Now that we’re well into January, credit card bills have started landing on doormats across the country, and there’s a fair amount of buyer remorse starting to kick in. It’s a strange time of year, as many retailers still have a big New Year sale on and often prices are even lower than they were on Black Friday. You just need to take a look as the sale discounts right now on our homepage to see that the heavy discounting is still available, and some prices are even comparable to that famous November weekend last year.
So, Is It Really Worth Waiting For The Sales To Buy?
Well, as with everything, it really does depend. If you’re simply looking for the best price, then it might be worth holding off. Having said that, it’s not uncommon for new bean to cup coffee machines to appear just after the sales finish. After all, if you were a manufacturer, you’d hardly launch the machine you’ve invested a fortune developing at a massive discount, would you?
Going back to current pricing at the time of writing, most of the machines we review on the site are now slightly more expensive than they have been at some point in the last few months. Generally speaking, we link to Amazon to get you a price, as they tend to be competitive. They’re not always the absolute cheapest option, but they’re normally at least in the right ballpark. They’re also really good at dealing with problems, so compared to buying from a store you’ve never heard of, it’s likely to be worth any small premium for peace of mind.
Missing Out On Discounts Can Feel Painful
We often get emails from readers asking about a promotion that’s just ended. A great example was Delonghi’s ECAM44.660.b which offered a huge discount for limited periods around the Black Friday weekend (2017). This Eletta coffee machine was available between £379 and £399 for a limited time over the Black Friday weekend in 2017, and no sooner had stock run out than the emails begin to come into us.
Generally they’re very polite, with a few exceptions, asking if there was still a way to get the discount pricing. Unfortunately, as we’re not Amazon, we have no influence over pricing, and there’s nothing we can do to help, other than give you a simple piece of advice. When you see a great price – go for it. Yes, it’s tempting to wait and see if the price falls further, but all too often we see the price shoot up and readers regret not jumping in while they had the opportunity.
Just remember, coffee machines are fairly significant purchases, even when they’re on sale. To put it another way, leaving your purchase too long might mean the price goes up by hundreds of pounds when a promotion ends – exactly as happened with the Delonghi Eletta. In that context, hoping for another reduction of £20 or so suddenly sounds a little trivial.
How To Choose Between Coffee Machines On Sale
Of course, we’re assuming you know what you want, and that’s what we’re here to help you decide, with our detailed review section. If you’re split between a number of machines, simply click the blue button included in every review we add to the site, and see what discounts are available. We’ve even got our top ten bean to cup coffee machines and their sale discounts shown where applicable in the table on the homepage for a quick reference guide, so it’s straightforward to see where the bargains are with a simple percentage.
If there’s a good sale price on the coffee machine you like the look of, our recommendation is to buy it while you have the chance. You never know when a discount will disappear – retailers have the right to remove promotions at any time they like, so even if you see something that suggests the offer ends on a specific date, that’s probably still subject to stock not running out, or a number of other possible reasons we’d never even think about.
The fact that you’re here researching bean to cup coffee makers shows you’re interested, so we’d hate you to miss out on that deal you’ve been watching simply because it might come down a little more – it might just go up too!
The takeaway point is try not to focus on the sales themselves, more so on the price of what you want to buy. Any given sale may or may not include the machine you’re interested in, and if it doesn’t, that could result in the price going up not down. If your chosen machine is currently at or near the recommended retail price (RRP), then that might be the time to wait for a sale, but you could be waiting for a long time. A better approach might be to read some reviews and see if anything else grabs your attention that’s a better deal – if not you can always hold out for the next reduction!
