Boxing Day is now just days away and whether you’re hunting for a last-minute gift or planning ahead, there are already some great deals available.
Many retailers have launched early Boxing Day sales and major discounts are in full swing now it’s Christmas Eve. If you are buying (late) presents over the next few days, be mindful of delivery times if shopping online – next-day delivery isn’t always guaranteed at this time of year, even with Amazon.
Boxing Day is also ideal for picking up back-to-school tech or upgrading your gadgets for 2025. If you know what you or your child needs – now’s the time to grab it cheap.
As usual, we’re tracking all the best bargains as they roll in. Check out our top picks below, featuring many discounts that are as good as – or better than – Black Friday.
Lindsay Handmer
I’ve been writing about tech for almost two decades and love nothing more than finding a bargain. When I’m not getting hands-on for a review, I can usually be found poring over the endless spreadsheets I use to track product prices and uncover the best deals.
2024 Boxing Day sales: retailer links
Our favourites under AU$100
Headphones and speakers
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Phones, smartwatches and accessories
TVs & soundbars
Laptops, networking and accessories
Cameras
Home tech
Boxing Day sales 2024: key information
When do Boxing Day sales start in 2024?
Officially, Boxing Day is the very next day after Christmas on December 26. Following the festive season, a bunch of retailers offer up solid discounts to make way for new stock arriving in the new year. It was once a single-day shopping experience, ending at midnight on December 26, but that’s changed in the last few years.
More and more retailers are kicking off their Boxing Day sales earlier in December – for example, the Amazon Boxing Day 2023 kicked off on December 22 – meaning you can shop these offers leading up to and on Christmas Day if you really want to. Similarly, the deals often run past Boxing Day towards the new year, but you might miss a bargain if you wait too long as stock could sell out earlier in the sale.
We recommend keeping an eye on the Boxing Day sales from December 18 if you’re keen to snatch a bargain, so long as it doesn’t interrupt your festive celebrations. The Boxing Day sales are a little too late for a last-minute Christmas gift, but are one last chance to nab a bargain before the year’s end.
When do the Boxing Day sales end and January sales begin?
The distinction between Boxing Day sales and January sales are a bit blurred – some retailers switch Boxing Day over to January sales once December 27 arrives, while others will run Boxing Day offers right up until the new year.
It’s still a good plan to get in early for the retailers you want to shop from, as well as the products you want to score – once stock has run out it might not be available again in the January sales.
What is Boxing Day in Australia?
Originating from the 1980s, Boxing Day sales has been a long running tradition in Australia for over 40 years. Before online shopping, customers would wake up early to get in store and snatch up the best deals on December 26 before they ran out.
Brick-and-mortar stores such as David Jones and Myer were often packed during Boxing Day, but since the inception of online shopping, you no longer have to brave the crowds to get a good deal on the day.
You’ll still want to get in early if you want to make sure you get the deal you desire, even online – stock could be extremely limited or you might only have a short time to snatch a bargain in flash sales. Though we recommend planning ahead by creating a shopping list of most wanted items and what price you’re willing to pay to avoid buyer’s remorse from a spontaneous purchase.
Some sellers won’t do store-wide discounts, often opting to highlight selected products in the Boxing Day sales. But anything and everything is prime for a bargain – so keep your eyes peeled on what you want, you could grab it for a fantastic price come December 26.
Is it better to shop during Black Friday or Boxing Day?
There’s a few things to consider when comparing Black Friday and Boxing Day – firstly, are you hoping to grab a Christmas present on sale? If so, Black Friday is by far the better day to shop, as you definitely won’t get your Boxing Day purchase before Christmas, and it might not even arrive until the new year.
Secondly, it can depend on what you’re looking for, though this has changed a lot in the previous few years. Boxing Day was traditionally a great shopping event for fashion and homewares, whereas Black Friday was the best time for tech, particularly new TVs, headphones and smartwatches – this is now no longer the case.
Now you can often find big tech discounts on Boxing Day as well. Whether you’re holding out for a saving on Apple iPhones, Microsoft Surface laptops, LG OLED TVs, Sony headphones or anything from big brands, Boxing Day could deliver some of the biggest savings to close out the year.
Boxing Day sales 2024: our predictions
With the new year on the horizon, Boxing Day is a great chance for retailers to clear out older stock – which means it’s a fantastic time for shoppers to find a bargain. You might not see offers on newly released products like we did during Black Friday, but don’t look past the offers that might pop up on December 26 – some of these will likely be on products that still appear in lists like the best TVs, best phones and best headphones.
