Live Blogging Black Friday’s Best Deals, Flash Sales And Crazy Bargains

We may not have Thanksgiving in Australia, but that doesn’t mean we can’t cash in on one of the biggest sales days in November. We live blogged the craziness that was Click Frenzy and we’re back for round two with our Black Friday Live Blog!

We’ll be posting the best deals, any flash sales we find and the days best bargains! Join us!

The Black Friday Live Blog has begun and will be regularly updated throughout the day! Your host will be me, Jackson Ryan, and I will also be scouting Twitter for any deals I can find at @dctrjack.

If you want to check out the absolute best Black Friday deals we’ve found so far, click on this link and you’ll be in a world of bargains with our deals roundup!

[07:15] Good morning! I’ve jumped the gun early as I’ve seen a good deal… Now, I don’t know that I’m fully prepared for what is going to happen today – the Ashes are on, Amazon is still rumoured to launch (though I’m feeling like they won’t) and who knows what ridiculous prices we’ll see and then be bitterly disappointed we missed out on?

First up – if you’re hunting for a Nintendo Switch, I’ve just seen that JB Hi-Fi will have them for $399, today only. As Mario would say: “Thats-a good-a start”

[07:25] For those after more… erotic gifts and bargains, this is the guide you need to read. NSFW.

[07:26] I need coffee. So I am going to go acquire that before official kick off at 8:30. #putyourwalletsout

[07:30] Our friends at ShopStyle have a massive Black Friday deals post focused on fashion and clothing deals you’ll want to check out today. I wear shorts everyday so I’m no beacon of fashion forward thinking. They are!

[08:10] Catch of the Day only have a few hours left on their pre-Black Friday sales. You can get some really expensive Bang & Olufsen wireless headphones for just $259 (they usually retail for $599) and if you’re a lady? How about a $1 t-shirt? A SINGLE DOLLAR?

[08:20] It has been reported that eBay will have 10% off sitewide today, but as of yet – that deal is not live. Traditionally, we see eBay deals start a little later in the morning, so I expect to see it within the next couple of hours. It’s not a great discount, but if retailers are doing their own deals, it could work out well for customers. Will keep you updated.

[08:30] Alright, I’ve been posting all morning, but this is official KICK OFF TIME. Let’s do this.

[08:31] More video games – because these sales are always about tech. Pretty good price for the 4K Playstation 4 Pro 1TB console. You get the console plus five games: Wolfenstein II, Evil Within 2, Fallout 4, Dishonored 2 and the Elder Scrolls: Morrowind.

[08:33] I know many of you are super excited to hear about Amazon Australia’s imminent arrival, but it feels like we aren’t going to see them launch today. I’ve reached out to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Twitter:

[08:35] Smartphone cases to fill the stockings or just to upgrade from whatever it is you’re currently using? Tech21 have 30% off everything in their store today and deliver for free on orders over $70. I’ve had a Tech21 on my Galaxy S7 for the last year and a half and it’s served me well. If you’re looking for some real big discounts though? The Google Pixel Evo Check case is just $12. If you’re an iPhone 7/8 user: Try the Evo Go for just $22.

[08:42] Priceline are absolutely smashing it with a 50% off cosmetics sale that ends TODAY. You can access the sales online or in store and it’s probably better to get down to your local ASAP – a lot of stuff is selling out very quickly online.

[08:45] At Lifehacker, we bang on about the importance of a VPN basically five times a week, so if you aren’t already using one. You totally should! At this time of year, there are plenty of deals around but for value and quality, have a gander at PureVPN. They have a three year subscription plan for 81% off, costing you just $69.20 instead of around $360. This is the USD price, so take note the conversion brings it up to $90 AUD. This deal is for Lifehacker readers exclusively.

[08:47] Let’s talk cheap clothing – there’s plenty around:

[08:59] Oh, and THE ICONIC are doing 30% off for Black Friday, so, there’s that too. Use the code READY30! The code has changed – use BLACK30!

[09:03] Remember books? They’re these amazing pre-tech devices that are filled with words and knowledge and stories and today, they are cheap! I just bought a few Star Wars expanded universe novels (Leia, Princess of Alderaan anyone?). You can get 50% off at Booktopia right now. One negative: Shipping costs $6.95.

