11 ways to strike gold on Black Friday

Despite the gloomy economy, more than 50 million Americans — roughly one of four adults — are expected to hit the mall on Black Friday, one of the most frenetic shopping days of the year. There’s no doubt you can score some incredible bargains on Nov. 28 by getting up extra early or staying up past your bedtime to take in the midnight madness sales. But are the bargains so irresistible that they’re worth battling massive crowds and losing sleep over? 

To help cut through the chaos, we’ve compiled the following savvy-shopper’s guide: 

• Don’t be desperate.  True, a lot of retailers save their biggest bargains for Black Friday because so many people are out and about and in a spending mode. But competition for your shopping dollar is unusually intense this season, and retailers have been slashing prices aggressively for months. There’s no reason to believe that the wheeling and dealing will stop any time soon. So, if you miss out on one blockbuster, another will surely come along. This year, we’ve seen plenty of so-called one-day sales that were extended.

• Weigh the pros and cons of doorbusters.  Black Friday earned the reputation as a bargain-hunter’s paradise because retailers feature a few high-profile, attention-grabbing toys or electronic items at or below cost to draw you in. Such products are typically sold as “loss leaders” and are usually are offered in extremely limited quantities. Don’t bother to show up unless you’re willing to wait on line, sometimes for hours before the store opens, and even then there’s no guarantee (or rainchecks). Many stores will be working harder this year to coax you inside. As an added inducement, look for unadvertised sales throughout the day. Kmart, for instance, said such sales are a big part of their holiday merchandising strategy.

• Visit the retailer’s Web site. If you sign up for e-mail alerts from your favorite stores, you’ll receive notification of upcoming sales and often be targeted with exclusive coupons not readily available to everyone.  Shoppers can also learn if the products they want are stocked and available. It might save you a trip to the store. In addition, many retailers offer the opportunity to purchase the item online and pick it up locally, also a time-saver.

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• Sniff out bonus savings. When you shop online and are ready to check out, you might notice a little box on the page that asks whether you have a discount or promotional code. These underused codes can be a source of unexpected savings such as extra discounts of 10 to 50 percent, instant discounts off purchases totaling a particular amount, and free or upgraded shipping. It’s always worth checking to see if there’s an applicable coupon available. Here’s where you can look: Savings.com,  Shoppersresource.com, Couponwinner.com, Promotionalcode.com, and Webcouponcodes.com.

• Compare deals. There’s no shortage of Web sites that obtain and publish advance notice of Black Friday deals at leading retailers and e-tailers. Many of the hot specials are already listed on Fatwallet.com, bfads.net, blackfriday.gottadeal.com, Dealtaker.com, Walletpop.com, Theblackfriday.com, and blackfridaydeals.us/shop.  The sites often feature downloadable circulars and coupons, too. You can also find out which products come with rebates and which merchants offer free shipping.

• Check to see if it’s cheaper online. If you find a product in a flyer at a seemingly low price, go online first to determine whether you can get it elsewhere for less. Some sites that compare prices among Web retailers include Pricegrabber.com; Shopping.com; Pricescan.com, Shopzilla.com and Dealtime.com. Amazon.com is worth visiting, too, as our reader surveys have cited Amazon as one of the best places to appliances, electronics, and books at excellent prices.

• Ask for a price guarantee. If you’re intent on getting the cheapest price, ask if the retailer has a guaranteed low-price policy, entitling you to a refund of the difference between the new price and what you paid if the item is available for less within a particular timeframe. Seven to 15 days are the norm for most adjustments. 

• Shop early. Brace yourself for heavy traffic, crowds and long lines – longer, probably, than they’ve been in a while since many stores are hiring less help this year. To make the most of your shopping time, plan on arriving at your favorite store early, before doors open and people pour in. Early birds also get to choose from the entire range of merchandise before it’s been picked through, which means fewer color, size, and style options. Retailers are more inclined to offer unadvertised specials in the morning (and at other slow hours), when shopper traffic is lighter.

