How to tell if a coffee machine 'sale' is actually a deal

Strikethrough prices, inflated RRPs and lightning deals: a practical checklist for buying an espresso machine on sale in Australia.

4 November 2026

Most coffee machines sold in Australia spend a good part of the year “on sale”. That makes the percentage on the sticker almost meaningless on its own. Here’s how we judge a discount before it goes on Crema Radar, and how you can check one yourself.

1. Ignore the RRP, look at the “was” price

Amazon shows discounts against a few different reference prices. A List Price is usually the manufacturer’s recommended retail price, which the product may rarely sell at. A “Was” price or “Lowest price in 30 days” reflects what it actually sold for recently. A 30% discount off an RRP nobody pays can be worse than 12% off a genuine recent price.

When we list a deal, we say which reference price Amazon used, and we treat list-price discounts with more suspicion.

2. Know when the real sales happen

Coffee gear prices in Australia tend to drop hardest around the same events every year:

  • Black Friday and Cyber Monday (late November)
  • Boxing Day and January sales
  • End of financial year (June)
  • Prime Day (usually July) and Amazon’s October Prime event

If you’re not in a hurry and it’s a few weeks out from one of these, waiting is usually the right call.

3. Check it’s Australian stock

Look for an Australian plug and Australian warranty on the listing, and check who the seller is. Imported “grey” stock can be cheaper, but warranty claims may be harder and parts can differ. When we can tell, we flag listings sold and shipped by Amazon AU.

4. Budget for the grinder

If the machine doesn’t have a grinder built in, a decent burr grinder is not optional for espresso. A cheap machine with a good grinder often beats an expensive machine with pre-ground coffee. Factor it into the “deal” before you decide.

5. Lightning deals move fast

Amazon’s lightning deals have a timer and a “% claimed” bar. If a lightning deal on a machine you’ve already researched pops up, decide quickly. If it’s a machine you hadn’t considered, the timer is not a good reason to start now.

The short version

A good deal is a genuine drop from a recent price, on Australian stock, for a machine you’d have bought anyway. Everything on our deals page is checked against those three tests.