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Forget Black Friday sales. Do this instead

Black Friday has become an overwhelming abomination of consumerism dressed up as bargains. Slow down and support independent media.

Nick Broughall

Nov 29, 2024 • 11 min read

Photo by Claudio Schwarz / Unsplash

Today is Black Friday. It's the biggest sales event on the Australian retail calendar, thanks to a combination of its proximity to Christmas, and the perception of bigger discounts.

Maybe it's just me, but this year it feels a lot like Black Friday has a bit of a nasty edge to it. My inbox is absolutely drowning in Black Friday emails. Technology websites are producing more Black Friday sales content than I can keep up with. I keep getting Black Friday text messages from brands that have no place texting me Black Friday offers.

JB Hi-Fi emailed me two nearly identical emails about Black Friday 10 hours apart. It's too much!

Then there's this: Black Friday Sales on apartments.

What the actual fuck? Black Friday sales on... apartments?
— Alice Clarke (@alicedkc.bsky.social) 2024-11-29T03:40:08.983Z

It's not Black Friday on its own, either. This year I've really noticed that retail has become a seemingly endless cycle of sales. From Prime Day to Click Frenzy to Singles Day to Black Friday to Boxing Day, it's positively exhausting. There's no respite – you must spend money or you will miss out on this great deal!

I understand the drive. For the past six years or so, I've been a part of this hype cycle, pushing content to try and drive sales. BTTR was originally built on that idea - a review site designed to drive affiliate sales, but with a focus on objective hands on testing and topical expertise.

But this year, looking through the discounts across Australian retailers, it feels like Black Friday - and online retail in general, if I'm honest - is undergoing its own version of enshittification.

The discounts don't feel as large. Stores are overwhelmed with product selection, much of it being cheap drop-shipped product from China. There's too much to buy, too many retailers, not enough money, smaller discounts, more emails, more text messages and fewer breaks from the endless pressure to buy, Buy, BUY!

So forget about Cyber Weekend - do this instead

Look, I hope you managed to score a big discount on your Christmas presents already. But if you didn't that's okay!

Just don't feel like you need to buy stuff on sale because of the endless marketing pointed your way. If you feel that itch to spend some money, here's my suggestion: Support independent media.

Before you roll your eyes and groan, let me point out that as the biggest brands get bigger (and their billionaire owners get richer and richer), the only real tonic to that feeling of injustice is to buy local. Support independent creators. Buy local products on local platforms. Help create and support local jobs and a local industry.

I'm passionate about this. My vision for BTTR has definitely transitioned away from being just another affiliate marketing site, but I can't do it without member support. And I know that's true for other independent writers and publishers too.

Here are a few of the Aussie independents you should consider investing in. There's definitely a heap more out there, and I'll try and update as I find them.

But know that you donating $10 a month is going to help these people a lot more than giving it to Bezos.

Alex Reviews Tech

I've known Alex for a long time, and he is one of those people who annoyingly can write really quickly and really well (I can only do one or the other).

This year he's zeroed in on his YouTube channel, creating comprehensive video and text reviews, while also launching subscriber-only content for Patreon supporters.

If you're looking for a good creator to support, Alex is definitely one to look at.

Pickr

Leigh is another tech journalist running his own website, in between doing a million other things. Leigh has pro-actively spent a bunch of time looking at ways to support BTTR, particularly over the horror that was Google's HCU update.

Supporting Pickr on Ko-Fi is a much better investment than buying anything on Temu. Trust me.

Vooks

Vooks has been running independent Nintendo gaming coverage for 20 years. If you have ever enjoyed an experience on a Nintendo console (or alarm clock) you owe it to yourself to support Vooks. You can find the Vooks Patreon here.

Player2

There's a big gap in the Australian games media with the closure of Kotaku, but there are smaller players doing their best to fill the gap. Player2 is a great site for gaming coverage, offering that unique Australian perspective in your games media.

You can support the Player2 Patreon here.

And yes, you can always support BTTR

In 2025, my focus here will be to create more exclusive content for paying members. I 100% understand that paying for content is hard, especially in this cost of living crisis. I love doing BTTR, and will keep working on it, but I also need to eat and feed my kids.

So consider a paid subscription! Or if you just want to send a little tip to show your support, that works too!

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Looking for a free Christmas present for your in laws? Or just want a chance to lift your own oral hygiene?

We're giving away an Oclean X Ultra S electric toothbrush, worth $449.95. With a maglev motor and app support, you can get feedback on your brushing on your phone, helping you get the best clean possible.

The competition is running for a couple of weeks, and the only requirement is to be a BTTR subscriber! So enter now for your chance to win.

This week in tech

This week's reviews

It was another productive review week this week. I published four more product reviews this week, for a total of 91 published reviews on the site in 2024.

100 reviews is just a few weeks away...

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

Oclean X Ultra S

Shark FlexBreeze fan

Blink Outdoor 4 home security camera

Thanks for reading

That's it for this week's roundup for free BTTR members. If you upgrade to the paid tier (just $10 a month), you'll get access to the rest of this week's newsletter, which includes:

A roundup of the best tech news of the week (with occasional commentary from yours truly)
A preview of next week's product reviews

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this week's newsletter, or even some input on what you'd like to see in next week's roundup.

Until next week

Nick @ BTTR