Published on 19 September 2026 · 4 min read
When are espresso machines cheapest?
The same machine can cost two hundred euros less in November than in June. That is neither coincidence nor luck: it follows a pattern you can wait out, as long as you know what you are looking at.
The two dips in the year
The deepest dip is around Black Friday and runs through to the holidays. Espresso machines are a typical gift at this price, and makers and shops set margin aside for it.
The second moment is less well known: the weeks after the holidays, when stock bought in for December has to move. Shallower, but with more choice than during the rush.
- November to late December: the biggest discounts.
- January: shallower, better availability.
- May to August: structurally the worst time to buy.
Why the struck-through price tells you little
The “was” price beside an offer is the shop's own reference figure. Sometimes it is the maker's recommended price, sometimes what the shop once charged, and there is no fixed rule behind it.
So a machine can sit permanently at fifty percent off without ever having been cheaper than it was last month. The only way to see that is to track the price over time.
Model changes are the other moment
When a maker announces a successor, the outgoing model often falls harder than in any promotional week. Between espresso machine generations the brew group rarely changes, so that older model is usually the same coffee for less money.
Watch the model number rather than the name. Makers sell generations side by side under names that look alike.
When waiting does not pay
On machines that have been around for years and sit permanently discounted, the gap between an average week and a good one is small. Waiting then costs you months of coffee to save twenty euros.
Waiting pays mostly at the higher end, where the sums are big enough that a ten percent dip is real money.
