By Nick Gelling
Product Test Journalist | Kaipūrongo Whakamātautau Hautaonga
Some products go on sale so often that there’s no good reason to pay full price. We know, because we track prices on all our Consumer Recommended products. Every week, we use that data to let you know about the best Consumer Recommended deals.
Over the years, we’ve noticed that some products are far more prone to this discounted pricing. You’d be crazy to pay the full amount for them.
We’ve identified 6 types of products you should think twice about buying when they aren’t on sale – simply because they get discounted so sharply and so often.
Here at Consumer, we call these products “yo-yos”, because they’re always bouncing up and down in price. If you’re planning to buy one, it’s worth being vigilant.
1. A steam iron
When I sit down to select our Consumer Recommended deals, it’s an unusual week if one of our top irons isn’t 30% off or more. It’s relentless. I have to ration out the recommendations, so you don’t get sick of reading about irons all the time.
For example, this iron we recommend is $100 at full price, but I wouldn’t pay more than $60 for it because it spends so much time at that price point.
2. A jug or kettle
The first of many small kitchen appliances on this list, kettles are simple machines that are cheap to produce. However, the brands that make the best products often price them highly, hoping to suck people in with so-called “deals”.
One kettle in particular stands out as a perfect example. It’s our best-performing kettle, and it’s produced by our People’s Choice brand, but you’d be a fool to buy it at full price – it’s been 50% off at least seven times this year so far.
3. An air fryer
After irons, air fryers are the appliances that pop up most when we research the best sales. And if you people love anything, it’s air fryers, so we’re happy to pass on our hot tips on buying them.
Air fryer discounts commonly range anywhere from 15% to 50% off. Our favourite drawer-style air fryer is discounted particularly regularly.
4. A rice cooker
We haven’t tested many rice cookers, so we don’t track the market very closely. But one of the cookers we recommend is such an egregious repeat offender when it comes to going on sale that it needs to be mentioned here.
5. A toaster
Toasters tend to be priced better than some other small appliances when they’re not on sale, but you can still expect regular discounts of 20–30% on most brands.
Our top-rated toaster is one you can often save about $30 on. I’ve already clocked it on sale on six separate occasions in 2026.
6. An air purifier
I’m diverging from the kitchen appliance theme here. We’ve spotted one of our recommended air purifiers on sale six times since April, offering you savings in the region of $200.
What have we missed?
Have you noticed another product that always seems to be on a huge discount? Tell us in the comments!
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