A shopping-packed weekend is ahead: Black Friday, the shopping holiday closing out November, kicked off this year in the United States and Israel about a week early on most online retail sites. Many discounts are expected to deepen toward the weekend. At Maman’s cargo terminal at Ben-Gurion Airport, staff are preparing to handle about 250,000 parcels arriving in Israel this week and anticipate a yearly peak of 10 million packages. So what is worth buying in the United States, China, Britain, Europe and Israel — and did you know that Sephora UK ships directly to Israel?
We begin in Israel: after a month of strong sales for retailers and only modest discounts for consumers, several fashion chains have finally sweetened their Black Friday deals. Adidas is offering up to 70 percent off (not on all items) plus an extra 10 percent for adiclub members; Golf Kids is dropping prices by 60 percent plus another 10 percent with a coupon code; and H&M is offering 30 percent off plus 10 percent more for newsletter subscribers. Terminal X and Castro also have discounts. The popular brand Alo Yoga is, unusually, offering 30 percent off.
All jewelry chains are rolling out renewed promotions for the weekend. Furniture retailers are holding sales, which will deepen in December, and there are strong deals on pots, pans, homeware and designer trash bins. But the biggest frenzy in Israel is in electronics and digital products.
Electronics frenzy: compare prices and hunt for coupons
If you've planned to buy November’s star item — a wet-dry vacuum or a robotic wet-dry vacuum — now is the time, though even with steep discounts, prices remain very high. For example, the MOVA V50 Ultra Complete robotic wet-dry vacuum is selling for 4,141 shekels at Mahsanei Hashmal, down from the importer price of 5,290. At Osher Ad, Dreame vacuums are selling for thousands less than their market price, yet still cost 2,000 shekels and up. In other words, you will still spend a few thousand shekels, so budget carefully and avoid unnecessary impulse buys.
This weekend also brings deep discounts on TVs, laptops, printers, speakers, headphones, keyboards, gaming gear, computer monitors, electric scooters, Ninja appliances and soundbars. Always compare prices locally and abroad, especially for items available on Amazon or AliExpress, such as AirPods, headphones or Anker speakers.
Some electronics chains offer discount codes to members of their Telegram groups. Look for coupons in deal forums or by simple Google searches.
Prices in the electronics sector will also drop in December due to end-of-year sales, so if you've spent enough already, it is fine to wait — though some deals will not return. For instance, annual discounts on PlayStation, Nintendo and Xbox consoles across all chains (compare prices), and digital discount codes for popular gaming titles. The deal site Alibuy posted that a digital code for FC 26 (FIFA) for Xbox is now 126.7 shekels on the LOADED site (formerly CDKeys).
Electronics this year are also being sold outside the dedicated chains, including at supermarkets such as Osher Ad, Victory, Yohannoff, Carrefour and Mahsanei Hashmal, which offer TVs and wet-dry vacuums. Even Super-Pharm online is offering discounts on iPhones.
The best electronics deals, however, are in Eilat — so anyone spending the weekend there is in luck, though not all electronics are VAT-exempt.
Kipling bags on Amazon and Polo at Shopbop
What about shopping abroad? Let’s start with China. Even though Black Friday is an American “holiday,” Chinese retailers are still issuing coupons and aggressive promotions to divert shoppers from U.S. sites. On AliExpress you can find dashcams, phone and car chargers, tablets, adapters and nearly any gadget imaginable. Temu is also in the game, as is SHEIN, Israel’s second-most popular site — though it took a hit this week following reports of chemicals and heavy metals found in some of its clothing.
“This Black Friday looks very strong, but we’ll see how much we actually enjoy it,” shopping guru Reut Levinberg (“reutbuyitforme”), who is eagerly awaiting the weekend, told ynet. She recommends Kipling bags on Amazon, “which are extremely overpriced in Israel,” as well as Braun hair-removal devices on Amazon, KitchenAid pans on Amazon, Breville sandwich presses on Amazon UK, Net-a-Porter (now at 40 percent off), New Balance at ASOS and Chozen, Erborian’s international Korean beauty site, Olive Young — another Korean favorite among Israelis offering Black Friday coupons — and the British beauty sites Glossier and Cult Beauty, both at 25 percent off.
