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!
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