And that is the question indeed!
In certain cases you can get discounts of up to 60% in refurbished items, so the question is what's wrong with it, and when to get it.
Refurbished products really depend on the product itself, there are certain things that really makes no difference getting it refurbished (for example, small-time appliances), but as more breakable parts start coming into place, a refurbished product might be a riskier bet.
In general, in the United States, the refurbished parts will at least carry the original manufacturer's warranty (1 year). So at the very least, if the product is broken, you can take it to its manufacturer, and possibly pay some Return shipping cost.
So, in one hand we have the advantages of refurbished:
a) very, very, very cheap
and the disadvantages
a) the product might be broken and will need to take it back to the store
b) some stores don't even offer the 1 year warranty on the product
You have to decide on your Refurbished Tolerant Factor, and that's done on a per-product bases. To get your Refurbished Tolerant Factor you'll need to consider the following
How much money is the product worth? can I afford to lose it if it was broken?
So you find something incredibly ridicuously cheap, say a refurbished monitor for 50$. Everybody will feel differently about how much is "Cheap", but if, for example we were talking about a 25 inch monitor, I think that's probably a very good gamble. If I win, I win a 25 inch monitor, if I lose, I lost a week of McDonalds food. The opposite is true, if the money is very high (say buying a "refurbished" car) then you might want to err on the safe side.
If the product has warranty, would it be a lot of trouble to repair it?
The next question is figuring out how much would you be willing to work with a "refurb". If you by a piece of electronic equipment and then they tell you is refurb, then you might need to take it to the store for an exchange, or you might not have it for a time (as is being shipped, or fixed). This is ok for things that you don't mind departing for a little while (maybe an MP3 player), but not for things that you will really be using daily (think your cell phone or that laptop).
What kind of product is it? is it prone to failure?
Interestingly enough, there are many, many products that are build to last. And sometimes we replace them before we even give them a chance to get broken. For example, refrigerators and stoves have a shelf-life of ten years (yeah, that extended warranty is really unnecessary in most of the cases). People change cell phones with every new plan, so in that sense a phone have to last at most two years.
On the other hand there are things that people will not recommend buying refurbished. (a notable case is computer hard disks) because they cannot be "refurbished" properly. While the cases are very far in between, one would need to do some research on them just to be sure.
The internet is your friend, you can just search for "product x life span" and you will get an idea of what people are reporting. Or if you have a product already in mind, just search and read the opinion of the product. Lastly a quick rule of thumb (if the internet is not available)
"The more moving parts it has, the more prone it is to get broken"
That's it! Asking these three questions will ensure that you know if you would like a refurbished item or not. And this assessment should be done item by item. Not all refurbished products are bad; some (if not most) come from returns that need repackaging, or other are very easily fixable by the manufacturer. In any case, when it brings a deep discount, it should be considered.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
The unwinnable item (how to spot and prepare for)
Each Black Friday stores try to allure you to go and spend most (if not all) of the time on them. They know that you have a wad of cash (ok, at least some disposable income) ready to be spent. That you've been waiting for a long time for this day, that you've been doing your homework, and that you're ready to spend.
In all... a very special customer that wants to BUY...
No browsing the aisles, no window shopping, Black Friday shoppers are the real deal. And you can see how they try to get your attention. Some like Kohls, offer free coffee at 5:00am, others offer doorbuster specials (valid for only 2 hours).
Which is all fine, but there is one particular trick that you must pay attention to. It's what I called (Drum roll please....)
"The Unwinnable Item"
In almost all the stores, there will be an item that its price defies all convention, that is so enticingly low that it's too good to be true. When you find the item, you online, check for reviews, see that is not a "inferior product" or a "leftover piece of junk", and then you wonder..."why?"
It is true that on Black Friday every store is getting its name out there, and making deep discounts. But advertising something that might even be considered a "loss?" what gives?