[09:05] BookDepository has an extra 10% off their already stellar prices – you can get The Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar for just $10 – for the next 72 hours. Just make sure you use BF10 at the checkout to slap on that extra discount.

[09:10] Sifting through some of the deals here on Dell and looking at the laptops – some are up to 40% off. For the bargain hunter, I would go with the Inspiron 15 5000 that comes with an Intel i7 processor and 8GB RAM for $1049. For those looking for a great laptop, I recommend checking out the XPS 13, which is currently $600 off.

[09:17] I do not condone this fashion item at all, but with 30% off perhaps you can convince yourself that Crocs are worth purchasing. At least you’ll be comfortable.

[09:25] I am typing this post from a Surface Laptop. I don’t even use our work-issued laptops because the Surface Laptop is my favourite piece of hardware to come out this year (besides the Nintendo Switch). It’s fantastic to type on, comfortable, the screen is amazing and it just looks so sleek and professional. It also weighs about the same as four bananas so? If you want to grab one, now is the time. The Microsoft Store has up to $700+ dollars off bringing the price as low as $1275 for the entry-level model. Personally I would look at i5 / 256GB / 8GB RAM model for $1699, but you can build it your own way!

[09:28] The Microsoft Store is also selling the JBL Charge 3 Bluetooth Speaker for a healthy $149, which is one of the best prices you can find at the moment. Nice stocking stuffer.

[09:33] Was speaking of footwear just before with the Crocs, but here’s some shoes I can get into. Catch has some Converse sneakers for just $58. The classic, for cheap. Good deal.

[09:42] Chris found some excellent deals at Sony over on his deals round up page yesterday but their Black Friday sales are now underway and you can get free shipping on products until Monday November 27. If you’re more about the cameras then you are probably aware of Sony’s excellent, mirrorless camera – the a7 II. It’s currently going for less than $2000, a saving of $300 AND you get a $300 gift card with your purchase.

[09:50] Playstation have started their sale online too and you can find heaps of Playstation 4 games on sale, some up to 60% off. My pick? Uncharted: The Lost Legacy for $27.47. Digital download for $3 more than a retail copy is great! Yearly subscriptions to Playstation Plus are also 25% off, bringing them down to $59.95 per year.

[09:55] No sign of Amazon Australia. I can’t see them launching today. Are you disappointed? Sound off in the comments. Still going to be some great Black Friday deals today.

[09:57] I am so close to buying this Sony 4K TV for my bedroom. Great size, great model, great price, free shipping.

[10:00] Some people are not happy that we ‘celebrate’ Black Friday but don’t have Thanksgiving. I am not celebrating anything except DISCOUNTS people. How can you be against saving money?

[10:01] Depending on what you buy at Apple today, you can receive a $210 gift card with your purchase. That’s a pretty nice chunk of ‘free’ ‘money’ there. The $210 gift card comes with the purchase of Macs, whereas iPads, iPhones and Apple Watches will net you $140, $70 and $35 gift cards, respectively.

[10:04] Target Australia are doing a lot of great prices on LEGO with up to 20% off select sets. If you’re looking at getting an even bigger discount though, I would wait until eBay launch their 10% off sitewide sale, which we’ve been told is coming today. That’ll should save you even more when you shop through Target eBay.

[10:11] Hi. My name is Jackson and I have no idea about makeup. Lucky for you, dear reader, our friends at PopSugar do. If you want to check out all the best deals Sephora are running today, then without further ado: Here they are. Skincare, makeup, tools. Enjoy.

[10:15] Whoa. Catch of the Day had extremely limited numbers of this AMAZING Playstation VR bundle. It’s already gone, but there are other BLACK FRIDAY DEALS FOR PLAYSTATION LIVE NOW GO GO GO GO ! Many are selling out FAST.

[10:18] Wow. Catch of the Day caught me off guard a bit. Some real big savings to be made there. This is their Black Friday sales page with discounts on a number of items – Google Home, Beds, Pencils, Inflatable Donuts etc.

[10:23] A couple of really good wireless speakers for the home – the Sonos Play:1 and Play:3 are currently retailing for $70 off which you don’t see all that often. They provide excellent sound and are easy to set up. Worth investing in and you can buy more than one and link them to get a more dynamic sound.

