It's Black Friday and you are standing in line at 3am, freezing your butt off, waiting patiently for the store manager to unlock the door and LET YOU IN!!!! This particular stop is an exclusive pre-Black Friday door buster and you have only 15 minutes to fight the crowd for your item and check out, before you have to be in the car driving to the next destination in the dark and cold with your thermos of coffee riding shotgun. There are no passengers because you dont have time to worry about their wants and needs. This is a solo show baby, just get out of the way.
And then there is me: I am up at 3am too, but I am in my jammies, in my bed, under the covers with the browser open on my laptop to the stores and the items I want to purchase. The time I have spent planning has paid off and I am able to complete my shopping with minimal clicks of the mouse.
I am trying to think of any drawbacks to shopping online........ Well, sometimes the servers cant handle all the hits and the site goes painfully slow or doesnt move at all. Sometimes the item you are looking for sells out. But even on Black Friday shopping on line, in my opinion, is the way to go - you just have to have to do a bit of planning.
Here are a few tips and things to keep in mind:
1.
Set yourself up to be automatically emailed when a new Black Friday ad is released. It takes less time and energy to have the ads come to you then continually searching.
Tip - Maybe even set up a second email box just for shopping so that you dont have to pick through? Gmail is free and so are a bunch of others. Here is the link to
DealTaker's Black Friday site - There are others but we are right on top of this stuff and you wont need them ;-)
2. There are some stores that will have a limited # of items they are willing to sell at extremely low prices (Just like in a retail store). To make sure that you dont miss a great sale on a special item, prioritize the items based on how good the sale is, what time it starts and how sure you are you will buy the item regardless of the price.
Tip - Use bookmarks to organize the items instead of creating a new list you have to keep up with. Plus with bookmarks you can move the item up or down in priority if a new sale alert comes outs with a better deal.
3. Check for
Coupons!!!! Always check for coupons when you shop online.
Tip - Sometimes coupons are excluded on heavily discounted items so prioritize your items based on the stores sale price unless you know for sure a coupon can be used.
Tip - Check for Coupons as close to the time of the sale as possible. Coupons are always changing and the stores may release a coupon to co-inside with their sale.
4. Check to see if the item is already discounted. Why wait? Purchase it now and open up the space to put another item on your list.
Tip Dealtaker will put a message on the item to let you know if it is available now!
5. When the time of the sale arrives
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Tip Speaking of time be careful to check the timezone - it may be 3am, but on the west coast - If the price doesn't automatically change
refresh (F5) your browser. I know that for the folks that shop on line all the time this isn't a big tip, but if you are new to shopping on line the F5 key will become your new best friend :-)
5.
Putting items in the shopping cart prior to the sale time has not worked well for me. Some stores will hold the items in your shopping cart, but trying to get the new or discounted price on that item can really cause confusion. I have better luck with the item up in front of me and my finger on the mouse ready to click 'add to order'.
6.
Tip - Set up your account in advance so that you can just fly through the checkout. If you are comfortable storing your CC # (or if the store keeps this info) you can basically enter your user ID or email address, password and place the order in a couple clicks. Even if you don't store your credit card info at the store, having the account set up will save tons of time.
OK then - On to the next store and Happy Shopping!
Nintendo DS Red $149.99 advertised Black Friday price -available now for $146.99 Shipped
Westinghouse 37" 1080p HDTV Ready LCD 1-HDMI / 2-DVI-HDCP - List $1,499.99 Now $569.99 Shipped - Very Good Reviews!, @ Buy.com - Limited Stock 
CWD Kids provides quality clothes and excellent customer service. They do not use the same cookie cutter patterns that so many children's stores do - so you can find fun new styles for your kids.
Sandals Resorts Fly Free Sale
nights by July 31, 2008, and get an air credit of up to $550 per person. And, depending on where, when and how long you stay, you could get up to 2 nights free and up to 35% off. Plus, you can combine them all for unprecedented savings.
Check out this deal from 6ave!
