want and what it is worth before October. Check the October sale first, because it is seven weeks earlier and often the same price. Use the price history rather than the percentage on the badge. And check the returns window on the item in front of you, because the holiday extension for 2026 has not been announced yet.
We will update this post with the actual dates once Amazon publishes them.
Need some inspiration? Check our recommended travel items!
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