Black Friday: telling whether a telescope discount is real

What the law has said since 2022

The rule comes from a 2019 EU directive, known as Omnibus (2019/2161), which added an Article 6a to the 1998 directive on price indication. Every member state had to transpose it. France did so by an ordinance of 22 December 2021, and Article L112-1-1 of its consumer code has applied since 28 May 2022.

That left the question of what the percentage is counted from. The Court of Justice of the EU settled it on 26 September 2024, in a case a German consumer association brought against the discounter Aldi Süd: a reduction announced as a percentage, or presented as advantageous, is calculated from the lowest price of the 30 days, not from the day before.

What the rule does not cover

• Progressive reductions: when a seller lowers the price in steps over a set period, the reference stays the price before the first step, even if that is more than 30 days old.
• Perishable goods liable to deteriorate quickly. No telescope is one.
• Comparisons with other sellers’ prices (“cheaper than elsewhere”): the French article excludes them in so many words.
• The manufacturer’s “recommended price”. The rule is about the price the seller charged, and a recommended price is not one: “30% off the recommended price” measures the gap to a catalogue figure, not a reduction.

What you can check yourself

• Is the struck-through price the lowest of the last 30 days? Many shops print that figure beside it, in small type. That is the one to compare the sale price with.
• Does the percentage add up? €249 struck through and €199 shown is −20%. If the label says −35%, it is counting from another price.
• Is the reference a recommended price? Then the percentage does not say the price went down.
• Do you have an earlier price? A price read in October or early November, with its date, is the best reference there is. For the models in the table below, we read it.

Our readings, model by model

Since the end of September 2026, our tracker has read the price of the models we follow at Astroshop once a day; it is the only seller we read automatically. So the history is short: on 27 November it will cover barely two months. That is enough to know the lowest of the 30 days, and not enough to say what a usual price is over a year.

To read an offer on 27 November, look at the “Lowest, last 30 days” column. A sale price above that figure is not a reduction on what the shop was already charging, whatever percentage it shows.

Following a price until 27 November

Every model page carries its price history and, for the models we follow at Astroshop, an alert: an email when the price we read falls at least 5% below the lowest of the previous 30 days, at most one a week. That is the same reference the law uses. Leave the alert in place, and on 27 November you will know whether the announced price really is the lowest, without watching the page.

Follow the Heritage 130P’s price

The saving that matters most

A real 15% off a telescope too heavy to carry outside is still money spent for nothing. This site’s advisor works out a spending ceiling from your sky, your home and who will be looking before it opens the catalogue, and that ceiling often lands below the budget you started with.

Under €100, 10×50 binoculars show more than a small telescope at the same price. Around €200, a 130 mm tabletop Newtonian is still the safe gift. Neither answer depends on Black Friday.

Work out my spending ceiling

Questions people ask