re-post from last year
Black Friday shopping can be frustrating if you aren’t ready for it. Here’s Cuckoo for Coupon Deals top 12 tips for scoring deals on Black Friday:
- Get Alerts When Amazon Prices Drop: What price is a good deal? What is your price point for the item you want? I visit CamelCamelCamel.com and enter in the items I want, and it tells me the price on Amazon.com, as well as the lowest the item has gotten. If the price is high now, you can request for CamelCamelCamel.com to send you a free email when the price drop to a price you are willing to pay. Sometimes, Amazon.com will have quick “lightening” deals that are better than the deals on Black Friday. So enter your items in now, and if there are sales you’ll be the first to know. Plus, you have already set your price you are willing to pay, so you are ready for your purchase and won’t miss out on a quick good sale.
- Set Your Budget Per Item/Person Early. Every site tells you to set your budget, but if you haven’t set your per person budget, you can quickly go overboard.
- Create a List: Create a list of everyone you need to buy presents for, and the maximum price you are willing to spend on their gift. Then add in expenses for any parties or holiday travel you will be doing. Often you go back and lower your price per person after factoring in all the other holiday expenses.
- Prioritize: You may not have time to do all the deals, so decide which ones must be first on your list of priorities.
- Don’t Buy People Gifts That Give You Bills: It’s great to get a new phone, but if the monthly bill will be more than your friend can afford, common courtesy suggests another gift or simply pre-paying for a year of their phone service. Same with kindles and other monthly-bill gifts.
- Go The Day Before: Go the day before Black Friday and look around the store. Find where all the items you want are, so you can go there first. Ask associates what times they believe you should arrive for shopping, they may have been around last year and have tips for you.
- Leave Earlier Than You Think Is Sane: If you think you are leaving too soon, you are probably leaving on time. Store lines get longer, earlier every year on Black Friday. If it opens at 4:00 AM, be there at least by 1:00 AM. Or camp out if you want the hottest new gadget.
- Leave the Kids At Home: When you do get out for the hot deals, people can be pushy. Rude. Annoying. Don’t expose your kids to this and the often blistery cold weather. You will be able to get your items quicker without looking over your shoulder for your children.
- Bring Snacks & Drinks: Don’t get cranky – get full and ready to focus on your day. You will get your shopping done quicker without having to stop for snack breaks.
- Carry the Sales Ads With You: Often, stores such as Target, Walmart, and Best Buy will price match black friday sale ads. This way you can get all your deals in one place with price matching other stores ads
- Set Yourself Up For Failure: You won’t get everything you want – especially if they are hot items. Go for fun.
- Shop Online: This year, I will be up 24/7 the night of Thanksgiving posting online deals as they go live; many deals that are in-store you can score online too. And when the deals go live, I will be posting them.
- Cyber Monday: If you fail on Black Friday don’t sweat. The Monday after Black Friday is a hot day for electronic items to go on sale. Often, when stacked with a free shipping code, you can get items for the same as on Black Friday. And here at Cuckoo we’ll be posting all the Cyber Monday deals as they occur.
Make sure to check out all the Black Friday Deals and Christmas Gifts Guide this year on my site. I update these deals daily.