The truth is, that in Black Friday, the most money spent will be in that first hour of shopping. Period. As each store try to grab your eyeballs, they know that if they can get you in the door even with an item that they're not making money on (in fact they might be losing money on selling the item, for those freakonomics out there that's the infamous quoted "loss-leader") you'll be spending most of your money there, and they will recoup the difference of what they've been losing because you'll be there.
And that would be a fair game, except for the fact that you will very unlikely get that deeply discounted item. The reason is simple. If it's so good of an offer, everyone will want it. And if everyone wants it, there is (at most) 20 or 30 stocked items on a particular store (even less). Which means that there will be a lot more competition for that item than others. More people who were not looking for that item will try to add it to their shopping list.
The end-result is that, unless you're willing to start making a line on Thursday around 8:00pm (sometimes earlier), you most likely will not get that item. Best-Buy and Fry's are notorious for doing this. Last time Fry advertised an actual core 2 laptop for around 350$ (unheard of). Best Buy had great laptop promotions but they are usually gone by 1:00am (Best-buy special information coming up).
Now don't get me wrong, all in all this is the game. If you want to really really get that particular item, then by all means, go and wait. But if you like to distribute your wealth a little more, the strategy that I recommend is more of a hedge.
"Don't go to a store ONLY for the unwinnable item"
If you do, you'll be deeply dissapointed, and you might not get any other good Black Friday items at all. It's ok to "try" to get an unwinnable item, just don't plan for it, and have your "list" ready on the particular store.
"Learn how the unwinnable items are distributed"
See if you can figure out what does the company do to distribute high-demand items. Most will give you a voucher which you can then exchange for the particular item. Other require you to do special "lines" to claim the item. Best Buy was notorious for doing this. While people were waiting around midnight on Black Friday, the Best Buy employees will go out and distribute vouchers to the people in the lines. If you went at 3:30am, and didn't know this, you would think that you might have a chance when in fact, everything was already settled way before you started waiting.
"Learn how to spot the unwinnable item"
There will be greatly priced stuff all over Black Friday, so how to distinguish the unwinnable one? It is mostly just the price. If it's way too low or if you think "I gotta get me some of that" over and over again, then you found it. Unwinnable items can be at either side of the price spectrum. It could be Laptops, Blu-ray players, queen size bed sets, anything. The only rule is that its price is just too little and the item is not a bad item.
"You may find the unwinnable items on ebay (for a price)"
Even if you really had your heart set on the unwinnable items, you might still get it (with a premium) from Ebay or Craigslist. Undoubetly some items end up listed there (either with a higher listed price, or less parts, or both). So you can decide if the deal is still good for you.
All in all, prepare for contingencies. Don't set your heart on an unwinnable item. Keep an eye on them, and remember that there are other things that you are looking for as well.
In all... a very special customer that wants to BUY...
No browsing the aisles, no window shopping, Black Friday shoppers are the real deal. And you can see how they try to get your attention. Some like Kohls, offer free coffee at 5:00am, others offer doorbuster specials (valid for only 2 hours).
Which is all fine, but there is one particular trick that you must pay attention to. It's what I called (Drum roll please....)
"The Unwinnable Item"
In almost all the stores, there will be an item that its price defies all convention, that is so enticingly low that it's too good to be true. When you find the item, you online, check for reviews, see that is not a "inferior product" or a "leftover piece of junk", and then you wonder..."why?"
It is true that on Black Friday every store is getting its name out there, and making deep discounts. But advertising something that might even be considered a "loss?" what gives?
The truth is, that in Black Friday, the most money spent will be in that first hour of shopping. Period. As each store try to grab your eyeballs, they know that if they can get you in the door even with an item that they're not making money on (in fact they might be losing money on selling the item, for those freakonomics out there that's the infamous quoted "loss-leader") you'll be spending most of your money there, and they will recoup the difference of what they've been losing because you'll be there.
And that would be a fair game, except for the fact that you will very unlikely get that deeply discounted item. The reason is simple. If it's so good of an offer, everyone will want it. And if everyone wants it, there is (at most) 20 or 30 stocked items on a particular store (even less). Which means that there will be a lot more competition for that item than others. More people who were not looking for that item will try to add it to their shopping list.
