How I Track Tool Prices (and How You Can Too)
Every deal post on this site rests on the same unglamorous foundation: watching prices over time and writing down what I see. There's no secret algorithm and no insider access. There's a method, though, and it's one you can copy for any purchase you care about. Here's exactly how it works.
Why I started doing this
A few years ago I bought a miter saw during a "huge sale," felt great about it for a week, then saw the same saw at the same price two months later with no sale banner at all. The "discount" had been fiction. That stung enough to change how I buy tools: never trust the "was" price, always check what the thing actually sold for. I started keeping notes, then spreadsheets, and eventually this site, because the pattern kept repeating and friends kept asking me when to buy.
The core method: price history first
A sale price means nothing without context. A $199 drill is a deal if it sold for $279 all year, and it's marketing if it sold for $199 last month too. So step one is always the same: look at the price history.
For Amazon listings, price history trackers like camelcamelcamel show you the actual selling price over months and years, including the lowest point and how often it hits. That one chart answers the only question that matters: is this price actually unusual? I check it before I write about any Amazon deal, and you should check it before you buy anything over fifty bucks on Amazon. It takes thirty seconds and it kills most fake sales dead.
For Acme Tools, KC Tool, and Home Depot, there's no single tracker as good, so the method is manual: I keep a running list of the tools I watch, note their prices each time I check, and compare against past sale events. It's slower, but after a few cycles you learn each retailer's rhythm: who discounts deeply at Black Friday, who runs quieter rolling sales, who rarely moves on a given brand.
Setting alerts so you don't have to watch
Manual checking doesn't scale, so the second half of the method is alerts. Price history tools let you set a target price and email you when a listing hits it. The trick is setting the target from the history, not from hope: look at the lowest price the tool has actually hit in the past year, set your alert slightly above it, and wait. Most tools cycle back to their lows within a few months, especially around the holidays in the deal calendar.
For retailers without trackers, the practical version is simpler: check the monthly deal roundup here, and sign up for the retailers' own promotional emails with a dedicated address. Yes, it's more inbox noise. No, it's not as good as a real price alert. But combined with knowing each retailer's sale rhythm, it catches most real deals.
Why a price drop is not always a deal
Three things I check before calling anything a deal, and you should too:
- Compare against the real history, not the "was" price. Retailers choose the comparison price. The history doesn't lie.
- Check the exact model number. Holiday "special buy" kits sometimes pair a familiar tool with smaller batteries or older generations. A lower price on a lesser kit isn't a discount.
- Ask if you'd buy it at full price. A deal on a tool you don't need, or a mediocre tool, is just spending with extra steps. The discount has to be on something worth owning.
What this means for the site
This method is slow, which is why the deal lists here are short. I'd rather post five verified deals than fifty press releases. It also means I miss things, and that when I get one wrong, the price history is right there for anyone to check my work against. That's the point: the method is public, the reasoning is shown, and you can replicate all of it yourself whether or not you ever click a link here.
If you want to put the method to use right away, start with the buying guides: cordless drills, miter saws, and random orbital sanders. Pick the right tool first, then let the price history tell you when to buy it.