Black Friday 2026 cashback: highest rates on sneakers, gaming and LEGO in the UK

The highest Black Friday 2026 cashback (Friday 27 November) does not necessarily come from the store with the highest headline rate. As of 21 October 2026, END. Clothing pays 3.5% through Soleback on full-price orders, but only 1.5% on discounted products and 0.5% on orders placed with a promo code. JD Sports UK also shows 3.5%, yet its sale rate is 1%. On Black Friday almost everything is discounted, so the "sale" rate is the one that decides how much lands back in your account. This guide collects the rates from Soleback partner store cards, the campaign dates we know so far and the rules that most often make cashback disappear.

Rates read 21 October 2026 on Soleback store cards. Rates change without notice, so check the store card again right before you buy.

Key points

• Black Friday 2026: Friday 27 November. Cyber Monday: Monday 30 November. Singles Day: Wednesday 11 November
• LEGO Insiders Weekend: 21-22 November 2026 (confirmed on lego.com), the weekend before Black Friday itself
• Sneakers, highest headline rates: BSTN up to 6% (the same card also shows a 3% default rate), END. Clothing 3.5%, JD Sports UK 3.5%, size? 2.5%, Sneakin 2%, Offspring 1.5%, Sports Direct 0.5%
• Discounted sneakers: END. Clothing drops to 1.5% on discounted products and JD Sports UK to 1% on sale items
• Gaming and electronics: PlayStation Direct up to 2%, but consoles earn 0.5%. The Game Collection 1% (consoles 0.5%), GAME 0.45%
• LEGO and toys: LEGO 3.5% on everything, Hamleys 2% on everything
• As of 21 October the Soleback promotions page shows no boosted Black Friday rates. If any appear, you will see them on the store card
• Discount codes: codes from Soleback and the store's own official codes usually work with cashback, while a code from another website can block tracking
• Returns cancel the cashback on the returned part of the order

When is Black Friday 2026: dates from Singles Day to Cyber Monday

In 2026 Black Friday falls on Friday 27 November. Some websites give 28 November instead (the German portal heidelberg24 and the body text of an Austrian Zalando Lounge page, for example), but that is a mistake: 28 November 2026 is a Saturday.

Dates worth putting in your calendar:

• 11 November (Wednesday): Singles Day, the first big promotional day at many fashion and electronics retailers
• 21-22 November (weekend): LEGO Insiders Weekend, confirmed on lego.com
• 27 November (Friday): Black Friday
• 28-29 November (weekend): most campaigns keep running
• 30 November (Monday): Cyber Monday

For several years now "Black Friday" has been more of a season than a single day. In 2025 JD Sports UK, Footpatrol and PlayStation all had their Black Friday offers live from 21 November, a week before the Friday itself. As of 21 October 2026, none of the stores in this guide had officially announced Black Friday 2026 dates, and Amazon UK had not announced its dates either (lookinto.co.uk). Where there is no official announcement, I describe below what the store did in 2025.

How cashback fits into all this, in four sentences. You open the store card on Soleback and click "Activate cashback". The store opens in a new tab, where you shop as usual. Within 1-48 hours the purchase appears in your account as pending. After the approval period (mostly 60-90 days, longer at some stores) the cashback can be paid out.

Highest Black Friday cashback: why the headline rate is not your rate

A search for "highest Black Friday cashback" usually ends in a list of stores sorted by the biggest number. That is a good starting point, but on Black Friday it often points you the wrong way. The reason is simple: stores pay different rates for different types of order, and Soleback shows these on the store card in the exceptions section.

Three typical exceptions that change everything on Black Friday:

• Sale rate: END. Clothing 1.5% instead of 3.5% on discounted products, JD Sports UK 1% instead of 3.5% on sale items
• Promo code rate: END. Clothing 0.5% with a promo code, BSTN 3% with codes (including Unidays) instead of the headline 6%
• Product category rate: PlayStation Direct 0.5% on consoles instead of 2% on games, The Game Collection 0.5% on consoles instead of 1%

This is my conclusion from comparing the store cards: in a season when almost everything is discounted, a store with "one rate on everything" can return more than a store with a higher headline figure. Example from 21 October: size? GB pays 2.5% and Sneakin 2%, and neither card shows a lower sale rate. On a discounted pair, both beat JD Sports UK at 1% and END. Clothing at 1.5%.