The end-result is that, unless you're willing to start making a line on Thursday around 8:00pm (sometimes earlier), you most likely will not get that item. Best-Buy and Fry's are notorious for doing this. Last time Fry advertised an actual core 2 laptop for around 350$ (unheard of). Best Buy had great laptop promotions but they are usually gone by 1:00am (Best-buy special information coming up).
Now don't get me wrong, all in all this is the game. If you want to really really get that particular item, then by all means, go and wait. But if you like to distribute your wealth a little more, the strategy that I recommend is more of a hedge.
"Don't go to a store ONLY for the unwinnable item"
If you do, you'll be deeply dissapointed, and you might not get any other good Black Friday items at all. It's ok to "try" to get an unwinnable item, just don't plan for it, and have your "list" ready on the particular store.
"Learn how the unwinnable items are distributed"
See if you can figure out what does the company do to distribute high-demand items. Most will give you a voucher which you can then exchange for the particular item. Other require you to do special "lines" to claim the item. Best Buy was notorious for doing this. While people were waiting around midnight on Black Friday, the Best Buy employees will go out and distribute vouchers to the people in the lines. If you went at 3:30am, and didn't know this, you would think that you might have a chance when in fact, everything was already settled way before you started waiting.
"Learn how to spot the unwinnable item"
There will be greatly priced stuff all over Black Friday, so how to distinguish the unwinnable one? It is mostly just the price. If it's way too low or if you think "I gotta get me some of that" over and over again, then you found it. Unwinnable items can be at either side of the price spectrum. It could be Laptops, Blu-ray players, queen size bed sets, anything. The only rule is that its price is just too little and the item is not a bad item.
"You may find the unwinnable items on ebay (for a price)"
Even if you really had your heart set on the unwinnable items, you might still get it (with a premium) from Ebay or Craigslist. Undoubetly some items end up listed there (either with a higher listed price, or less parts, or both). So you can decide if the deal is still good for you.
All in all, prepare for contingencies. Don't set your heart on an unwinnable item. Keep an eye on them, and remember that there are other things that you are looking for as well.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The research (how to know how much an item is worth)
The more you know, the better you'll be on Black Friday. Knowing how much to be expecting for an item greatly reduces the chances of you getting a bad deal. So how do you go about researching the price for something? Is there a secret formula?... well sort of.
You'll need an internet connection (And if you are reading this blog, chances are you have one). First, think about the item on your list that you want to research.
As an example I'll walk you through a completely unknown topic (for me) for an item I've been eying out.
"A cordless phone set (a pair, or better yet 4 units)".
Our phones (while not bad), are full of static, and they are... let's say... old. So know I (with not much prior knowledge on what makes a good set) will walk together in the land of the "research".
Step 1: Find the price range
Everybody would like a nice car, but nice cars are very expensive. The first step is to get an idea of what is the price range of the item that we're looking at. We're not going for specifics, just what kind of prices are within the range of a cordless phone.
- Use Google Shopping to get price ranges
Go to www.google.com, then click on "Shopping" and type "cordless phone". See what the search results bring back.
Look at the bottom of the listings, where it says "refine product results". See the breakdown in prices.
Check each of the two lowest and two highest options. There you can see that cordless phones under 7$ are really not cordless phones, but replacement parts (or a very old refurbished phone). From 7 to 11$ I can see some cordless phones but they are mostly single units, which I'm not interested in.
The bulk seems to be in the $11 to $70 range. So now comes the next part. Let's see what a high-end, 70$ cordless phone looks like
At the very top of the google product listing, there is a "Sort By:" dropdown. Click on it, and select "Price: High to Low". This will give us the first items as the highest marked items.
Now on the list, you can see that Google is showing both ratings and the # of reviews that the rating consist of. To understand whom to trust follow this rule of thumb
- More Stars -> Better product
- Less than 5 reviews <- Diminished credibility.
If an item has great ratings , and on top has a lot reviews, you have scored a possible candidate. Remember, the purpose is not to pick a Particular model, but to start understanding the "picture".
