Black Friday only comes once a year, and retailers treat it as their biggest clearance and revenue-boosting moment. Discounts look massive and overwhelming, but the truth is blunt: only a small portion of these deals are genuinely worth buying. Every year, countless shoppers realize—too late—that they bought too early, paid too much, or simply got tricked by “fake discounts.” To help you stay sharp, here are the three most common Black Friday traps, and how to tell whether a discount is real or manufactured.