“I also recommend Shopbop, which sells brands like Levi’s and Ganni and is currently at 25 percent off with the code ‘holiday’. For example, a Polo Ralph Lauren baseball cap costs 183 shekels, while in Israel it starts at 250 and up.
“Uniqlo is, of course, worth buying from, and Levi’s USA is now offering 40 percent off — making some jeans cheaper than the tax threshold (75 dollars). Columbia USA also has 50 percent off, but no direct shipping to Israel, so consider the weight of your package, especially since most people buy coats there.”
Mango Greece: take note of the massive price gaps
This year more than ever, Israelis are looking to shop in Europe. All parcel-forwarding companies that once offered only U.S. addresses now also provide addresses in Western Europe and sometimes Britain — including DealTas, ShipnBowl, IDGU and Redbox Parcel.
Zara Greece’s sale, for example, begins on 27 November at 20:00 on the app and 21:00 on the website. Zara Israel, by contrast, is still asleep — no sale in sight.
Sites like Mango Greece and Mango Outlet Greece are already offering Black Friday deals. Mango Greece’s discounts run until 30 November, and the outlet until 27 November. The price gaps compared with Israel are staggering — 30 to 60 percent at Mango, and more than 80 percent versus Mango Outlet — even though Greece’s 24 percent VAT is included in retail prices, just like in Israel.
Mango Greece does not ship directly to Israel, so shoppers use Shiftanbul, which has warehouses in the country. To buy from Mango (via the site or Mango Shop app, set the region to Greece), you will need a Greek address. You receive that address after registering with Shiftanbul, a shipping company that formerly operated from Turkey and now also ships from Greece, Britain and the United States. To reduce your basket cost further, you can use the 15 percent discount code ORLYEU, shared by consumer-community leader Orly Pakia. On Black Friday itself, the code may be even better.
Keep in mind that Shiftanbul charges from 20 dollars for a 1-kilogram package to a pickup point, from 26 dollars for home delivery and 38 to 43 dollars for a 3-kilogram shipment. Always compare item prices — including shipping — with Israeli prices to ensure the deal is worthwhile.
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Price of the jacket in Greece: 530.6 shekels and with Israeli VAT: 626 shekels
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For example, we checked the price of caramel velvet trousers in Greece versus Israel. At Mango Greece (and also in Austria, Cyprus, Germany and Italy), they cost 89.99 euros (341 shekels), or 402.4 shekels with Israeli VAT. In Israel they cost 559.90 shekels — 39 percent more. The matching velvet blazer costs 139.99 euros (530.6 shekels), or 626 shekels with Israeli VAT. In Israel it sells for 919.90 shekels — nearly 300 shekels more, a 47 percent increase. Prices in Spain are about 10 euros cheaper than Greece (79.99 euros for trousers, 129.99 for the blazer), so Greece is not even the cheapest option.
After adding VAT (18 percent for purchases over 75 dollars and only if the parcel is checked by customs) and shipping to a pickup point (20 dollars, or 55.76 shekels after the discount code), the blazer and trousers together cost 1,084.16 shekels. In Israel, you’d pay 1,479.8 shekels — a 36 percent difference. Home delivery adds another 16.7 shekels.
Remember, Israeli VAT applies only to purchases above 75 dollars (about 64 euros, 56 pounds or 115 Australian dollars), not including shipping to Israel, and only if the package is inspected.
In Mango Israel, as in other Fox Group brands, there is currently a 40 percent discount. Sometimes this narrows the gap with Greece, but often the difference remains enormous. An urban crossbody bag costs 342 shekels in Greece and just dropped to 228 shekels in the Black Friday sale. In Israel, it costs 899.90 shekels on Terminal X, which serves as Mango’s official Israeli site, now discounted to 539.94 shekels. That is 163 percent higher than Greece before discounts — more than 2.5 times. After the sale, it still costs 136 percent more in Israel.