For example, on this cordless phone search, it seems that
- Uniden Tru's are both expensive but very well liked
- Panasonic KX seems to come a close second
And then you can see that there are other brands that fall out (There is a Sony SPP S2730) which is not that well rated, even though it carries a $165 pricetag for new.
The information we have gotten so far is pretty good. We know which brands "dominate" the cordless phone space, around the "best bang for the buck" type of deal. Would this means that any Uniden phone will do. Probably not, but it does mean that any Uniden Tru that is on sale is worth a look.
Tripline:
- If I see an Uniden Tru set (2 or 4) that is between 90$ and 110$ new (Uniden is listed around 200$) then it's worth a look.
Step 2: Pick an item from the series and see what people like/hate about it
A lot of the time the reviews will tell you the things that the phone has that no-one else has. And details on how to evaluate other possible choices emerge. Let's take a look at those Uniden Tru.
The things that people look at (or "rave" about are)
- Distance (coverage)
- Sound Quality
- Battery Life
- No external antenna (which is something I wasn't expecting)
Now I understand what to look for in a cordless phone.
For kicks, let's see if I would buy an Uniden Tru, how much would it go for.
While google shopping gave me a good overview, is by no means the end-all be-all of pricing. To find pricing you'll need to do a couple of more searches. First stop: Ebay
Go to ebay.com and type the "Series" that you're looking for (no a specific phone, but the series, in our example Uniden Tru")
voila! There seems to be a lot of choices, but everything is mangled. So let's sort this out.
If we're just browsing (meaning, we're just looking around and we're not going to buy today), then head over to the ":Buy it now only" tab. Click on it, and then sort by "price + shipping: Lowest first"
We know that the Uniden Tru's are around 100$ ~ 150$, so let's see what's at the other end of the scale.
The first thing (as expected) is accessories for Uniden Tru's to eliminate it, narrow it down by category (on the left side). I'll click on Telephone & Pagers category and then in cordless phones.
Furthermore, I'll go and click on "New" condition. Now a get a concise list of possible cordless phones. Looking at the list I found a listing for the Uniden Tru- 9280 and a set of 3 handsets. Hm, looks very promising for only 93$ + 15$ shipping.
Next step, let's see now what people are thinking of the 9280 model. Go to google and type "Uniden Tru 9280 reviews". You'll get a result list of both sites that review it and sites that sell the product (online stores try to trick you by saying that they have reviews, when in fact the only thing they have is the product for sale with no reviews).
After a while you know which site to trust (for example, I saw a review from Amazon, so I clicked on it".
Even though there are very mixed reviews, one can start assess the risk of the positive vs the negative reviews. For example there is a review title "horrible". It seems to be an isolated case (if the phone were so broken nobody else would have ever give it a 5 star rating). So that can be safely ignored for the purpose of our detective work. For the second poor rating "I didn't like this product" he is definitively unhappy because the customer had to pay a restocking fee (this slants the reviews negatively). But overall, I am cautiously optimistic of this headset.
Up to here you've prepared yourself for Black Friday. The following is just that extra step if
a) You fell in love with something and can't have anything else beside that
b) Black Friday listed this particular product but doggone it, you couldn't get it.
"If I were to buy it today...."
If I were to buy it today, what would I do. Amazon lists it for $120. Can I get it cheaper than that? Of course!
If you have a model that you have your heart set on go to google shopping, and search the particular brand.
I see that the 3-set is available from amazon at 120$ but there is also an OhWala store that have it refurbished for $32.89. Now we'll talk about refurbished in another post. But for the most part the rule is if the company is somewhat trusted, it's fair to put the order in. While not technically a gamble, I'm comfortable with the site for the simple reason that it uses "Google Checkout" for its shopping cart. Google Checkout is a big plus for an unknown site, since it protects me from fraud. Plus to use Google checkout requires a certain level of competency from the merchant.
On top of that, the total I would be paying is $47.48 (with shipping).
Now, let's assume that I got a bad "vibe" from Ohwala site. What are the other alternatives?
