The Black Friday sale on Amazon is one of the biggest shopping fests of the year. However, this TikToker has revealed a dirty trick used by Amazon sellers to fake the discounts and trick users into buying their products.
TikToker Rarely Co., @rarelytok, has shared an insightful video warning users to be aware of the artificial inflation of product prices weeks before the popular Black Friday sale on Amazon. He explained how discounts on each product are decided based on “the average price of the previous six weeks,” as per Amazon’s policy. But to fool both customers and Amazon, sellers hike their prices at the beginning of October.
“Before October 1, they start jacking up their prices because they want that six-week average to be as high as they possibly can so that they can fake the discount,” the TikToker revealed.
To make sure that the enticing 50% discount on products isn’t actually cutting down their profits in favor of the buyers, Amazon sellers go as far as to double their price in the weeks preceding Black Friday. So, the sale prices aren’t really discounted, but reflect the original price of the product before the hike. To tackle this, the TikToker advised people not to buy anything from Amazon in October.
“Don’t buy anything from Amazon in October. Here’s why. There’s a secret rule most consumers don’t know about. Amazon requires six weeks of price history for setting Black Friday discounts. That means sellers on Amazon will artificially increase prices through October so they can hit it big with fake discounts on Black Friday.”
Noticing similar patterns that the TikToker warned of, people were quick to verify his claims. One user claimed to have “followed the price” for some products for months before realising that the Black Friday sale sold them at more than the original price. “It’s all a scam. Stop shopping on Black Friday altogether,” they wrote.
Some users also suggested their own tricks to figure out whether the discounts are real or not. “I take screenshots of my wishlists months in advance and then cross-check if the deals are real,” one wrote. Now, whether the video would actually affect Amazon’s sales during October is yet to be seen, but testimonies from regular buyers in the comment section prove that the TikToker might be right.
Published: Sep 28, 2025 10:53 am