[10:30] The 10% off sitewide at eBay deal is now on. It lasts ‘as long as it is advertised on eBay‘ so don’t dilly dally silly sally! Get to the deals and used the code PANTONE at checkout. You will need to spend $75 or more. The total discount is capped at $300 per transaction. Limit 2 transactions per person during the Offer Period.

[10:35] AN intra-office request came to my inbox this morning for a deal on Bose QC35 Noise Cancelling Headphones (my favourite headphones). So this one’s for you Matt. The current best price I could find for the QC35s is around $405 from buymac_auctions on eBay. Remember to use PANTONE at checkout, to get the discount.

[10:40] Editor Chris Jager isn’t afraid to go out on a limb here – Amazon Australia isn’t launching today. Cue sad face.

[10:45] Well, with Amazon Australia out the window, let’s get cracking on same flash sales shall we?

[10:50] If you’re not totally In Hate with the NBN then JB are basically throwing money at you to switch over to a Telstra NBN plan pictured below. You’ll have to head in store today to sign up for it but seems like a decent deal, depending on what you’re currently on. It’s not really suitable for me, but you might find some joy in it.

[11:00] I am really bemused by the hatred towards Black Friday like it’s not just another shopping day but some innate American tradition that shouldn’t be allowed in our bloody country!

[11:08] If you’re in the market for a GoPro, The Good Guys eBay page is going to be your best mate. Listed at $399, with the 10% off sitewide code PANTONE, you’ll nab it for under $360. Free delivery too!

[11:17] Who wants an OLED? It isn’t quite the same as a $10 4K TV Deal that Click Frenzy was doing last week, but check out VideoPro’s Black Friday sale – LG 55″ OLED TV (OLED55B7T) for a measly $2200.50. Yes please.

[11:22] If there are any particular items or deals you’d like to see – drop in and say hey in the comments and I will find the best X Y Z’s I can. Let me know! You can also hit me on twitter @dctrjack if you want to ask a question or find out where to get some cheap whatever: Batteries, hats, drink bottles. I’m all ears.

[11:24] Alex, noted cricket lover and editor over at Kotaku, is doing some real heavy-lifting for anyone that wants to save money on video games today. He’s hitting the bargains for six! He’s gone and found the best video game deals on Green Man Gaming and the best video game deals from Catch of the Day. Has a great batting average, the young man!

[11:33] Hittin’ em for SIX! Yes, I did just want to reference the Ashes because I am trying to keep up with this and the score.

[11:35] The Lacoste footwear page that Catch has up for the next seven hours is worth a visit. Basically, you can get some half price shoes and sneakers for until 7pm AEDT

[11:40] We definitely already discussed books today, but Gizmodo have some great Sci-Fi and Fantasy picks that you can grab for cheap today. My recommendation? Station Eleven.

[11:43] On the opposite side of the fence? This person!

[11:47] Reader McW in the comments asked “Found any truly good lego deals yet?” and I don’t think that there are that many floating around. The best bet for me so far is to go to Target eBay and search for LEGO because they are running 20% off. Then add the 10% discount code PANTONE at checkout. I actually purchased the LEGO Star Wars BB-8 this way for $116.10 – sadly at the time I hadn’t checked this store: ozcheapstore – where I could have got it for $108.

[11:54] Another reader ‘karand93’ brings to light a pretty good deal for Google Home. You can grab a Google Home from the Good Guys eBay page for $133.20. Again, this requires eBay. If you use the code PANTONE at checkout. Bing Lee actually have this slightly cheaper though – $128.20 delivered using their store code ‘POWERON’

[12:00] My internet connection was down for 60 seconds and I went into meltdown… I could have missed some 30 second flash sales?!?!!

[12:01] Toys R Us / Babies R Us have plenty of child-based gifts and stuff at discounted prices for the entire weekend. I assume you can grab these in store too, if that’s more your thing!

[12:08] Great reader question about good board game prices for Black Friday, I will chase this up now but always worth having a quick gander at BoardGamePrices.com if you want a quick comparison.