Electronics work the same way, except that product categories replace the sale rate. "Up to 2%" at PlayStation Direct applies to games and collector's editions, while a console earns 0.5%. More on that below.

Sneaker cashback for Black Friday 2026: partner store rates

Below are the rates from Soleback store cards, read on 21 October 2026. The first figure is the headline rate, followed by the exceptions that matter on Black Friday.

• BSTN: up to 6% on the card header, but the same card shows a 3% default rate, 3% for promo codes (including Unidays) and 1.5% for hot releases
• END. Clothing: 3.5%, discounted products 1.5%, promo code 0.5%, approval 90-150 days
• JD Sports UK: 3.5%, sale 1%
• size? GB: 2.5%
• Sneakin: 2%
• Offspring: 1.5% (store card only, no direct link below)
• Sports Direct: 0.5%
• Footpatrol: no verified UK rate as of 21 October (see below)

The highest headline sneaker rate on Soleback's comparison page on 21 October is BSTN at 6%. If you are buying a discounted pair, though, size? (2.5%) and Sneakin (2%) can come out ahead of END. Clothing and JD Sports UK at the same moment, as long as the price is the same.

Links: BSTN, END. Clothing, JD Sports, size?, Sneakin, Sports Direct, Footpatrol.

BSTN on Black Friday: 6%, with an asterisk

BSTN is a good example of why it pays to read the store card to the end. The header of the BSTN card on Soleback says "up to 6%". On Soleback's sneaker cashback comparison page, BSTN carries a note that this is a promotional rate and the usual rate is 3%. On the card itself, the default rate is 3%, orders with promo codes (Unidays included) earn 3% and hot releases 1.5%.

What follows from that: the boosted rate may not last until 27 November. If it falls back to 3%, BSTN stops being the leader of the ranking. The card gives no end date for the promotion.

How BSTN ran Black Friday before:

• 2024: code BLACK25 for 25% off, valid until 1 December 2024
• 2025: an extra discount code, but the source (preis-king.com) contradicts itself: the headline says BLACK30 for 30%, the instructions say BLACK25 for 25%. The higher discount was supposed to run until 21:00 on 28 November

An important point about codes: a BSTN code from its newsletter or website is an official store code. On the BSTN card, orders with a code earn 3%, so the cashback does not disappear, but it does drop. One more BSTN detail from the store card: paying part of the order with a gift card can stop the order being tracked.

END. Clothing: 3.5%, but read the exceptions

END. Clothing (card on Soleback) is the clearest illustration of the headline trap in this guide. The card shows 3.5%, but discounted products earn 1.5% and orders placed with a promo code earn 0.5%. On top of that, END. has the longest approval window of the stores here: 90-150 days.

How END. ran Black Friday last time: according to captaincreps.com (December 2025), END. Clothing took 40% off sneakers, applied automatically at checkout without a code. That combination matters for cashback. An automatic markdown does not trigger the promo code rate (0.5%), but the discounted item will most likely fall under the "discounted products" rate (1.5%).

A worked example (my calculation, not an offer): a pair that costs £120 after a markdown earns about £1.80 cashback at 1.5%. The same £120 at the full 3.5% rate would give £4.20, and with a promo code at 0.5% only £0.60. If END. repeats the automatic 40% discount, you do not need a code, and you should not go looking for one on other websites.

Because of the 90-150 day approval period, cashback from an END. order placed on 27 November 2026 will be confirmed noticeably later than at the other stores in this guide. That is my calculation from the window on the card: roughly from late February to late April 2027.

JD Sports, size?, Sneakin and Offspring: who pays on discounted pairs

JD Sports UK (card on Soleback) pays 3.5%, but only 1% on sale items. In its own blog post on 21 November 2025, JD UK advertised up to 50% off adidas, Nike and Montirex, with no code needed. If the 2026 campaign looks similar, most of what you buy at JD on Black Friday will probably sit in the 1% sale category. That is my conclusion, not a statement from JD. As of 21 October, the JD page titled 2026 shows no dates.

size? GB (card on Soleback) pays 2.5%, and the card shows no separate rate for sale items. That makes size? one of the more predictable choices for a discounted pair.