The next cheapest one is papasbargains.com. As I go through the site, I notice that the site is really a "Yahoo Store", and to top it of it accepts Paypal as a method of payment, making this store, while unknown, extremely friendly. Both paypal, and yahoo store have policies benefitting the consumers more than the stores, so I feel protected. And in all, I ended up paying less ($42.37 with shipping included!).
To review:
- We started by saying we wanted a cordless phone
- We understood that a good headset might be between 30$ and 70$
- We see that one of the "series" that stands out is the Uniden Tru (valued around $150)
- And we now know, that if I find something "better" than my trip line I could jump on it
My Trip line became "Uniden Tru 9280-3 refurb, 42.37$".
- That's so good I might buy one now!
(the link for the curious. I wasn't endorsed by any of these stores. The actual process is what I do for anything that I buy. Really, only price and quality are my only discriminants!)
"It's not that long...really"
While doing the steps of this post seems to take a loong time. The actual process takes less than 10 minutes. It's more work typing all the post out than following what's here. After you do this once or twice, you'll become a very savvy shopper, and no-one will trick you into buying a bad deal.
We'll keep covering more of the "Black Friday" secrets on this blog. Stay tuned!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
The Setup
Ok, so you decide to do it this year. It's coming up, and you might even have put some items in your head that you might want to get. So how do you go around playing the Black Friday game?
Have a coarse list
Starting on January (After the holidays are past), start thinking of what would the "big" purchases are going to be this new year. For example "I think this year I'll go for that 50 in T.V. for the living room", or "We are going to need a new computer come November". Build this list little by little as the year go by, and as you build it, you don't need to be specific. Just some generalities (hence the 'coarse' in the coarse list).
Good examples:
- a new 50 in TV
- a new cell phone
- A printer,
- New bed
- Winter clothes
- Shoes (for some, there can't never be too many shoes)
Bad Examples:
- a Laptop Sony Vaio fs-920 with 2gb of memory
- An Harman Kardon DMC-1000 media center
- A Epson Stylus color 3p printer
- Particular Nike design shoe.
The reason the bad examples are bad is that you "lock" yourself into something that might or might not be in sale. As Black Friday approaches, not all items will be on sale (in fact probably less than 10% of any particular store's inventory is on sale). So chances that a very specific product is found at a deep discount is hard (it does happen, but you'll be crestfallen).
So on this sense, Black Friday is not for the choosy. If you have a "dream" something, then by all means get it when you want it. It probably be too hard to find on that day.
The rule is then
Rule #1 "When you create your list, make the items generic, or at most, by brand. If you go down to a model or serial number you've gone too specific"
Each rule has its exception. An so, the exception is:
"Except if the item is a high profile one"
For example. If the item is so well known then you can put it on the list. Examples would be
Good examples that should have been bad examples but are not because of the exception
- Nintendo WII
- Iphone
- MacbookPro
(Mostly applies to electronics, or at least that's where the focus is). But the items are essentially one of its class, and are easily identifiable. Like "Most popular cell phone", or best "camera". And these items are a new category on its own. Essentially these items are "high profile items", and I'll show you how to deal (and find) the best deal in high profile items.
Until then. Let's go back to the list for a little bit
Know your items (and their prices)
Usually once you have the "list" down, you can get an idea of how much it will cost you to get that list. (There will be a section on budgeting coming soon). But in general know realistically how much would you were going to pay for those items. That way, when the day comes, you can easily distinguish between a very very good offer, and a dud. For example as of today, the cheapest 50 in tv I saw was around 700$ (once I saw a refurbished by 500$ but that was an anomaly). Also, I would know what to expect on a 50 in tv for 700$ (it's not a LCD but rather the DLP ones, which are a little bulkier). It might have a lower refresh rate or only 720p (which by all intents and purposes is enough for me). All this information I have collected little by little thorough the year (in between those lunch hours, or if you just happen to be reading an article on them). Or you can do it on the Thanksgiving (nothing wrong with that).
