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

UPDATE: Oct. 24, 2023, 2:30 p.m. EDT The new Best Buy Drops tab on the Best Buy app gives you a head’s up about upcoming new product drops, limited edition releases, and major discounts on high-profile items ahead of the holidays. This post has been updated to track the products dropping in the coming week.

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 why Amazon’s invite-only Prime Day deals popped off (and why they’ll likely be back for Black Friday). It’s probably why Best Buy announced Best Buy Drops right before we hit full-blown holiday shopping season — and we’re totally falling for it.

Best Buy Drops is a new shopping hack dedicated to giving shoppers a heads-up about upcoming high-profile items and deals in categories like gaming, smartwatches, toys, 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. This kind of preparedness is the name of the game with Drops, as some items are so popular that it’s only a matter of minutes (or seconds) before they sell out.

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 QLED 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 the last full week in October

Dropped: Oct. 24 (sold out)

Note: This drop’s inventory is already sold out after dropping around 11 a.m. on Oct. 24.

The now second-best GoPro, the HERO11, is still one of the absolute best action cameras you can buy right now — especially when snagging the Best Buy Drops version locks in an extra battery, a head strap, carrying case, and The Handler (a floating grip typically sold separately) for $100 less than the GoPro HERO12 by itself.

The HERO11 offers 27 megapixels of resolution and can take 5.3K video at 60 frames per second, as well as grab 24.7-megapixel stills from that video. Its HyperSmooth 5.0 technology, now succeeded by the HERO12’s 6.0 iteration, has the coveted 360-degree Horizon Lock automatically built into the camera’s stabilization, while AutoBoost automatically determines the optimal level of video stabilization based on your speed and movement.

Dropping: Oct. 25

Weighing in at less than 2.2 ounces despite housing the gold standard of gaming sensors, the Hero 25K, Logitech’s Pro X Superlight mouse is one of the zippiest and most lightweight wireless mice for FPS gaming on the market. Its customizable CPI gets as granular as increments of 50 and all of the buttons are customizable as well, plus you get the option to set a G-Shift button.

We won’t know what the official Drop deal is until the drop itself happens, but given that this mouse is already $50 off on a regular day, we can expect a price point lower than $109.99.

Dropping: Oct. 26

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 one participating in a Best Buy Drop is the Hover-1 Blast: one of Hover-1’s safer and more affordable options. This sleek black-with-blue-headlights design can reach seven miles per hour and hold riders up to 160 pounds.

We’re hoping to see the Hover-1 Blast sink well below the $100 mark when it drops.