Sneakin (card on Soleback) pays 2%, again without a lower sale rate on the card.

Offspring (card on Soleback) pays 1.5%. There is no direct affiliate link to Offspring in this guide, so activate cashback from the store card.

A worked example (my calculation, not an offer): a discounted pair at £100 earns £1 at JD Sports UK on the 1% sale rate, £2 at Sneakin and £2.50 at size?. At full price, the same £100 at JD would earn £3.50. The difference between stores is a few pounds, so the store's own discount still matters more than the cashback rate. Compare the final price first, then use the cashback rate to decide between stores with a similar price.

Footpatrol and Sports Direct

Footpatrol has a Soleback affiliate link for the UK (Footpatrol), but I could not verify the rate on a UK store card. The only Footpatrol card I checked was for another country, and its rate cannot simply be carried over to the UK. So I give no Footpatrol rate for Great Britain. Check the store card before you buy.

Footpatrol's Black Friday 2025 went live on 21 November 2025 and used individual item markdowns rather than one percentage for the whole store. Two examples: Air Jordan 1 High OG "Shattered Backboard" from £175 to £120, and PUMA Speedcat from £90 to £55.

Sports Direct (card on Soleback) pays 0.5%. That is the lowest sneaker rate in this guide. At Sports Direct, the store's own price will matter far more than the cashback. A £60 pair would bring £0.30 back (my calculation).

What sneaker stores did on Black Friday 2025

As of 21 October 2026, none of these stores had officially announced Black Friday 2026 dates. Last year is the best clue to what to expect:

• Most common headline: "up to 50%" (JD Sports in the UK and Germany, Snipes)
• Extra codes at specialist sneaker stores: 25-35% (BSTN 25 or 30%, AFEW 25% with code BW2025 until 29 November 2025, Solebox 35%, the last one seen only in a preview of a post on X)
• END. Clothing: 40% off sneakers, applied automatically at checkout (captaincreps.com, December 2025)
• Footpatrol: individual item markdowns, no single store-wide percentage
• Typical code exclusions: Air Force 1, Air Jordan and hot releases (Snipes, according to mydealz.de)

Two things follow for cashback. First, an automatic discount (no code) usually does not change the cashback rate, apart from the "sale" rate. Second, a discount with a code can trigger a lower "promo code" rate. This is my conclusion from comparing store cards, not a rule that applies to every store.

Gaming and electronics cashback on Black Friday: rates depend on the category

With electronics and gaming, the headline rate tells you even less than with sneakers. Among the UK partner stores in this guide, the store cards split the rates like this as of 21 October 2026:

• PlayStation Direct: up to 2%. Games and collector's editions 2%, accessories 1%, consoles 0.5%
• The Game Collection: 1%, consoles 0.5%
• GAME: 0.45%

The pattern is the same at both stores that list exceptions: the most expensive item in the basket, the console, earns the lowest rate. That is exactly what most people buy on Black Friday.

A worked example (my calculation): a PS5 Pro at £610 at PlayStation Direct earns about £3.05 cashback at the 0.5% console rate, not the £12.20 that "up to 2%" would suggest.

Links: PlayStation Direct, The Game Collection, GAME.

PlayStation Direct, GAME and The Game Collection: consoles 0.5%, games more

PlayStation Direct (card on Soleback) is the clearest category split in gaming: 2% on games and collector's editions, 1% on accessories and 0.5% on consoles. In 2025, PlayStation's Black Friday prices ran from 21 November: PS5 at £390, PS5 Digital Edition at £295 and PS5 Pro at £610 (thesixthaxis.com, blog.playstation.com).

My calculation at last year's prices: a PS5 at £390 earns about £1.95 at 0.5%, a PS5 Digital Edition at £295 about £1.48. If you add games or a collector's edition to the same order, that part of the basket earns 2%. Whether the store splits a mixed basket by category is decided by the store, so check the pending amount after 48 hours.

GAME (card on Soleback) pays 0.45%. In 2025 GAME ran a "spend over £100, get a £20 voucher" promotion, which ended on 4 December 2025. My conclusion: at GAME the voucher was worth far more than the cashback. On £100 spent, 0.45% is £0.45, while the voucher was £20. If GAME repeats a similar offer, the cashback is a small extra, not the reason to choose the store.

