It’s nearly time – Black Friday is almost upon us for another year, promising the steepest discounts you can find anywhere. Last year, we saw major price drops in some of our favourite tech, like laptops, TVs, Garmin watches, and more – and most of it is available online for delivery.
If you’re looking to make some purchases this year, across a range of sites, you might be keen to know how to track your packages. Here are all the details you should know.
How to track Amazon packages
One of the largest, if not the largest e-commerce retailer, Amazon’s own fleet is likely to deliver your packages and can be easily tracked via your account (which we’ll get to in a moment). However, if you’re buying a more niche or high-demand product, that order may be delivered via a third-party carrier like UPS or FedEx.
To find your orders and track them via the site, however, is quite simple. Here’s how.
- Log into your Amazon account either on the web or in the Amazon app.
- Go to Your Orders in your profile.
- Go to the order you want to track.
- Select Track Package next to your order.
- Select See all updates to view delivery updates.
If it’s a totally Amazon-run delivery then you might get really precise updates and even a map of where your driver is once the package is out for delivery, but if it’s instead fulfilled by another provider you’ll get a link to that provider’s own tracking service, which will differ from Amazon’s.
How to track Best Buy packages
Best Buy is another stalwart when it comes to Black Friday, with a huge range of tech and electronics that it will give steep discounts on the weekend – and its tracking system is also relatively straightforward.
You can track Best Buy packages using these steps if you have an account:
- Visit BestBuy.com and sign in to your account.
- At the top-right of the page, select Order Status to go to the ‘Purchases’ page.
- Tap or click on the order number that you’ll find above the items you want to track.
- On the Order Details page, click on Track Package.
This should take you to a status page with all the tracking details available, depending on whether the package has been shipped yet or is out for delivery.
If you don’t have an account and made your Best Buy purchase as a guest, the steps below should let you review your order instead:
- Head to the Orders page on Best Buy’s website.
- Click on Continue under Find a Guest Order.
- Then fill in your order number (from the confirmation email), plus your name and phone number.
- Click Find to get your order details and tracking.
How to track Walmart packages
Walmart has long since evolved from simply carrying groceries. The retailer now sells a wide range of tech and gaming hardware, and will be a great destination when Black Friday rolls around, and it also makes tracking your packages pretty easy with the steps below.
- Visit Walmart.com and log in to your account.
- Select Account at the top-right.
- Choose Purchase History.
- Scroll to the order you want to track and select Track Shipment.
This should let you see all the relevant order details and where it is in the shipment process.
How to track Target packages
Another great big box store for tech purchases across the Black Friday weekend will be Target, and it too has some easy steps you can follow to track your packages once you’ve made an order.
- Open the Target app
- Tap on your name in the bottom right corner
- Select Purchases then choose the relevant order
This should let you review the order’s details and see any available updates on its shipping and tracking status.
When will my Black Friday order ship?
It’s worth saying that Black Friday sees a simply huge amount of purchases made in a very short space of time, and while many of the sites you’re likely to be buying from will have delivery guarantees, sometimes things will slip a little.
Don’t be too surprised if packages ordered on Black Friday take a day or two longer to ship as the backlog is cleared – and be sure to check delivery estimates before you finalise your purchase. Amazon tends to be pretty transparent about longer delivery times once an item’s stock starts to get low, so you’ll often be able to save yourself some angst by knowing about the delay ahead of time.
Should I buy tech on Black Friday?
It’s a sensible question – Black Friday is a massive sales event, but that doesn’t mean you’re obliged to shop during it. Our approach has always been the same, in that we advocate smart purchases. If you’ve had your eye on a device for ages or need a new one, this is the perfect time to set up some alerts and see if you can pick it up for less than it usually goes for.
Of course, if you see a deal that looks incredible on a device you’re less familiar with, a little research is all it might take to confirm that you’ve found an amazing discount, so being prepared to move quickly is also welcome.
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