Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis has issued a warning to shoppers ahead of this year's Black Friday sales.
Appearing on ITV's the Martin Lewis Money Show, the finance journalist warned how shoppers could actually be losing money by buying things which have been reduced for Black Friday.
He explained: "Let's take the basic premise of any discount. If you were planning to buy a video game for £50 and it's on sale for £25 you've saved 25 quid."
Sounds promising.
Martin then went on to say: "If they have tweaked your spending nipples to buy something you wouldn't otherwise buy, there's an extra cost of £25, so it's not a saving.
"So that's the first premise."
He continued: "I've never liked these 'oh we have one TV, 50 in stock for a tenner instead of £1,000' - that's a competition.
"Where it's useful is, you've got a list, you know what you want, you create your list, and stores have store-wide discounts which means you can buy it 30 per cent cheaper."
Martin did, however, admit that now could be the best time to buy Christmas presents at the best prices before December 25.
He finished: "This is likely, in many cases, the cheapest time to buy before Christmas."