The Game Collection (card on Soleback) pays 1%, consoles 0.5%. On games and accessories that is more than GAME pays; on consoles it is the same as PlayStation Direct.

LEGO on Black Friday 2026: Insiders Weekend, gifts and 3.5% cashback

LEGO runs its own calendar. LEGO Insiders Weekend on 21-22 November 2026 is already confirmed on lego.com, which is the weekend before Black Friday. The details of the offers are not known yet. The Brickonaute blog (18 October 2026) gives Black Friday at LEGO as 27-29 November and Cyber Monday as 30 November, but I did not find that on lego.com.

How it went in 2025:

• Double Insiders points: during Insiders Weekend (22-23 November 2025), on all purchases. There were no double points on Black Friday itself, only 4x points on set 21360 Willy Wonka
• Gift 40775 Mini Knight's Castle: with purchases from £225
• Gift 40776 Hot Chocolate Stand: with purchases from £155
• Gift 30665 Baby Gorilla Encounter: from £35 on selected themes, Insiders Weekend only
• The gifts stacked and were available while stocks lasted

Cashback at the LEGO store through Soleback is 3.5% on everything (card on Soleback, LEGO). There is no lower sale rate on the card, so a reduced set earns the same 3.5%. A worked example (my calculation): an order of £225 earns about £7.88 cashback plus the gift, if the threshold in 2026 stays the same. That is not known yet.

My conclusion on timing: if the 2026 pattern repeats, Insiders Weekend (21-22 November) is the moment for double points and the Insiders-only gift, and Black Friday itself may bring different offers. Cashback is the same 3.5% on both dates.

Hamleys and toys beyond the LEGO store

Hamleys (card on Soleback, Hamleys) pays 2% on everything. That is less than the LEGO store's 3.5%, but Hamleys also sells LEGO sets, along with toys from many other brands.

This is my conclusion: if Hamleys discounts a LEGO set noticeably more than the LEGO store does, the set can work out cheaper there even at the lower cashback rate. A difference of 1.5 percentage points in cashback is £1.50 on every £100. A store discount of 10% on the same £100 is £10. Compare the final price, not the percentage.

What you do not get at Hamleys: LEGO Insiders points and the LEGO gifts with purchase. Those only come with orders on LEGO's own channels. So for a large LEGO order near the gift thresholds, the LEGO store will usually have the advantage, and for a single set at a deep discount, Hamleys may be worth checking.

Which partner store for which category: a Black Friday 2026 cheat sheet

Rates as of 21 October 2026. This is a summary, not a ranking of the "best stores", because the store's own discount also decides the final price.

• Full-price sneakers: BSTN up to 6% (check whether 6% still applies on the day), END. Clothing 3.5%, JD Sports UK 3.5%
• Discounted sneakers: size? 2.5%, Sneakin 2%, END. Clothing 1.5%, Offspring 1.5%, JD Sports UK 1%
• Sneakers bought with a promo code: BSTN 3%, END. Clothing 0.5%
• Sportswear basics: Sports Direct 0.5%
• PlayStation console: PlayStation Direct 0.5%, The Game Collection 0.5%, GAME 0.45%
• Games and collector's editions: PlayStation Direct 2%, The Game Collection 1%, GAME 0.45%
• Gaming accessories: PlayStation Direct 1%, The Game Collection 1%
• LEGO: LEGO store 3.5%, Hamleys 2%
• Other toys: Hamleys 2%

Notice the console row: whichever store you choose, cashback on a console is half a percent or less. On a console, the store's price and any voucher matter far more than the cashback rate.

Cashback and discount codes on Black Friday: what works and what blocks it

On Black Friday there are more codes than usual, and this is where cashback is easiest to lose. The rules that follow from store cards and the Soleback help centre:

• Codes from Soleback and the store's own official codes (newsletter, store website, store app) usually work together with cashback
• A code from another coupon website can block tracking. Store cards list "orders with discount codes from outside Soleback" among the cases where cashback is not tracked
• Some stores pay less on an order with a code: BSTN 3%, END. Clothing 0.5%
• An automatic discount without a code does not trigger the "promo code" rate, but it can trigger the "sale" rate

A practical rule: if a store offers the same discount automatically and with a code, choose the version without a code. Codes that work with cashback are listed in the discount codes section.