[12:17] Great question from Twitter from @elisonfb about storage solutions – things like microSDs and HDDs. First thing I would do is use the Bing Lee eBay ‘POWERON’ sale and start comparing from there. Anything extremely good that I see, I will post about, but you can get some smaller microSDs for under $20.

[12:21] Alright, let’s talk DYSON. Everyone is out to find a good Dyson deal at this time of the year and have the Black Friday sales helped? Sort of. Your friendly neighbourhood Gerry Harvey has the Absolute V8 for $688 and JB are doing the same for $699, but they’ll price match Harvey Norman in a heartbeat if you go instore. If you don’t want to go top-line, then I would recommend just getting the V6 Slim, which isn’t as powerful but works just as well. Again, hit Bing Lee and use the POWERON code to get 20% off and bring it down to $322.40, delivered.

[12:30] Taking the live blog a little easier during the lunch rush here while I hunt for some huge bargains and line my pockets with gozleme. I am very hungry.

[12:33] Whoa, this is actually a huge discount. I just paid $55 for a 128GB card last week. You can grab a 200GB MicroSD for just $69.30 with the eBay code PANTONE. That’s a mega deal for anyone needing extra storage.

[12:37] House.com.au is the place to be if you are looking for homewares, knives, kitchen cookware, plates, pots etc. There are a ton of Black Friday deals listed there with up to 80% off. You need to put the code BLACKFRIDAY25 in at checkout.

[12:40] JB Hi-Fi has Samsung Galaxy Note 8’s for less than three zeroes. Yes, you can get the Galaxy Note 8 for $999 online or in-store. Couple that with JB’s move to same day delivery and you could have a Galaxy Note today for just $1009 (if you get your order in before 1pm)!

[12:44] From ‘featherstone’ in our comments section below:

Bing Lee (eBay) won’t let you use POWERON and PANTONE together 🙁

Yes, sadly you can’t actually do that because the terms and conditions limit you to using one code at a time. If you buy anything from Bing Lee on eBay, use POWERON. If you’re anywhere else on eBay, use PANTONE.

[12:46] Can someone get Grumpy Donuts delivered to this office? Anyone? Are any of my colleagues reading this??? Anyone? Someone send me a donut.

[12:55] The Sound Of Vinyl isn’t always the cheapest place to go for vinyl, but with the coupon code VINYLWELCOME20, you can score a decent deal. They’re also doing 15% off storewide which does work on top of that, according to this link. You’ll have to pay a delivery fee if you spend less than $50… but that shouldn’t be a high target to hit.

[1:00] Alright, I still haven’t gone to get my gozleme yet, but that’s what I am doing now. Hold tight, review the deals I’ve been posting all morning and I will be back shortly with the New Freshness (or whatever it is the kids say these days). In the meantime, have this picture of a doggo.

*ps this particular editor would love dog photos @dctrjack

[1:01] Let us know about anything you’ve bought today in the comments. I have bought LEGO. I am a grown male with no kids. I love it.

[1:29] I have acquired gozleme. There was no Black Friday special on it.

[1:31] A commenter looking for the Google Home Mini on the cheap — I don’t think you will find it much better than the $7.90 off you get from this eBay store with the PANTONE code. You also get a $10 eBay card, according to the fine print under the header. Will keep an eye out though.

[1:45] Via Twitter:

If you want to score 30% off Under Armour, then head to this link right here!

[1:47] Haoran, a Dev team superstar here at Allure, board game master and all-round good guy, just dropped some hot board game knowledge in the comments:

My tip would be, Book Depository. They’ve always got a good range of Fantasy Flight games, as well as others, and they have Black Friday sales going on. Plus, Free Shipping.

Things that look good:

  • Netrunner $47.10 (10% off)
  • Game of Thrones $43.04 (17% off)
  • Arkham Horror $57.00 (12% off)
  • ALL the Star Wars X-Wing minatures.

[1:53] Casual tip off in my inbox from a Golden State Warriors fan: You can get 25% off NBA Store Australia right now. Not sure if it will stack with the sign up and save 10% code as well, so let me know if you have any luck with that.

[2:00] We’ve hit the 2pm mark, maybe those hopeful Amazon got the date wrong are getting excited again?

Sounds like the press are to blame for this!!!!

[2:02] I, for one, love that Amazon haven’t launched yet.