The idea being, get to know what you want to get. Understand what's good and what's not. And then inside you head create a "trip line" (a negotiator term), where you say, "I can compromise on these things, but not on the size of the TV". Or "I must be able to watch dvd on my netbook". Or "The electric piano should connect to the computer".
The reason this is important is that sometimes, you'll see a price in Black Friday that doesn't "Jive" with the average price for that family of items (meaning, there are discounts on many dvd players but this one is more than the normal ones"). And then you have to read the fine print.
A tip: The store will never advertise the negative on its products, but will mostly advertise the model number. That's enough for making a quick search and understanding the nature of the product. If a store doesn't even advertise the model #, then Buyer Beware. You might be getting an Iphone Clone (many of them out there, like the ciphone). Or at least you're trusting the store more than what would be considered healthy.
Set aside some discretionary spending
Even the most exacting person will be swayed by the promotions of Black Friday. Meaning, there will be something that you might have not thought of, but looks awfully attractive. If you plan a budget for you list, just have some discretionary spending so that you can get those heating blankets for 10$ a pair. A lot of the fun stuff is buying small things. And certain things are easy to identify on black friday (toys for the kids comes to mind). So set a little "fun money" aside for that day.
Pre-emptive strike deals
As black friday gets closer, there is a lot of buzz and activity going in the internet. Rumors about
promotions (From employees, or warehourse staff, or in general people) will start floating around. There are a lot of sites that track and classify these rumors, and some break actual printed scans of the promotions!
Usually store headquarters plan ahead for their black friday promotions. They can't decide on that thursday (there is just too much to do, like making sure that the stores have the products, that the fliers for the promotions are ready, that the staff is trained in the new widget/gizmo/item that is on sale). Stores try to keep you in the dark so that you make a rush judgement and think of going only to their stores, but the truth is, they are also keeping their competitors in the dark. On that day is a "dog eat dog" between stores as they fight for your $$.
So then when leaks do happen, they usually end on black friday sites. Some of the most populars:
- http://www.blackfriday.info/
- http://www.black-friday.net/
- http://bfads.net/Hot-Deals
- http://bfads.net/Adscans
You can just search for black friday 2009 and new lists will come up (there is already listings for 2009, a month and 1/2 away from when this post was written.
The easiest to read are the "ad scans" since they are actual scanned copies of the items that the stores will sell. But any other type of listing is acceptable, specially since it give you time to do more research in to what you want.
We'll keep going over in the setup part II. Keep reading and learning!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
How to approach Black Friday
So, black friday is not for everyone. There are people that doesn't like crowds, or the thought of waking up at 4:30am, and yet there are people that these things seem perfectly fine. Or even have a little fun.
In short:
- Have fun!
- Plan (you'll need at least 24 hours to plan for this, if not more).
- Don't set your expectations too high (you will not get "everything" you planned for, but you will get some of that list)
- Be courteous (and forgiving, there are other people on this too).
- Plan (you'll need at least 24 hours to plan for this, if not more).
- Don't set your expectations too high (you will not get "everything" you planned for, but you will get some of that list)
- Be courteous (and forgiving, there are other people on this too).
Have Fun
The first step for a good Black Friday holiday is thinking of it as a "Game". It's essentially trying to get the best bang for your buck while not falling into the "traps" that are sprung by the different retailers (hey they are merciless, so should you :) , while at the same time having fun.
It's like the kid's game of treasure hunt. You made the list, you have the list, and you try to get it all of the list before the end of the midday (or maybe a little after). If you tend to get angry or emotional, then this might not turn to be a pleasant experience.
Plan
You just can't wake up at 9:30 am and say "Ok, I'll try this Black Friday thing." By then most of the "good stuff" is gone. The people that are going out have done this a lot of times, and know that the early bird does get the worm (most of the time anyways).
I remember a woman going to a Home Depot around 10:30am looking for a prime time promotional item (which was of course gone by 5:30am). When she asked the home depot staff where could she find the item, the staff member looked at her ludicrously and said "umm.. they were gone 4 hours ago". The woman then proceeded to go on a rant on "How can you advertise this if they are not going to be in stock.", to which he just smiled and said "it's black friday". I then approached the staff member and told him "was she expecting to have everything in stock by this time?", he just smiled back and said "I think he might have never done this before."
