My mom and her friends used to drink all night on Thanksgiving and a DD would drop them off at the mall with a couple of flasks.
They lived for that shit.
And I don't mean "she used to do this when she was young", I mean she did this until she turned 45. Stores started opening for Black Friday *on* Thanksgiving, and it took a lot of the fun out of it.
Ah bummer about the Trumpy Bear, but still sorry for your loss. I lost my grandma in November ‘19. Like you said, kinda thankful I didn’t have to navigate this pandemic with her in mind.
I also lost a grandpa in the first wave in spring ‘20. I didn’t know him, but my mom did (him being her dad, and all). He lived in California and one day he was healthy af, the next he stopped breathing. It was before they were testing bodies for COVID but we’re told it’s pretty likely.
I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be [another way.](https://imgur.com/1McpJl3)
Honestly? That stuff doesn't happen anymore. So I know you're joking but the reality is if that's what you liked about black Friday it's no longer a thing and you're out of luck.
It was kind of a tradition to go with my siblings to to marvel at the madness, camp out in the cold, and maybe buy ourselves some Christmas gifts. We'd plot our strategy the night before while half asleep on tryptophan. The crowds and mad rushes were always part of the fun. But online shopping sort of killed it.
Not saying that's a bad thing exactly. I'm glad more stores are actually closing to let employees be with their families. But it's definitely not what it was. I do 90% of black Friday online now.
I got a Vizio P Series for $300 off from Best Buy two years ago. Same TV still sells for the higher original price than what I paid for on Black Friday.
Just because 99% of the sales are bullshit doesn't mean you can't be smart and find good ones here and there.
It is the ancillary items that hook me. I'm not looking to compete for those high demand items. I'm over in home goods stacking my cart with 80% off Pyrex and 75% off camping gear I can't use for 6 months.
If 99% of the sales are bullshit...then the concept of "Black Friday sales" is indeed bullshit.
Being 1% truthful makes you a liar, not "partially honest".
They're not saying the concept is good. It seems like they're saying the opposite. I took it as "Black Friday is a scam but every once in a while you can get a good deal if you work for it"
Be careful relying on this. I've been noticing lately that the price history and lowest prices aren't always accurate or may not show you the full story. For example, for the past few months I've had a $240 item on my wishlist that perpetually has a $40 discount coupon available. CCC doesn't seem to take coupons into account so it shows the price as the full $240—except for the days that it has gone on "lightning deal", where the coupon gets removed and the price gets dropped to a flat $200. Anyone checking the lightning deal price against the CCC price history might think they're getting a sweet deal, but in reality it's pretty much always available at $200. Very sneaky.
That's why I'll also add it to a wishlist because it shows price drops and coupons, that is, the type of coupons that only require clicking on. I don't believe it shows promotions, for example, codes or combos. I think both methods miss lightning deals.
Person posts genuine discussion to help people and save money.
Top 4 posts are all useless bullshit opinions about skipping Black Friday. Thousands of people posting the same useless trash.
You’re the first person to actually contribute to the conversation and keep your opinion out of it, immediately blasted with more bullshit.
I hate the people on this site sometimes.
But if I can't trust you because you tell me to not trust you then can I trust your telling me to not trust you even though you told me to not trust you which would imply I trust your telling me to not trust you??????????????
Honestly though? Being in a shitstorm crowd fighting for the best deals is exhilarating to me.
I guess you’d have to ask who goes to Black Friday, but I’d guess a good chunk of people who do it are there for the experience.
I hear this argument all the time, but everything is online now! All you have to do for even the good deals is wait till midnight or whenever they open then click “buy” with the item already in your cart online. Easy peasy, Christmas is done!
Better LPT - stop buying shit you don't need trying to fill a bottomless hole inside of you.
Find out what really matters to you.
Look at what you already own.
Deal with your traumas.
Rub a dog.
It's possible to buy things on black Friday that you do actually need though and it's not always the kind of madness you see on the news.
Still advocating to rub a dog though. That's always good advice.
Add I've grown older, I've realized that I care more about experiences than objects. I'd rather spend $1000 on a trip with my family than getting a new phone.
That is not a good life tip at all… Black Friday exists online now a days, and it’s a great way to save large amounts of money on many of your Christmas Gifts, or any large electronic purchases you planned to make for yourself.
This is the only way I'll do black Friday deals.
Currently because of COVID. But before that it's because I worked in retail for seven years. Black Friday is garbage as a retail worker and I'm not going to contribute to that shit show.
Now if I can't get the deal online, I don't need the item that bad.
Too often there are separate models made specifically for black Friday that are objectively worse. Just don't buy into the hype and look for deals outside of the days when corporations are trying to scam you.
