What is Best Buy Drops? Here’s why it’s one of the best holiday shopping hacks

UPDATE: Dec. 5, 2023, 11:00 a.m. EST This post has been updated to track the products dropping in the coming week, which include the Solo Stove Mesa XL fire pit and a 4K gaming monitor from LG.

When it comes to shopping, a scarcity mindset is just as convincing as that one friend who always enables you to buy something you don’t need. It’s why there’s often a timer breathing down your neck from the corner of the screen during a sitewide sale. It’s exactly why Amazon’s invite-only Prime Day deals and Black Friday deals popped off, and why Walmart lets Walmart+ members get their hands on new groups of big shopping event deals hours before the general public can.

And it’s probably why Best Buy conveniently announced Best Buy Drops just ahead of full-blown holiday shopping season. And after two-ish months of Drops of seeing what Drops has to offer, we can confirm it’s a seriously cool tool.

Best Buy Drops is a shopping hack dedicated to giving shoppers a heads-up about upcoming high-profile items and deals in categories like gaming, cheap TVs, popular toys, high-profile hair tools, and more dropping at Best Buy in the next week. As long as you have the Best Buy mobile app, you can preview what’s coming on what day so that you’re ready to click “add to cart” when the item or deal goes live.

If a Drop is currently live while you’re on the app, a status bar showing the percentage of inventory that has been claimed can give an idea of how fast you need to act. Once inventory for a certain Drop is gone, it’s gone.

The Drops tab also keeps a list of past Drops, which have included a limited-edition PlayStation 5 Marvel’s Spider-Man bundle, Pokémon Squishmallows, a super cheap 50-inch TV, and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Even if you missed these, you at least have an idea of what similar items could pop up in the coming weeks. To look ahead, check the upcoming tab.

For extra cushion, you can opt-in to Drop Alerts for an extra reminder right before the drop of a product you care about goes live. Joining My Best Buy Plus or My Best Buy Total will unlock even better discounts on Drops than what the general public is getting.

What’s dropping at Best Buy Dec. 5 through Dec. 14

Best Buy is only revealing the names of the upcoming products — not their actual Drop prices — in the Drop preview tab, so any prices listed below are the current price of the said product as it is on Best Buy’s site pre-Drop. Drops go live around 11 a.m. ET on the specified day (usually a string of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in any given week), and inventory is typically fully claimed by 5 p.m. that day.

Dropped: Dec. 5

Switching gears to gift ideas, a smart digital picture frame is one just about anyone would enjoy. They’re a genius way to ensure all of the moments you’ve captured over the years get their time in the spotlight rather than just one or two — and the 1,280 x 800 resolution looks stunning compared to a photo printed on paper.

The Nixplay model featured in this Drop not only has a touchscreen, but automatically flips pictures based on whether the frame is sitting in portrait or landscape mode. As one of the fancier Nixplay frames, it retails for $199.99 — but you can snag it for less than $100 until inventory runs out.

Dropping: Dec. 6

After two very indoorsy Drops, Best Buy is giving the outdoorsy corner of the internet some attention. The Solo Stove line contains several beloved smokeless fire pits, including the already-affordable Mesa XL featured here. Unlike the larger Solo Stove Bonfire 2.0 that we reviewed and loved, the Mesa XL sits on a tabletop, but still heats with 360-degree airflow by burning either wood or pellets.

From the $89.99 sale price the Mesa XL is already seeing, we could see it dropping to $49.99 on its big day.

Dropping: Dec. 7

There’s something about going into a new year with a new monitor that just feels productive, even if it’s almost definitely the placebo effect. Anyone who needs a setup that can seamlessly switch from WFH office to legit game room should consider this 27-inch 4K model from LG. It’s both NVIDIA G-Sync and FreeSync compatible and hits up to 95% of the DCI-P3 color gamut.

This $699.99 monitor is already on sale for $499.99 ahead of its Drop date, so we expect at least another $100 to be knocked off of that — or an extra $150 off would bring the discount to 50% off.

Dropping: Dec. 8

This PopSocket cellphone stand and grip featuring Gengar is an easy stocking stuffer for anyone who’s big on Pokémon. This newly-redesigned PopGrip can be attached to any MagSafe case for the iPhone 12, 13, 14, and 15 (including Pro and Pro Max models). It also comes with an adapter ring to give any other non-MagSafe phone (including Android, Google Pixel, and Samsung models) magnetic phone accessory capabilities.

We’re hoping to see this PopGrip drop to $24.99 when it drops.

Dropping: Dec. 11

Which vacuum you should splurge on this holiday season all depends on the variety of messes you’d like to not deal with by hand anymore. Compared to a cordless stick vacuum like a Dyson, a corded wet and dry vacuum like the Shark MessMaster can tackle the expected crumbs and hair as well as larger messes like a spilled glass of juice or a whole egg dropped on the kitchen floor. Compared to the Bissell Little Green, the MessMaster’s one gallon capacity tank beats the Little Green’s 48-ounce tank by a long shot.

Target currently has the Mess Master on sale for $99, and a Drop isn’t a Drop without beating the sale prices people could already get somewhere else — so we think a price slash to $79.99 (a $50 discount) is pretty likely.

Dropping: Dec. 12

If acne is the main gripe that has you considering buying a skincare device, consider the PMD Clean Acne. This dual-sided wand treats current breakouts and works to keep the skin happy to prevent future ones. One side features hygienic silicone bristles that gently scrub your skin of pore cloggers collected during the day, reaching much deeper than your fingers could. The other side offers spot treatment through blue light therapy (like some Solawave devices do) which fights bacteria on the surface of the skin.

Dropping: Dec. 13

It’s been almost 10 years since the youth first declared electric self-balancing scooters — AKA hoverboards — the coolest thing ever, and they’re still a popular gift item this year. The second one featured in a Best Buy Drop is the Hover-1 Ranger: an option for slightly older kids with a built-in Bluetooth speaker. This sleek black-and-chrome-with-color-changing-headlights design can reach seven miles per hour and hold riders up to 220 pounds.

Best Buy has already knocked $50 off the Hover-1 Ranger’s original $199.99 price tag to make it $149.99 pre-Drop, so we wouldn’t be shocked to see that discount doubled for a Drop price of $99.99.

Dropping: Dec. 14

An instant camera is a no-brainer gift idea for anyone on your list who documents everything (if they somehow don’t have one yet). Fujifilm’s popular Instax Mini 12 weighs just one pound and shoots in ISO 800 with automatic exposure and flash control. Photos print immediately and are fully developed in around 90 seconds.

This holiday bundle already saves money by taking care of the most tedious part of instant camera-ing — replacing the film — by supplying 10 extra packs, but we could see the Drop price going as low as $49.99. The bundle also includes a photo album and a magnet holder.