After being filled up with Turkey, many people look towards scoring the best deals on Black Friday. Finding the best deals however, involves much more than simply going into the store and buying the item. In order to get the best deals out of the myriad of options, follow this guide.
1. Do your research
The first step to save money is to actually find the best deals during black friday. Nowadays, almost every store has deals available. The best place to start is to quickly scan through the black friday ads offered by each store. Look for particular items you are interested in, and see if the discount is enough to get you to go buy it. You don’t want to go to a store with no idea what they have and waste your time. Also, double check the fine print. Things like mail in rebates or limited quantities might prove to be too much of a hassle. Before even heading out to shop, know exactly what deals you want and where to find them.
Courtesy of target
2. Compare prices
Often times, a deal you see on black friday might not be a deal at all. In order to actually save money, you should compare prices you find with other stores. One can use websites like google and Nextag to help compare prices of an item across multiple stores. On-the-go or in store, you can use apps like shopsavvy (ios, android) to quickly scan a barcode and compare prices. This can be helpful while browsing through items in the store. No matter what, before you make a purchase, always compare prices with other stores to make sure you are getting the best deal there is.
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3. Look for doorbusters or flash sales
Often times, the best black friday deals only occur for a limited time and are very hard to find. Stores often offer some very steep discounts on doorbuster items in order to get customers into their stores. These items are often limited in quantity, and run out rather quickly. In order to make sure you get these, be sure to research when and where they will occur. Stores will occasionally hold flash sales but only for a limited time. These occur spontaneously without notice and are often over before many realize. In order to get in on these deals, you can sign up for deal alerts through websites such as slickdeals(ios, android) to alert you when deals happen on your favorite items. In order to get some of the best deals, you must be able to beat others and the clock to get the item.
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4. Get a spot saver
For some of the best stores, people will often line up well in advance in order to score a certain deal. But waiting in line is often tiresome and a big waste of time. Well, you can skip the wait and go do other things while someone else waits in line for you. You can pay others to save your spot in line while you go do other things. Services like taskrabbit allow you to hire others to wait for you for a hourly rate while you go do other things. This lets you get the best deals, while also keeping your time to go do other things.
Photo courtesy of Linelogic.com
5.Skip the store and shop online
Don’t want to go wait in lines, deal with crowds, or go from store to store in search of the best deals. That’s ok. Nowadays, stores often have the same deals available online. You can shop the best deals from the comforts of your own home. Online deals are often just as good as those you find in stores. Sometimes, there are even online exclusive deals you can’t find elsewhere, such as on Amazon. If you can wait, there are also additional deals on cyber monday that are only found online. When purchasing online, always double check the return policy as you won’t get a chance to try out the item before you purchase it.
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