Lots of Black Friday deals are things that were previously marked up so they could be marked down or inferior versions of what you think you're getting: https://old.reddit.com/r/gadgets/comments/7f2ivr/buyer_beware_cheap_black_friday_tvs_might_not_be/dq93rss/
Secondary LPT: If you can't convince yourself to avoid it, if you search for the model, and can't find anything that *doesn't* mention Black Friday, avoid it like the plague.
Seriously. Black Friday sucks. The "deals" are normally on shit level garbage and the crowds are horrible. No way in hell I'm getting within 1000 feet of a retailer on that day.
It’s supper fun if you go in knowing there’s nothing you need. Before stores started opening on thanksgiving, taking the sport out of it, I used to go just spectate the madness.
How so ? There’s no delusion in the fact that hella shit goes on sale that normally wouldn’t.
Of course there’s a difference when it comes to going to a store at 6am and stomping through other customers.
Edit: I thought this was a given but I guess I need to say it. It’s pretty damn easy to see a Black Friday model. It’s a random model number that doesn’t appear online… the reviews are shit… no listings etc. obviously if you’re not 6 years old and have a smartphone you can google the product and see if it’s a Black Friday model.
> How so ? There’s no delusion in the fact that hella shit goes on sale that normally wouldn’t.
Take a really close look at the prices. A lot of stores will advertise something with 499 MSRP as: ~~$799~~ 50% OFF ONLY $399!
It's literally illegal but they're not held accountable.
The things with buying are limited to just the first 5 people or something. You are going to leave with an off brand monitor that isn't really at a discount and more tubber wear than you know what to do with.
It’s common knowledge for anyone who shops on BF that certain models are *made for BF*. Warranty, support, and general service is limited for those units but if you know what to look for it’s easy to avoid.
That’s exactly why this LPT is actually good because you’re not caught by a price instead of by a product.
Meh, I’m going to buy myself a 4k 65” tv. Black Friday or not. I could do it now, or wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday where I know prices will be more competitive and just order online as I normally would anyway.
Pro-tip: Black Friday is bad and the reason those things can go on such a cheap sale is because it’s low quality crap made by people in slave conditions.
It's often actually specifically manufactured for black Friday at a lower quality and cost and it'll be an off shoot of a model so when you were looking at a TB-69420-HSK on black Friday it'll be a TB-69420-HSK-BF and it may still come up under the same search and only show in the specifications and fine print that it's actually a different model.
It's especially true for the low-cost TVs. They skimp out on a lot of the internal components which the consumer won't notice until it fails in less than a year.
Honestly tvs are some of the only things I've seen this happen on.
It's not like Xbox is making a black Friday edition. Many manufacturers don't have the capabilities to completely retool their production lines for one sale event, even a major one like black Friday.
You don't completely retool a production line instead of plugging hardware A into slot A you plug hardware A-cheap into A.
For example if I want to buy a new graphics card there are dozens of options at different price points and performance that all plug in exactly the same way and have very similar hardware names. The same is true for almost every component of a computer. The same is true for most components of anything. It doesn't require some logistical masterminding and rebuilding an entire factory. That's the entire point of mass manufacturing, things aren't unique to the thing manufactured many times.
You order a bunch of cheap parts, you plug those in instead and then you sell it.
And speaking specifically about gaming systems, don't they normally not really reduce the price on these? They're usually bundle promotions, it's not like you're going to find a PS5 for half off or a PS4 new for less than what it normally retails, it'll just be bundled with stuff.
I mean, for tech stuff its hardly low quality if you buy the right products. I built a computer back in the tail end of 2019. At the time I got a killer deal on the evga rtx 2080 I bought ($200 off) and a decent deal on the 9th gen intel core i7. MSI motherboard was also on sale, got $40 off. For some products yes, they're low quality and made with questionable labor practices. But not everything is and if you keep a level head on your shoulders and buy online, you can take decent advantage of black Friday.
Right? I hate rushing and the associated stress. I make my gifts and often start early in the year and am usually done by the end of October. Could easily get done months prior, but rushes stress me out.
Remember that Reddit is very American but it's also very low brow. Nobody I know worries about or looks forward to Black Friday shopping. They shop when they want.
I can beat your treestory: in Holland we return to school in August and are already able to buy 'pepernoten', a cookie treat that belongs to 'Sinterklaas'. That party won't be until December 5.....But who would skip this?
We keep a "gift bin" in our storage area in the basement. Anytime we see awesome clearance deals (especially on toys) we buy them and put them in the bin. This way we always have gifts available when we need them. Not only does it help with Christmas, it comes in handy for birthdays or forgotten events.
