True, although if you're in the EU, there should be a 30 days reference period.

"In all EU countries traders are obliged, when offering a discount, to indicate the lowest price applied to the item at least 30 days before the announcement of the price reduction."

Of course, enforcement of such rules is the problem here. But if you notice such discrepancies, you are more than encouraged to file a complaint to the shop and then to your national agency responsible for the protection of consumers if the seller doesn't act in good faith. I was fairly surprised to see how well the latter has worked against a large company in my Balkan country.

Source: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/unfair-treat...

Gosh if the EU was better about transgender stuff I'd love to move there

In what way is the EU doing “less good” in transgender stuff? Genuinely interested

Poland has LGBT-free zones?

I did not know, thanks for the info. But that is one country among many that constitute the EU.

an admittedly shallow search for this topic resulted in a wikipedia page[1] that states that the EU witheld funding to regions in Poland that have policies that were summarily characterized as "LGBT-free zones".

In EU language, this is pretty strong distancing from such positions.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBTQ-free_zone

Yeah, some just increase the price 30 days before black Friday though, and then offer a huge "discount"

I heard some even go as far as increasing price slowly in period of 6 months before BF. To drop it on that day as discount.

How does Amazon get around this?

camel for Amazon, and in Switzerland, we have toppreise. One major online store is also providing full price history (digitec/galaxus).

There are ways to circumvent that.

Add the current price to that list too, and compare it before buying.

If the discount is fake, delay buying into March or something like that. Prices tend to fall in January/February.

I personally don't do that. But I see people doing it with a good amount of success.

If you're using Amazon, always use camelcamelcamel.com to check first.

Or Keepa extension. I also use Tweakers.net pricewatch.

or it's just garbage that was made for the sale

Or worse the same SKU but “for black friday”. It was common for things like TVs to be marketed in such a way as to think it was the same product as previously, but instead was a lesser product like a tv with fewer ports and a shorter warranty (which would imply cheaper life limited components like capacitors).

In my experience, retailers will do this to make their “special” Black Friday sale similar to regular sales that roll around every few months, but I have never seen or heard of a company pulling this to the point where they’re selling stuff for higher than the normal full price.

So you’re right that Black Friday might not be the best time to buy something, but it’s fine if you want to get something at a good price and don’t feel like putting any effort into tracking prices throughout the year.