Buying an appliance is no small task. While a mid-range dishwasher, washing machine, or dryer can cost you anywhere between $500 and $1,000, you can easily expect to pay a few thousand dollars for big-ticket appliances like a nice new stainless steel refrigerator, air conditioners, or gas grills.
However, regular purchasers understand that although appliances are sold all year round, there are specific times to get the best deals. For various reasons, there are certain months out of the year where you can grab some better deals than others. This is especially the case if you are looking to buy appliances online.
Here are just a few of the best times to buy home appliances and others and what to do to get the best deal possible.
The Best Times Of The Year To Buy Appliances
Holiday Weekends
It’s no secret that retailers love to use just about any holiday weekend that comes along as an excuse to throw a sale and lure in customers. This is for a good reason. The holiday season is when many people either don’t have to go to work or take time off.
Companies reduce prices during major holidays. They have major appliance sales, even for big-ticket items. Holidays sales also provide avenues for manufacturers to sell off excess inventory and other select appliances. The biggest holiday of them all is Black Friday. For decades now, the day after Thanksgiving has taken on a life of its own where stores will throw nearly every consumer product you can think of on sale.
According to Consumer Reports, some top-name brands have appliance sales during holiday weekends and give discounts of as much as 40 percent. That means if you’re looking for a new appliance that retails for $2,500, you could end up saving as much as $1,000! Think of all the ways you could invest an extra $1,000! The savings can be worth the holiday madness.
A little more good news? Nowadays, when it comes to Black Friday, you don’t have to fight the crowds or stand in some ridiculous line overnight to snag a good discount. Retailers reduce the prices of products on Cyber Monday, and that can be just as awesome!
Don’t forget – there are also a lot of other holidays throughout the year when similar sales will take place. If a weekend is coming up near President’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Fourth of July, Columbus Day, Labor Day, or Veterans Day, then expect to find a deal. You can compare prices across different retailers, taking care to note the differences between the original price of the goods and the discount prices. After that, you can commit and decide on the platform you want.
January
Manufacturers unveil the latest models of certain appliances (i.e., coffee makers, toasters) at the start of the year. That means retailers will mark down the previous year’s models to try to move them out the door.
March and April
Starting in March, you’ll find some stores throwing sales on everything because they know that some people will be embracing the concept of “spring cleaning.”
May
If you’re looking for a new refrigerator, this is your time. Manufacturers roll out the new models starting in the summer, which means that retailers discount the old ones.
September and October
Similar to refrigerators, the fall season is when the new models for most other major appliances will be released. So again – it’s time to discount the old products, move them out and make room for the new ones. Thus, you can get great deals at lower prices during this period than you ordinarily would some other period.
End Of The Month
It doesn’t always take a new product release or holiday weekend to score a good discount. Most appliance stores are just like everyone else – they’ve got quotas to meet and commissions they’d like to earn.
That’s good news for you because it means that if the end of the month is near and these businesses are coming up short, they’ll be more willing to offer a big discount. Thus, you can get good deals on even new appliances if you pay attention to this best time to buy. This can be especially true with locally-owned retailers that have to fight tooth and nail to compete with the big box stores.
Spring And Fall
If it’s an air conditioner unit or a new furnace you need, the spring and fall are when you want to shop around. These are considered the offseason periods since they are in-between the two extreme seasons of summer and winter. If you can wait that long, delay making your purchase since these are likely to be pretty expensive purchases.
Other Ways To Save Money On Appliances
You don’t necessarily have to wait on one of these sales to get a good deal on an appliance. Here are some other helpful strategies that will help you get a fair price.
Buy Online
Buying your appliance online makes finding the best deal so much easier. If you’ve already window-shopped around and known exactly which make and model you’d like to purchase, then you can do very specific searches for it to find dozens of businesses that sell it at the best price. Often, one of the businesses will be a bit cheaper than the others so that they can attract your business.
Another useful trick with shopping online is that you can often easily find promo codes that you would have never known about if you had gone into a physical store. Even if it’s just “free shipping” or “10 percent off”, that could be an extra $100 off the bottom line of appliances such as space heaters.
Shop On Weekdays
The weekends are always when most stores are packed to the gills with people. Why? Weekend rush. The weekend is when most people who typically work 9-5 jobs are not at the office.
Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to get a salesperson’s attention during these busy times since they are generally stretched thin as it is. Believe me: I’ve been to a big box store during a busy time and had the garden center guy ring me up for a new dishwasher.
What’s a better strategy? Go shopping on a weekday. The store won’t be nearly as busy, and you’ll finally be able to talk to a salesperson and get the attention you need for large appliances and whatnot. And if you’re clever, you can politely ask if there are any upcoming sales or hidden discounts available. Most of the time, they will be glad to tell you what they know. It is quite important to employ this strategy when shopping for seasonal appliances. You can carry out your surveys before the seasonal sales begin properly and then be well informed before deciding on the best appliance and time to choose.
Floor Models
Ask the salesperson if they have any floor models or “scratch and dent” products available. These appliances always sell at a discount because consumers view them as less desirable. You can easily save 10 to 20 percent as long as you don’t mind. Look for home improvement stores if you want to employ this strategy. They are often amenable to this sort of arrangement.
Negotiate
When all else fails, just come right out and ask for a discount. Worst-case scenario, they’ll simply say “no” and the product will still cost whatever it cost anyways.
A lot of stores and major retailers will also offer a price match guarantee. Do your homework and see if another retailer is offering the same appliance or an identical item you want for less. Even if you have no intention of buying from this other retailer, you can use their lower cost as leverage for a price match.
Shop Second-Hand
Who said you need brand-new? Every day, lots of people get rid of appliances that work just fine for any number of reasons. That can be an opportunity for you to seize!
Second-hand sites like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace can be an easy place to find a used appliance. Depending on the condition, it could end up costing you next to nothing.
The Worst Time To Buy An Appliance
The absolute worst time to buy an appliance is when you “have to”. That means when it just broke and you need a new one right away.
The problem is that when this happens, it likely won’t be at any of the times we just mentioned above. Instead, you’ll feel like you’re making a decision with a gun to your head and will probably end up paying full retail price.
The best way to avoid this is to pay attention to the performance of your appliances and look for warning signs. Is your freezer not as cold as usual? Is your dryer taking longer to dry the clothes? When these things happen, it may be time for you to consider making a replacement. Even if you do not buy the appliance immediately, you could start keeping your thumb on the pulse of a potential deal.
