This Black Friday price alert trick has helped me save so much money – here’s how to do it

The best Black Friday deals are taking place this week, giving shoppers an opportunity to save hundreds of pounds and dollars on bestselling products. But if you’re not using this Black Friday price alert trick, you’re seriously missing out.

I’ve been covering Black Friday for five years now, and the one trick I always use is setting up price alerts. For those who are unsure, a price alert is a notification that gets sent to you when a specific product drops in price.

For almost every Black Friday, I make a list of what I want to buy my friends and family for Christmas, before I start setting up price alerts for specific products so I can get the best savings possible. This price alert trick has saved me so much money shopping the Black Friday sales – and here’s how you can do it too.

How to set up a price alert on Google

The best way to set up a price alert is on Google. Considering it's the most used search engine, setting up a price alert on Google is extremely easy and typically means you don’t need to download anything or install an extension.

To set up a price alert on Google, you’ll first need to sign into your Google account. From there, you can set up price alerts via the Google Shopping tab. All you have to do is select the product you want to track the price of before selecting ‘Track Price’.

Another way to set up a price alert is creating a custom Google Alert. To do this, go to google.com/alerts, enter the product name or search term you want to track and click ‘Create Alert’. For more options, you can click ‘Show options’ within this setting and you can customise how often you get an alert, which type of source you’ll get it from and region and language settings.

How to set up a price alert on Amazon

Setting up a price alert in Google is my preferred way to check prices but Amazon is one of the most common retailers everyone buys from – and there’s a quick and easy way to create a price alert in Amazon.

On your browser, sign into your Amazon account and select ‘Communication preferences’. From there, click ‘Deals and recommendations’, enable your preferred notification and allow notifications in your browser. This should alert you when your favourite product drops in price.

If you’re using the Amazon app, click ‘App Settings’, ‘Notifications’ and ‘Deals and recommendations’. Note that with both the browser and app, it’s best to set up an Amazon wishlist to make these notifications easier. If you have an Amazon Alexa-enabled device like an Echo, you can also set up Alexa alerts for price drops.

How to set up a price alert on other retailers

For other retailers, you’ll need to install a browser extension to check prices and set up price alerts. There are plenty of options available, but the most popular are CamelCamelCamel, Keepa and Honey.