If you missed Prime Day, the Best Buy TechFest sale is still your best shot at last-minute tech savings, with markdowns running right up until midnight. The event lands at the same time as Amazon's headline sale, giving shoppers a second window to grab discounts on the gadgets they had their eye on.

Why the TechFest sale matters

Prime Day tends to dominate the headlines, but it isn't the only game in town. Competing retailers routinely run rival promotions to keep pace, and Best Buy's TechFest is one of the bigger ones. That means a deal you spotted on one site is often matched, or beaten, elsewhere, so it pays to price-check before you commit.

The categories that typically see the steepest cuts during events like this include 4K TVs, Apple devices, streaming hardware, kitchen appliances and home audio. If a discount looks too steep to be real, compare it against the regular selling price first, a fake markdown is easy to spot once you know the baseline.

How to shop the last-minute deals

With a midnight cutoff, timing is everything. A few quick habits help you avoid overpaying:

  • Check the price history so you know whether the "sale" figure is genuinely low.
  • Compare the same model across multiple retailers before buying.
  • Stack any available coupon codes on top of the listed discount.
  • Prioritise the items you actually need rather than impulse-buying a bargain.

Shoppers hunting for a wider spread of discounts can also browse our roundup of the latest tech deals for more savings across phones, laptops and smart-home kit. If you are after a specific gadget, our product reviews can help you decide whether a discounted model is worth the spend.

Where the best value usually hides

Not every discount during a big sale is created equal. The strongest value tends to cluster around a few categories, and knowing where to look saves both time and money. During events like TechFest, the items most likely to see genuine markdowns are higher-ticket electronics, where even a modest percentage off translates into real savings.

It also helps to separate a true deal from a headline number. A large "percentage off" means little if it is measured against an inflated list price, so the most reliable signal is how the current price compares with what the product has actually been selling for in recent weeks. That single check filters out most of the fake bargains.

Should you buy now or wait?

For most buyers, a major sale event is one of the better moments to purchase, prices on big-ticket electronics rarely fall further outside of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If the item is on your shortlist and the discount checks out against its usual price, buying during TechFest before the clock runs out is a sensible move. If you can hold off, the next seasonal sale may bring a comparable, or larger, cut, but waiting always carries the risk that stock sells out or the price climbs back up.

The smart play is to decide in advance what you actually want, set a target price based on its recent history, and pull the trigger only when a deal clears that bar before the midnight deadline.