TV deals
If you’ve been holding out for a deal on a new TV, the Boxing Day and January sales are a great chance to save on one. Appliance Online, Appliance Central, The Good Guys and JB Hi-Fi are the top retailers you’ll want to keep an eye on for a TV deal though other sites like eBay will likely offer up some discounts as well. Meanwhile, you’re not likely to find a good TV deal on Amazon, though you could find one of the best soundbars on sale there if you’re after one of those instead.
Typically, the TV deals on Boxing Day have been best on the latest releases the year prior, so you can generally find OLED and QLED displays snatching up big discounts. But if you’re not keen on spending the big bucks, the deals tend to go down the range to some mid-range and budget models as well – so there’s likely to be a TV for any need or budget, but we won’t know exactly what’s on offer until Boxing Day is here.
Don’t worry gamers – you’re likely to be well catered to as well. Whether you own a PS5 or an Xbox Series X, you’re likely going to find a deal for a TV to game on. If trends follow previous years, we’ll definitely see our favourite TV, the LG C4 OLED, on sale.
Computing and laptop deals
Boxing Day might not have the reputation Black Friday or EOFY sales do for discounts on laptops, but we still expect to see a few pop up in this sale. Lenovo, Dell, HP and Microsoft are all in prime position to offer laptops directly from the source on December 26, though third-party sellers like JB Hi-Fi, Mwave and The Good Guys might slash the price on different models, including Chromebooks, gaming laptops and even 2-in-1s.
Headphones, tablets and phones
Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2024 offered up a stack of headphones, from some of the best wireless earbuds like the Apple AirPods Pro 2 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earphones, to chunky noise-cancelling cans including the Sony WH-1000XM4 and the Bose QuietComfort SC headphones, and it’s pretty likely headphones of all sorts will get the Boxing Day sale treatment as well.
Tablets were a bit of an enigma in the November sales – a few ereaders, including what we think is the best ereader currently available, the Kobo Libra Colour and the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (2024) nabbed some decent savings, and a few of Samsung’s Galaxy Tabs also came down in price. However, we didn’t see any spectacular deals on Apple iPads, and we’re not really expecting much during Boxing Day either – we think these are more likely to come on sale during the back-to-school season.
As for smartphones, we’re not likely going to see iPhones get huge discounts, especially the iPhone 16, but we could see some other handsets coming down in price, especially if Black Friday was any indicator. Watch out for Google Pixels, both the most recent and older models, as well as handsets from Samsung and Motorola. Older foldable phones are prime for a discount, especially from sellers on eBay, though we are unlikely to see any offers on the latest ones.
Health and fitness
New year, new resolutions – and if your health and fitness are the main concern in the new year, Boxing Day and January sales could be a good chance to nab some tech to support these goals. Retailers know January is the time when a lot of people kick off a new fitness journey and take this opportunity to cash in by offering up some big bargains on smartwatches and fitness trackers.
We’ve seen plenty of offers on Garmin outdoor watches this year, but other smartwatches have not taking much of a deal spotlight, even in November this year. There might be offers on Withings ScanWatches and they’re very good investments as they have ECG monitoring at a decent price. The Google Pixel Watch 2 was half price for Black Friday, but the discounts on the Apple Watches weren’t much to write home about. The best smartwatch offer, though, was on the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, which was down to AU$838 for Black Friday.
While Boxing Day discounts won’t necessarily be as steep, we could get lucky.
How do I get the best deals during Boxing Day sales?
With sales like Boxing Day, it’s pretty easy to get overwhelmed with the large volume of deals on offer. To avoid spontaneous shopping we recommend planning ahead – whether it’s picking out the items you want to score ahead of time, or making sure you get in early if you want to shop in store, a plan will help you save both time and money during the sale.
Once you know your budget, try and stick to it – if your desired item doesn’t come down in price and you can wait a little longer, you might find the January sales or other early 2025 sales deliver the discount you’re seeking. With the cost of living looming over every dollar spent, knowing what you’re able and willing to spend ahead of time will help you avoid the dreaded buyer’s remorse.
On the flipside, if you’re wanting to stock up for back to school, Boxing Day could be a good opportunity for that, though you’ll get more chances to save throughout January as well – which could give you a bit of budgeting buffering especially after Christmas.