• Get extra savings through instant charge cards. If you plan a big-ticket acquisition, consider opening up an instant charge card to receive, say, an extra 10 percent off at the checkout. Then pay the balance immediately and cut up the card. A recent holiday poll conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center noted that more than half of Americans plan to put their holiday purchases on plastic. Yet, our poll also revealed that an estimated 12 million consumers are still in debt paying off last year’s holiday purchases.  Don’t take out a credit card if it’ll encourage you to overspend.

• Check return policies. A recent survey by the National Retail Federation suggests that many retailers will be adhering to more generous merchandise return policies this holiday season — extending the amount of time for returns to be made and being more flexible to customers without a receipt.  But don’t be lulled into a false sense of security. Ask for a store receipt and a gift receipt to include in the box. Many retailers will demand one for a refund. If not, you might get turned away or receive a gift card or store credit for the lowest price the item actually sold for, not necessarily what you paid for it. You’ll also need your receipt for warranty service.

• Guard your privacy and security. Read a Web site’s privacy policy. It might tell you that the site sells customer data, which means your inbox could be stuffed with spam.  As for security, when entering personal data, make sure you’re on a Web page that triggers a security icon such as a closed padlock on your browser, indicating a secure connection for transmitting sensitive information. You should also use a single dedicated credit card for all online transactions, which will minimize aggravation should you be a victim of identity theft. After you’ve completed your purchase, a receipt will often appear on your final screen. Rather than jotting down the purchase number, print the actual receipt for your records, should any discrepancies occur.

Comments

[Nick]

Some good tips but you missed retailmenot.com - they have more coupons then all those other sites put together...

[Betsy]

• Get extra savings through instant charge cards. If you plan a big-ticket acquisition, consider opening up an instant charge card to receive, say, an extra 10 percent off at the checkout. Then pay the balance immediately and cut up the card. A recent holiday poll conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center noted that more than half of Americans plan to put their holiday purchases on plastic. Yet, our poll also revealed that an estimated 12 million consumers are still in debt paying off last year’s holiday purchases. Don’t take out a credit card if it’ll encourage you to overspend.

I'm curious how this particular tip might affect a consumer's credit rating if he or she needs or expects to make a big purchase in the new year (car, house, educational loans). When I was preparing to buy my house, I was told that having a lot of open lines of credit — even unused credit with no balance — could negatively affect my loan application.

[Michael]

Add Sortprice.com to the list of valuable price comparison websites as well, I've found them to be a better resource than Pricegrabber in particular:

www.sortprice.com

TOD REPLIES: I checked out the site quickly and agree. I thought it had a very adept search feature. Thanks, Michael.

[Chris]

This web site will help you make sure you get the best prices on all of your purchases this holiday:

http://www.zingsale.com

It's a free service that tracks prices of products from online stores (like amazon) and sends you an email when the price drops. You can set a target price or be notified when it falls by a certain percentage. Might be a nice way to make sure you're getting the best deals this holiday season.

TOD REPLIES: Nice site. Thanks for the heads up, Chris.

[Chat]

@Nick: "More" does not always mean "better". Nice write up, thanks!

[EasyEcoBlog.com]

There is no need to wake up early and battle the crowds. Most Black Friday deals are available on Thanksgiving online!

I like http://www.techbargains.com

[Drew]

Check slickdeals for a excel spreadsheet with all the black friday deals. It's sortable and a good way to search for what you may want to purchase.

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=1014365

[DJ]

@Michael -- thanks for the tip, but I disagree about the search features. Pricegrabber's search function works way better for me than Sortprice, but I did find a couple of merchants that Sortprice had and pricegrabber didn't (searching on high-end handbags).

[RELAXEDMIKE]

Listen Folks, What a clever marketing ploy, "Black Friday".
The best thing about the recession is its forcing americans to reevaluate their GREEDY spending habits. The vast majority of citizens to put it mildly, are PACK RATS. They use their homes to collect things, they never use. Such waste in this great country. All in the name of commercialism and many Black fridays.
Having served 30 yrs in the military and lived in several countries, I can tell you others around this world live with much less and are far more happier than we are.