Early Black Friday sales are officially underway as of November 9, 2026, with Amazon, Macy's, Best Buy and other major retailers discounting weeks ahead of Black Friday itself on November 27. The short answer for shoppers: some of these early prices are already at record-low territory — the TCL 65-inch QM8L 4K TV is $898 at Amazon, down from $1,699.99 — but big-ticket electronics often see deeper cuts closer to the main event. Here is a curated list of vetted deals and a framework for deciding whether to buy now or wait.

Curated Early Black Friday Deals to Shop Now

Retailers began rolling out discounts in the first week of November, and shopping editors are actively vetting which offers represent real value. CNET's deals team, which tracks prices year-round, is currently highlighting more than 80 early offers across Apple, Samsung, LG and other brands. The picks below were accurate as of November 10, 2026, and prices are subject to change.

  • TCL 65-inch QM8L 4K TV — $898 at Amazon, down from $1,699.99. This is an early Black Friday 2026 price on the current-year model.
  • Baseus MagSafe power bank — $50 at Amazon, down from $70. CNET's editors note it delivers 45-watt fast charging via USB-C and supports 25-watt wireless charging, making it a practical grab for on-the-go charging.
  • Bose SoundLink Plus Portable Bluetooth Speaker — featured among CNET's early picks for shoppers weighing a portable audio gift.
  • Michael Kors Convertible Crossbody and Samsonite Uptempo Lux 2-Pc. Hardside Luggage Set — both appear on editors' early-sale lists as gift and travel picks, though current pricing for these two items was not specified in the reporting reviewed.

This is a curated guide, not an exhaustive catalog. Most major retailers participate in Black Friday, including Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy, and many brands such as Ninja, LG and Samsung run deals directly, so the full field of offers extends well beyond this list.

Buy Now or Wait? Your Early Black Friday Decision Framework

The core question for every shopper this week is timing. Consumer savings expert Andrea Woroch, quoted by ABC11's Diane Wilson, offers a simple split: if a popular item is at the top of your holiday list, buying early could make sense because waiting risks a sellout or shipping delay. For less in-demand products, she suggests letting technology do the bargain hunting — using artificial intelligence to compare prices across retailers while factoring in coupons, cash-back offers and free shipping.

CNET's shopping experts add the key counterweight: some products, particularly TVs, laptops and other big-ticket electronics, may see bigger discounts closer to Black Friday. Combining these expert positions with historical pricing patterns produces the decision matrix below.

Buy Now or Wait? Purchase timing by product category, early Black Friday 2026
Product CategoryGuidanceReasoning
Big-ticket electronics (TVs, laptops)WaitThese items often see their best prices during the peak sales period, and CNET's experts note bigger discounts may come closer to Black Friday.
Popular, in-demand itemsBuy nowHigh demand can lead to limited stock closer to the main event; waiting risks a sellout or shipping delay.
Less in-demand productsBuy nowThese items may not see significantly better deals later, so a good early discount is worth taking.
Any item already at a record-low priceBuy nowIf the current price matches or beats the lowest observed price for a comparable model, the downside of waiting is minimal.

The framework's logic is straightforward: match the item's demand profile and discount history against the calendar. High-demand and low-demand items both favor early action, but for different reasons — one risks scarcity, the other risks no improvement. Big-ticket electronics are the exception because retailers historically reserve their steepest cuts for the peak window.

Case Study: TCL 65-inch QM8L 4K TV Deal Analysis

The TCL deal shows how to apply the framework with real numbers. The 2026 QM8L is currently $898 at Amazon, an early Black Friday price down from $1,699.99. On its face, this is a big-ticket TV, and the framework says wait. But the historical record complicates that advice.

During Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2025, the comparable TCL QM8K 65-inch model reached a record-low price of $899, according to Mashable's 2025 TV deals coverage and Popular Mechanics' Cyber Monday reporting, which described TV discounts of up to 50% continuing through the Cyber Monday window. ShopSavvy's pricing analysis of TCL's QM-series models tracks these discount patterns across the year.

That means the 2026 QM8L's early price of $898 is already on par with — one dollar below — the lowest price observed for the previous year's comparable model. This comparison assumes comparable value and performance between the successive QM8L (2026) and QM8K (2025) models, which is a reasonable but untested assumption; the evidence reviewed does not include side-by-side performance testing.

The worked example illustrates the framework's escape hatch: when historical data indicates the current early price is a record low, the "wait for big-ticket electronics" rule yields to the "already at record low" rule. A shopper who waits until November 27 is betting retailers will cut below $898 on this model — a bet with little historical support, and one that carries sellout risk on a popular TV size.

One caveat on method: the $899 benchmark comes from 2025 reporting on a different model year, so it is a benchmark, not a guarantee. Prices and availability were accurate as of November 10, 2026, and may change.

Making Your Move: When to Secure the Best Deals

Shoppers should prioritize buying popular, in-demand items and less in-demand products now if a good early deal is found, while generally waiting for big-ticket electronics to see potentially deeper discounts closer to Black Friday — unless historical data indicates the current early price is a record low, as it does for the TCL QM8L at $898.

The next milestone is already on the calendar: Amazon's Black Friday Week begins November 19, and the peak sales window runs through Black Friday on November 27. Monitor price tracking tools for further drops on desired big-ticket electronics as Black Friday (November 27) approaches — if the TCL or a comparable TV falls below $898, the wait was worth it; if stock thins first, the early-buyers win.

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