Having a VPN installed on your PC or mobile can be interesting in many cases. It is useful for hiding the actual geographic location, as well as for accessing services that may be blocked. It is also to improve security when using public Wi-Fi networks. But can it be interesting for shopping? Would having a VPN help to buy cheaper on Black Friday?
In this article, we are going to discuss this topic. There are certain myths behind VPNs and it is worth knowing them. Sometimes, we see information on the Internet related to the use of applications of this type to buy a flight, for example, and make it cheaper. However, as we are going to explain to you, this is not really the case. At least, in most cases.
In general, no
We can say that, in general terms, using a VPN will not help you save when shopping online this Black Friday, except in specific cases. If we are talking about Spanish online stores, or those that are based in Spain, the fact of connecting to a server in another country will not reduce the price. For example, a purchase from Amazon.
What can happen is that, when you connect with a VPN, that store appears in another country’s version, if available. There are online stores that adapt depending on the country and can offer certain services or products cheaper. The problem? Once you follow the purchasing process and get to the shipping section, you will see that they do not send it to your country or that you have to pay higher shipping costs. Therefore, it is not very viable.
Yes, it can be interesting when contracting certain services, as long as they are available in a cheaper country. For example, hiring a Streaming service, cloud use, etc. Sometimes, the same brand can have different prices depending on the country. In addition, due to the currency exchange there may be differences. In that case, using a VPN could help you access certain offers in some country, for Black Friday.
But, as we say, they are going to be very specific cases. Generally, whether or not to use a VPN is not going to influence when shopping online, not even because of Black Friday. If you are going to buy a flight, it is proven that prices do not vary depending on the IP, except in very specific cases in which you can find a certain advantage due to the currency exchange or very specific offers in a specific destination.
When is it useful for security
Leaving aside whether or not it is cheaper to buy on Black Friday with a VPN, what we can recommend is its use for security. Once again, this will be useful in certain cases where there may be some risk, as we are going to explain to you. The goal is to always preserve your data.
For example, it is interesting to use a VPN if you are going to buy online and you are going to connect from a public Wi-Fi network, such as a shopping center, airport, library… You don’t really know who may be behind it. By using a program of this type, the connection will be encrypted and you will prevent your data from being leaked. You can even set up a VPN on the TV.
In short, we can say that buying with a VPN, whether on Black Friday or not, does not usually bring benefits in the form of financial savings. Yes, it can be useful to buy safely. We can recommend some guarantee options, such as NordVPN either surfshark.