One more Black Friday detail: some stores say their Black Friday prices do not combine with other codes. In 2025, for example, Footdistrict stated on its promotions page that Black Friday products could not be combined with its newsletter code. If the store's own terms exclude a code, entering it will not help the price, and at stores with a separate code rate it can lower your cashback.

Will cashback be boosted on Black Friday? What TopCashback, Quidco and ShopBack show

Cashback services write about "boosted Black Friday cashback". What is concrete:

• ShopBack, in its Black Friday guide (August 2026), says stores sometimes raise rates several times over, but boosts are short and revert without notice. It also says only codes featured by ShopBack itself are safe
• TopCashback UK on Black Friday 2025 (28 November) showed 15-20% rates at selected stores, many of them opt-in and limited. One boosted rate announced in a newsletter ended after less than 24 hours
• Quidco gave fixed bonuses for reaching a spending threshold instead of higher percentages
• French blogs write about standard rates of 3-10% and boosts of "up to 15%" at some stores. iGraal raised its referral bonus on 5-8 October 2026, and investimieux.com (8 October 2026) says such offers may come back around Black Friday, without any guarantee

What this means for you: boosted rates exist, but they last hours, not weeks. On the Soleback promotions page on 21 October there were no boosted Black Friday rates. If any appear closer to 27 November, you will see them on the store card, and the browser extension will remind you about cashback in the store you are visiting. Do not hold off buying for a boost that nobody has announced, because the product may sell out.

Real or fake deal: UK pricing rules and the CMA

Cashback only makes sense when the starting price is honest. The rules in Great Britain are different from those in the EU. In the EU, a discount must refer to the lowest price of the previous 30 days. The UK is not covered by that 30-day rule. Instead, the CTSI pricing practices guidance (2016) uses a principles-based test: a price comparison must be fair and not mislead the shopper about the size of the saving.

What has changed recently is enforcement:

• DMCC Act: the consumer powers of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act came into force on 6 April 2025. The CMA can now fine companies directly, up to 10% of global turnover
• CMA Black Friday consumer alert: published on 13 November 2025
• CMA investigations: on 18 November 2025 the CMA opened 8 investigations, including Wayfair and Appliances Direct over misleading time-limited offers, and sent 100 warning letters to businesses
• ASA: under advertising rules, savings claims must be based on genuine reductions that the advertiser can evidence

What this means in practice:

• Treat a countdown timer with suspicion, especially one that restarts when you reload the page. Time-limited offers were exactly what the CMA investigated in November 2025
• Check the price history of the product you want before Black Friday, and save a screenshot
• "Was" prices from a short period are a warning sign, because a genuine reduction needs a genuine earlier price

For context, in the EU the European Commission published on 26 March 2026 the results of a check of 314 online traders in 23 EU countries plus Iceland and Norway during Black Friday and Cyber Monday: 30% displayed discounts incorrectly, 18% used pressure tactics and 10% used drip pricing. An earlier EU sweep in 2022 found that at least 43% of 176 websites broke the rules. These figures are from the EU, not from Great Britain, but many of the stores in this guide sell in both markets.

How much prices actually fall on Black Friday: numbers from studies

Studies from different countries paint different pictures, so I list them side by side:

• United Kingdom, Which? (2023): 98% of Black Friday 2022 deals were the same price or cheaper at other times in the six months before and after. Only 2% were cheapest on Black Friday
• Which?, by retailer: the share of deals that were cheaper at other times was 75% at Argos, 69% at Amazon and 59% at AO
• Germany, idealo (Black Friday 2024 vs October 2024, over 10 000 products): 73% were cheaper, by 7% on average. Only about 1 in 10 was cut by 20% or more. TVs fell by 17%, smartphones by 5%. idealo found no systematic price rise before Black Friday
• Spain, OCU (2024, 12 800 electronics products on 54 sites): 42% cost more than their September-October minimum, only 29% were cheaper

My conclusion: Black Friday is neither a scam nor a guarantee of the lowest price. Average discounts can be modest (a few percent), and in that situation 2-3.5% cashback is a real share of the total saving. The Which? figures also suggest that, in the UK, waiting for Black Friday is not always necessary: if the price you see in October or early November is already at its lowest, cashback on that purchase is worth the same.

