Buying guide

Best time to buy headphones — without falling for a fake discount

Headphones go on “sale” constantly — but the list price is often inflated, so the discount looks bigger than it is. Here’s how to buy a pair that’s genuinely a good price.

When headphones tend to be cheapest

New models land in autumn, which pushes last year’s (often just as good) to their real lows around Prime Day (July) and Black Friday / Cyber Monday (late November). Flagship noise-cancelling models see their deepest genuine drops at those two windows.

How to tell a real deal from a fake one

22%

of this week’s advertised Amazon “deals” weren’t genuinely below their usual price — a discount off an inflated or invented “was”. See the Fake Deal Index →

Ignore the struck-through “was” price. Check the current price against the model’s real 12-month history — a true deal is at or near its yearly low, not just below an inflated MSRP.

The honest signal is simple: is the current price genuinely low against the item’s own 12-month history — or just below a made-up list price? Paste any product and we’ll tell you straight: BUY, WAIT, SKIP or FAIR.