So this guide will help you, even if it's your first time, to at least get some basics right.
Don't set your expectations too high
Repeat after me, "I'll not get everything I plan for, and that's perfectly fine".... ok, say it again..."I'll not get everything I plan for, and that's perfectly fine". Breath in, breath out. Everything set? good.
For some people this is the hardest part of Black Friday. You wake up, you everything right, get the list of items, plan your route, even put the automatic coffee machine set for 4:10am. You go and drive, and wait. And yet, sometimes, even with everything planned, you might not get everything that you were set out to get.
It happens. We will go over how not to get frustrated if there is something you really want (I'll be posting that a little later). But the point is, that is very rare that you get everything on your list. The only exception would be if your list contains only a couple of items, and you're willing to go thursday 11:00pm (or earlier) to wait for your items.
Just some quick pointers:
- If you have an item that you really like, chances are there are probably "substitutes" for a little more. Just plan for these substitutes along the way
- Remember there will be an "unwinnable" promotion (the bait to get you in the store). You can try going for these, just don't "cry for me Argentina" if you don't get it. (and plan for other items in that store as well. Don't just go to the store for the unwinnable item.
Be courteous (and forgiving, there are other people on this too).
Just follow the "golden rule". And be patient. There are some people that are "going for the kill" and as such will get pretty angry. Avoid them, ignore them, and enjoy yourself. You will also run into people that have the same spirit as you and will see them smiling while the jet around trying to get those precious items before they are gone. Be courteous, but fair. If you had your hand on that last dvd player, say so, and get it. If you didn't (but were very close), let it go. There are more things than just that one thing.In all, have fun! it's a treasure hunt, and if done properly it will save you a bundle, and will get you some nifty extras.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Ok, so what is Black Friday
Black Friday is commonly referred to the Friday following Thanksgiving. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping) for more information about the origins). Businesses prepare themselves to wage war against each other for precious customers (and their dollars), since black friday signals the beginning of the shopping season.
As many companies do depend on black friday sales to show profits they are very keen in introducing prices and services that are never before seen or heard. Each company then tries to lure and retain consumers so that they buy larger-margin items. Is understanding this thinking that we (as consumers) can have a large advantage over companies and their pricing (for us, we can make our dollars go farther and get more of what we like to get).
As many companies do depend on black friday sales to show profits they are very keen in introducing prices and services that are never before seen or heard. Each company then tries to lure and retain consumers so that they buy larger-margin items. Is understanding this thinking that we (as consumers) can have a large advantage over companies and their pricing (for us, we can make our dollars go farther and get more of what we like to get).
So what is this blog about
In a sentence:
“About strategies to get the best deals out of shopping the Friday after Thanksgiving”
This blog contains information about the American Friday after thanksgiving, where the majority of stores compete for the American buyer by putting unbelievable promotions out there. This blog is dedicated to helping the “consumer” get the best deal out of black Friday, know how to participate and tilt the scales to our favor in any shopping we do.
Part of the reason that this blog is created is that many people are flabbergasted by the ruckus that happens the day after thanksgiving. Also a lot of people don’t see that in reality black Friday is a chess game; the consumer (with its hard-earned dollars) and the companies that try to lure them to spend time in their stores.
“About strategies to get the best deals out of shopping the Friday after Thanksgiving”
This blog contains information about the American Friday after thanksgiving, where the majority of stores compete for the American buyer by putting unbelievable promotions out there. This blog is dedicated to helping the “consumer” get the best deal out of black Friday, know how to participate and tilt the scales to our favor in any shopping we do.
Part of the reason that this blog is created is that many people are flabbergasted by the ruckus that happens the day after thanksgiving. Also a lot of people don’t see that in reality black Friday is a chess game; the consumer (with its hard-earned dollars) and the companies that try to lure them to spend time in their stores.
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