Black Friday falls on 27 November in 2026, and for plenty of New Zealanders it’s the day to replace the cracked phone, the wheezing work laptop or the TV that came with the house. Big-ticket tech is where a bad buy hurts most.
Fake shops are only part of the problem. Inflated “was” prices, reviews written by staff and “10 best” lists that may have been paid for all muddy the picture, and they turn up on real retailers’ sites as well as dodgy ones.
Is the deal real?
Under the Fair Trading Act, a “was”, “usual” or “normal” price should be the price a product usually sells for. The Commerce Commission says a discount claim can mislead if that usual price is out of date, made up for the comparison, or just one of many prices the business commonly charges. If a store sells something on promotion most of the time, the promotional price has become the usual price.
Retailers don’t always follow that. Consumer NZ tracked 10 products at Briscoes, Harvey Norman, Farmers and Noel Leeming for 12 weeks before Black Friday 2025. At Harvey Norman, a toastie maker sat at $64 for 10 of the 12 weeks while its tag switched between “great price”, “super deal” and “huge deal”. At Noel Leeming, a NutriBullet was marked “now” on special for 10 of the 12 weeks, at prices anywhere from $69 to $91.
Consumer said both retailers could be bending the rules with their promotional pricing. Gemma Rasmussen, its head of research and advocacy, suggests checking price-history sites such as PriceSpy and PriceMe to see whether a price is genuinely low. “Chances are, there will be another sale in a fortnight,” she says.
For tech, that means looking up the exact model now, while there’s time. Knowing what a laptop sold for in October makes a Black Friday price easy to judge.
Reviews need the same scepticism. In 2025 the District Court found staff at The TV Shop had posted supposed customer reviews on several websites without saying who they were, and that the company held back reviews of one to three stars from its own site unless the customer answered a follow-up email. The Commission has also gone to the High Court over two overseas-run websites, Top Reviews and Auckland Magazine, which it alleges have sold favourable rankings while presenting them as independent. Read more than one source, and look for who’s behind any “best of” list.
Check the gadget, not just the price
A cheap phone that stops getting security updates next year isn’t much of a bargain. Own Your Online, the National Cyber Security Centre’s advice site, says to check online or ask the retailer how long a model will keep getting security updates. Older devices may lose support soon and be exposed when new flaws turn up.
The clock usually starts at launch, not when you buy. Google, for example, gives Pixel 8 and later phones seven years of OS and security updates, counted from when each model first went on sale on its US store. An older model on clearance has already used up some of its years.
Smart home gear needs the same check. The same site says smart devices, particularly from less well-known brands, can fall out of support quickly.
Search for security reviews before you buy, change the default password and keep these devices on your router’s guest network. If the maker stops sending updates, replace the device or switch off its smart features.
Watch for grey imports too. These are genuine products sold by someone who isn’t an authorised dealer, sometimes for a little less than you’d expect to pay.
The Government’s Consumer Protection site warns that manufacturer and extended warranties may not apply and support lines may not be available. Look out for chargers that only fit overseas power points and phones locked to overseas networks. Some are refurbished units that went back to the manufacturer with a fault.
Your rights once it’s bought
The Consumer Guarantees Act covers goods bought from a business in New Zealand, grey imports included. They must be of acceptable quality, which means safe, durable and free from defects, and you can ask for a repair, replacement or refund when they’re not. Those rights sit alongside any store warranty and can’t be signed away.
There are gaps. The Act doesn’t cover a private seller who isn’t in trade, which includes some Trade Me and Facebook Marketplace sales. Business buyers should read the fine print on that order of team laptops, because a seller can contract out of the Act for business purchases if both sides agree in writing.
A .nz web address doesn’t prove a store is local, and it’s harder to get money back from an overseas seller through the Disputes Tribunal. Check the Domain Name Commission register and the Companies Register before paying an unfamiliar site.
Look up the price history, check the update promise and know who you’re buying from. The cracked phone has lasted this long. It can survive another fortnight.