Returns and cashback: what happens when you send a parcel back

When you buy online, you have a 14-day cooling-off period to cancel, including on promotional items. The store cancels its commission on orders that are returned, cancelled or not paid, so the cashback on them is lost. With a partial return, cashback is usually recalculated on the value you kept.

That is why cashback stays "pending" during the approval period. On the cards of most stores in this guide it is mostly 60-90 days, at END. Clothing 90-150 days. This is my calculation: purchases made on 27 November 2026 with 60-90 days approval will become payable roughly between late January and late February 2027.

Practical tips:

• Ordering several sizes to try on? Cashback only stays on what you keep
• An exchange instead of a return is booked by some stores as a return plus a new order without cashback. If you can, place a new order through Soleback
• Extended Christmas return windows can lengthen the approval time

Welcome bonus and referrals: an extra for new accounts

If you open an account before Black Friday, check the welcome bonus. The terms and the current amount are on the bonus page, so read them there before your first purchase.

The referral programme pays a bonus per friend you invite. Details are in the bonus terms.

My conclusion: an account opened in early November, before Singles Day, covers the whole season from 11 November to Cyber Monday with the same setup (account, extension, store cards checked). An account opened on 27 November will still work, but it will miss any November pre-sales.

Soleback works with 720+ partner stores (homepage, October 2026), with cashback up to 14%. The UK stores in this guide pay between 0.45% and 6%, so do not expect the top rate on everyday sneaker or gaming purchases.

Checklist: how to shop on Black Friday with cashback, step by step

1. Before 27 November: open an account, install the Soleback extension, check the store cards of the stores you plan to use
2. Note the current price of the products you want before Black Friday and take a screenshot
3. Turn off your adblocker and tracking protection for the store you are buying from
4. Click "Activate cashback" on the store card right before you buy, not an hour earlier
5. Buy in the same browser tab, without closing it and without visiting price comparison sites or other cashback sites in between
6. Do not buy in the store's app, because app purchases are usually not tracked
7. Take codes from Soleback or from the store, not from outside websites
8. Do not pay part of the order with a gift card at stores that exclude it (for example BSTN)
9. After 48 hours, check that the purchase shows as pending

The most common reasons cashback does not track

On Black Friday websites are busy and you are often shopping in a hurry. From store cards and the Soleback FAQ:

• Adblocker or a tracking protection extension: the most common reason
• Closed tab, or buying in a different tab from the one where you activated cashback
• Automatic cookie clearing
• Buying in the store's mobile app
• Visiting a price comparison site or another cashback site after activation
• A discount code from outside Soleback
• Part payment with a gift card (for example at BSTN)

If the purchase does not appear within 48 hours, report the missing cashback in the help centre. You have up to 28 days to report it.

What to do depending on your situation

• You are after a specific sneaker at full price: check BSTN and END. Clothing, but at BSTN see on the day of purchase whether 6% still applies
• You are buying discounted sneakers: size? (2.5%) and Sneakin (2%) do not lower the rate on sale items, while JD Sports UK drops to 1% and END. Clothing to 1.5%
• You have a code from a store newsletter: check on the card whether the store pays a separate rate for codes (BSTN 3%, END. Clothing 0.5%)
• You are buying a PlayStation console: expect about 0.5% wherever you buy and compare the final price. Add games to the order at PlayStation Direct if you want the 2% rate on part of the basket
• You are buying games or collector's editions: PlayStation Direct (2%) pays more than The Game Collection (1%) and GAME (0.45%)
• You are buying LEGO: the LEGO store (3.5% plus gifts above thresholds, Insiders Weekend 21-22 November) or Hamleys (2%) if its discount is clearly bigger
• You do not have an account yet: open one in early November so the whole season is covered

Current rates are on the Soleback promotions page and on store cards, including END. Clothing, JD Sports, PlayStation Direct and LEGO, and you can go straight to the stores via BSTN, size? and LEGO.