[2:08] I have just been made aware that the eBay seller we linked to earlier – buymac_auctions – is not honouring the PANTONE code discount that eBay touts as being sitewide. In eBay’s terms and conditions it state “The offer entitles you to 10% off the purchase price (excluding postage costs) when you spend $75 or more in one transaction on www.ebay.com.au during the Offer Period, for up to two transactions and up to a maximum discount of $300 per transaction.” Unsure as to why this would be, but if you’re looking for QC35s maybe hold off for a moment.

[2:15] Guest user ‘dealsdealsdeals’ has snuck in with the Xbox One X deal. We posted about this deal in our huge round up but by using the EB Games eBay page, you can take another 10% off with PANTONE – this is the deal:

Xbox One X console + The Evil Within 2 + Wolfenstein II for $584.10 (and $4.95 shipping) on EB Games eBay (with PANTONE)

[2:26] Anger boiling over:

[2:28] I’ve actually heard from a couple of retailers that the shopping centres aren’t ‘that crazy’ and they’re actually coping pretty well today. They fully expect that the weekend will be crazy though, especially with many retailers running four day sales that end on Cyber Monday. Good luck retailers.

[2:30] On that note, if you ever needed help bargain hunting or getting a decent price at retail, then here’s the tips we put together.

[2:41] This isn’t necessarily Black Friday, but the KFC nuggets deal is absolutely my favourite deal of the week based on how often I have used it…..

[2:45] One reader asked about power banks! That’s what we’re all about. I will have to investigate some of the power bank options we have, but as you know, the eBay code PANTONE sale will help out if you’re specifically looking for ANKER power banks. The Amazon US site would be best for Anker products, but you will have to take into account shipping and the conversion rate. At present, it doesn’t seem worth it.

[2:49] Kotaku Australia will have a board game round up live at 3:15pm AEDT today – just 15 minutes away!

[2:50] Alright, I have to do two things: Restart my computer and exercise. Don’t begrudge me. In the meantime, check out this post below, where tons of deals have been posted. Like, heaps. Like, so many deals:

[3:50] Did you miss me? I’m sorry I was gone so long, but that’s the way Friday goes, right?

[3:51] P&O Cruises sent through this Flash Sale Deal to my email while I was away. It’s only live for another eight hours and will end at 11:59pm tonight. Couple of short cruises for less than $300.

[3:51:30] Tegan also put up the best board game deals from Black Friday over at Kotaku while I was gone. What a champion.

[3:52] This is where I was for the last hour – running around this sprouting monolith.

The only Black Friday deal I saw being done was in the Botanic Gardens. A small child was saying to their parents that they would be good ALL NIGHT if they could have ice-cream. Fair trade. That’s a Black Friday deal to write about.

[4:02] Was looking for some fans to grab as things start heating up in Australia. If you use the POWERON code at Bing Lee, this Dyson comes down to around $420, so when it’s blazing, you can stay cool.

[4:11] How not to do Black Friday:

[4:16] Big shouts to all the people commenting and hitting me on @dctrjack. Been a blinder of a day, I’ve picked up a few things myself.

[4:20] Nice, had a question come through earlier today about portable HDDs. One of the JB catalogue deals is a 2TB Seagate External HDD for just $79, which is good value. This Amazon US price for a 4TB Western Digital My Passport is also great – but works out to about $150 AUD in the end.

[4:29] Cotton On have added an extra 10% to their already ridiculous prices. Before you checkout, click on your bag and apply the promo code “BLACK10” for huge savings.

[4:30] It’s been a huge day and I think the amount of deals in this post is a testament to that and the great back and forth I’ve had with y’all. Many of these deals will run over the weekend – most of the ones that don’t I have specifically mentioned that’s the case within the text – so you can easily bookmark this page and come back over the weekend.

[4:31] For now, I am signing off! If you have any money left over for the weekend, enjoy it! If you don’t, well you can still enjoy it, of course, just with rice and beans. Thanks for tuning in!

[4:35] A couple of links to leave:

  • Check out this post if you want free shipping for some of the products you can buy today
  • Sci-Fi and Fantasy Book Bargains for Black Friday, fam
  • A ton of the deals included in this post and way, way more – our definitive list of the best Black Friday deals is here and it’s long
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