DealBlazers Deal Report: August 2026
Every deal site tells you *what* is on sale. Almost none tell you what discounts actually look like across the market — which categories genuinely get cut, which retailers are aggressive, and how much a "50% off" badge is really worth.
We track prices daily, so we can just look. Here is what our data said on 16 August 2026, across 1,439 active deals from 13 retailers.
The headline numbers
- Average discount: 33%
- Median discount: 31%
- 59% of tracked deals are 30% off or more
- 195 deals are 50% off or more
The average and median sitting close together (33% vs 31%) matters. It means the distribution is fairly even — there is no small cluster of enormous discounts dragging an otherwise ordinary average upward. Most real deals genuinely sit in the 25–40% band.
Discount by category
| Category | Deals tracked | Avg discount | Median price | |---|---|---|---| | Laptops & Tablets | 90 | 51% | $350 | | Gaming | 236 | 40% | $28 | | Smartphones | 9 | 38% | $43 | | TVs & Displays | 386 | 34% | $550 | | Smart Home | 20 | 31% | $50 | | Audio | 397 | 29% | $112 | | Wearables | 10 | 29% | $129 | | Networking | 17 | 28% | $200 | | Cameras | 122 | 27% | $100 | | Power & Charging | 58 | 25% | $299 | | GPUs & Components | 94 | 21% | $250 |
Three things jump out.
Laptops and tablets lead at 51% — but read the median price. At $350, that figure is pulled up by refurbished and certified pre-owned units, not new flagship machines. A refurbished iPad marked against a $999 list price produces an eye-watering percentage. A new MacBook does not.
Components are the hardest category to get a deal on, at 21%. GPUs, SSDs and RAM sit close to their market clearing price year-round. If you are holding out for 40% off a graphics card, our data says you will be holding out a while.
Gaming shows 40% off at a median price of $28. That is game titles, not consoles. Physical discs get cut hard and fast after release. Console hardware almost never does.
Discount by retailer
| Retailer | Deals | Avg discount | Deals at 30%+ | |---|---|---|---| | Best Buy | 848 | 38% | 652 | | AOHi | 54 | 31% | 31 | | Soundcore | 114 | 30% | 56 | | TP-Link | 72 | 26% | 24 | | Electronics Expo | 155 | 25% | 44 | | BenQ | 35 | 21% | 10 | | Jackery | 34 | 20% | 6 | | Newegg | 56 | 19% | 12 |
Best Buy is both our largest source of tracked deals and the most aggressive discounter, with 652 of its 848 deals at 30% or better. Brand-direct stores — Soundcore, TP-Link, BenQ, Jackery — cluster in the 20–30% range. They discount, but they protect their pricing more carefully than a multi-brand retailer does.
The finding that should change how you shop
Here are the deepest discounts we tracked this month:
| Discount | Price | Was | Product | |---|---|---|---| | 91% | $5.99 | $69.99 | ZAGG Pro Stylus 2 replacement tips | | 81% | $194.99 | $999.99 | Refurbished iPad | | 80% | $4.99 | $24.99 | Insignia glass screen protector | | 79% | $9.49 | $44.99 | Digipower charger | | 75% | $9.99 | $39.99 | Targus 15.6" backpack |
Four of the top five are cheap accessories. The single biggest percentage discount on the entire site this month saves you $64 on a packet of stylus tips.
This is not a quirk of our data — it is how accessory pricing works. Accessories carry large margins and are often listed against optimistic manufacturer prices, so cutting them 80% costs the retailer very little. A television at 34% off represents far more money actually saved than a stylus tip at 91% off.
Sort by money saved, not by percentage. A 25% discount on a $550 TV puts $180 back in your pocket. A 91% discount on stylus tips puts back $64 — and only if you needed stylus tips.
What we exclude, and why
Our numbers only count genuine markdowns. We drop:
- Items with no discount at all. A product at full price is not a deal, and listing it as one is how deal sites lose trust.
- Warranties, protection plans, gift cards and installation services. They are not products.
- Anything priced against an implausible reference. A $17 cable listed against a $100,000 manufacturer price is a feed error, not a 99% saving.
- Products shipping from non-US storefronts, since the price shown would not be the price you pay. That exclusion removed 188 listings this month.
Method
Prices come directly from retailer and affiliate-network product feeds, refreshed daily. Discounts are calculated from the retailer's own stated regular price, not from an estimate of ours. Figures reflect active deals as of 16 August 2026 and move as inventory turns over.
We publish this report monthly. Browse the current deals to see what the data looks like right now.