On Black Friday, November 28, 2025, Best Buy’s website experienced significant outages, frustrating customers attempting to capitalize on major sales. As of 11:50 a.m. ET, the site was reported as “up and running as normal” by Best Buy Support on X (formerly Twitter). However, prior to restoration, users faced widespread errors, slow loading times, and issues with password resets across both the website and mobile app.
The timing of the outage is critical : Black Friday represents one of the largest online shopping days of the year. The disruptions occurred during peak demand, as consumers rushed to secure deals on high-demand items like iPads, QLED 4K TVs, and Windows laptops. The incident highlights the fragility of e-commerce infrastructure under extreme load.
According to reports from Down Detector, outage reports began surfacing around 9:40 a.m. ET, escalating rapidly to over 1,000 affected users within an hour. The majority (80%) of complaints centered on the desktop website, with a smaller percentage (12%) citing issues with the mobile app. Best Buy support suggested clearing browser caches or contacting them directly as potential fixes.
The cause of the outage remains unclear. While Best Buy Support alluded to VPN usage or browser cache issues, widespread user reports indicate a more systemic problem. Such outages can stem from server overload, DDoS attacks, or internal technical failures. The fact that the mobile app also experienced issues suggests the problem may not be isolated to the website.
This incident underscores the growing importance of robust infrastructure for retailers during high-traffic events. Customers increasingly rely on online shopping, and website reliability is essential for maintaining trust and sales. The disruption forced some shoppers to abandon their purchases or seek alternatives, potentially costing Best Buy revenue.
The situation was quickly resolved, but the outage serves as a reminder that even major retailers are susceptible to technical failures during peak shopping seasons.