Germany and Italy: Birkenstock, espresso machines and VAT workaround
Other European sites Israelis love include C&A and Zara Netherlands and Germany, Zara Pre-Owned (within the Zara sites) and sister brands such as Bershka and Massimo Dutti. Plus-size fashion sites like Good American and BonPrix have also become hits. Many local boutiques, especially in Germany, are now accessible thanks to forwarding companies that provide local addresses, such as DealTas. Note that shipping from Europe through these companies can sometimes cost more than shipping from the U.S. due to higher local pricing, despite the shorter distance.
Yaniv Koter, owner of DealTas — which offers German and U.S. addresses for sites that do not ship to Israel — told ynet that Israelis buy large appliances from Europe, which cannot be purchased from the U.S. due to different electrical standards. “They also buy garbage disposals, many Birkenstocks, fashion from all major retailers and car parts — because there are many European cars in Israel and buying parts from Germany is much cheaper.”
His company also offers a “buy for me” service that lets customers save 19 percent VAT charged in Europe. “If we buy the espresso machine from Amazon Italy for the customer, we don’t charge them the 19 percent VAT because we receive a refund as a company. That allows us to give a much better price.”
How many packages will be shipped to Israel this year? “At least 120,000 parcels this weekend,” he says. “All our customers — even those who rarely shop — buy at least once this week and once next week. Some buy every day.”
Sephora UK is a hit; at ASOS, use Australian dollars
Britain is lively as well. Sephora ships directly to Israel — not every product, but many — and with Black Friday discounts, it is a major draw for fans of the chain.
ASOS has already launched Black Friday deals. For the lowest prices, switch your country to Christmas Island and currency to Australian dollars (AUD). At checkout, choose shipping to Israel and enter discount code IL18. Amazon UK also has markdowns.
The real celebration is in the United States, where supplement and wellness site iHerb is offering 20 percent off vitamins with a discount code (look for deeper coupons too; the My iHerb group is offering 10 percent off everything with code SDM370 followed by Nov25supp). The discount may deepen further over the weekend.
What to buy on Amazon?
In the U.S., Amazon offers free shipping to Israel on orders from 49 dollars and up, though not all items qualify. As of last Friday, prices have already begun dropping under the Black Friday banner. Deals include Melissa & Doug toys, umbrellas, Lacoste and Hugo Boss watches and more — including one of the most popular shipped products: an 18-piece Corelle dinner set for six, now 292 shekels including shipping.
Often, the best Amazon deals are on items that cannot be shipped to Israel at all. In such cases, forwarding companies are useful.
Redbox Parcel is the cheapest for small packages (13–19.5 dollars, compared with 20 dollars and up from competitors) and also offers coupons. Note, however, that package consolidation and reduction cost extra with Redbox, while DealTas does it for free and automatically. DealTas also verifies invoices in case your parcel is selected for customs inspection.
What should you buy on Amazon if there is no direct shipping? For example, Apple AirPods 4 and AirPods 3 Pro, currently 60 dollars (change your address to a U.S. one to see this price). In the U.S., sales tax is added at checkout. For that reason, forwarding companies usually keep warehouses in New Jersey, where tax is lower, or in Delaware, where there is no sales tax.
“The strong dollar is contributing to excellent prices. The U.S. has truly wild discounts this year,” said Nadav Magidov, CEO of Redbox Parcel. “We will distribute coupons to reduce shipping costs from the Netherlands and the United States. We have a warehouse inside the airport, and as a customs brokerage that handles everything ourselves, our prices are strong. From the U.S., Israelis order everything from Gap to Walmart. From Western Europe, they buy fashion from unique boutiques, vintage stores and items that were unknown locally before we opened the service.”