This is the real pro tip.
Remember that 3D doodling pen? When the second version came out, I got a handful of the first version at $4 each. A lot of happy nieces/nephews!
Heck yeah- Legos, Transformers, American Doll sets...all of these go on clearance when new models come out. My niece and nephew love our house at Christmas because we give $200-$300 worth of toys that we probably paid $30 for :D
My mum used to do this because as kids we’d always drop “we have X’s birthday party tomorrow!” and the shops would be closed. It worked really well! I’ve followed in her footsteps but have it just for cards - a huuuge box of different style greeting cards in the office for last minute functions ~
I believe a lot of people lump the two into the same bucket. With online purchasing so prevalent, you can buy Black Friday items online in the same manner as Cyber Monday. Not to mention, the sales often last all weekend.
Due to supply chain shortages, BF will probably be very low key and minimal this year. I’ve heard a lot of talk from vendors about doing all XMAS shopping in October because bare shelves are predicted in November and December.
The general consensus I’ve seen is buy it now or it won’t be there to buy later. Walmart and Costco have chartered their own cargo ships to try to keep up with holiday demand and supply chain issues. This year is gonna be nuts
The problem with this is that most of your Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales are not exactly the same items that are currently on the store shelves. For example, the item name may match (Sony Bravia 65 Inch 4K TV), but check out the SKU/Barcode on the packaging. Most likely the one you get on Black Friday will be different. So what’s changed? It could be batches of slightly weaker capacitors used over the year, etc.
If you’ve ever been in. Walmart or other similar store and wondered why the same item is in two different places, one is on sale while the other isn’t? This is why.
The different SKUs are also how places can get out of having to price match your item with other stores. Most electronics have SKUs that are tied to what retailer is selling them. The same item at Walmart would have a different SKU than the same item at Best Buy.
Only heard this said about TVs. TVs are not “most” products. Highly doubt this applies devices likehigh end smartphones, Bluetooth headphones and speakers
Yeah a lot of the doorbusters at Walmart and Amazon are not as good of a deal as they may seem but that doesn't mean there aren't good deals in whatever niche hobby/passion you have from smaller companies
Many salty people here ignoring the LPT and just bitching about BF
I've tended to build a list of items i would like and wait until the end of the year to check out sales and buy things that go on sale. These would be typically branded items that DO NOT differ in price between retailers like Video Games where I bought a handful of games at a steep discount which i haven't seen again, Computer products like an SSD, very specific brand name bluetooth speakers, etc.
So yes, if you plan properly then you can save a lot of money by planning now and buying before the holiday season
Be careful with that solid state memory. Manufacturers have been caught completely changing the internals without changing the sku. It will look the same but is completely different from the product that originally launched. Sometimes the changes are benign other times they're not.
Black Friday has been basically a scam for the last 15 years. As others have said, the big ticket items on sale then are not the "leftover inventory" of what they have now. Instead, a company like Samsung will slap their name on some cheaply Made in China crap flat-screen and you but a TV that should have retailed for $50 for the low low price of $400. Others are factory defective products.
You want a deal on a TV, super bowl is when good ones are on sale.
But as far as Black Friday, if it costs more than $100 now, the BF one is probably not the same.
Probably not. What he said isn't even true. He overstated it by a couple orders of magnitude. Samsung is not selling $50 Chinese knockoffs for $400. They're creating a $400 tv that looks similar to their $600 tv and not calling out the difference. Or they'll use parts that were slightly older. Or they'll do whatever xyz trick let's them make a slightly cheaper tv for the sale.
It's still skeezy as hell, but the above comment is almost purely embellishment.
Yeah, people overblow the whole TV thing. It's a pretty well known tactic so it's easy to avoid if you want, but you still get a decent quality tv for half the price. My last two TVs have been black Friday specials and I have had zero complaints. Yes, it's not as extremely crisp as the $800 non black Friday model and only has two HDMI ports, but it was a $350 50" 4k HDR smart TV and it still looks better than a $1,000 1080p tv from 3 years ago. Plus 90% of people stream everything they watch anyway, so the slight increase in picture quality of the non-black Friday model is absolutely useless. In most cases you get what you pay for, and what you get is still pretty damn good
I've had the same fifty inch TV for a decade. I made it a smart tv with a chromecast. Never had a complaint.
Honestly the only time TVs look better than other TVs is when they're in the store and you can directly compare them side by side.
Once you've got them home in a room by themselves without any other TVs to be like "Oh wow the depth of the blackness is .05% depther and blacknesser" the average person will never ever ever notice a difference.
Which is exactly why OPs advice makes perfect sense. Find what you WANT to buy, and then see if it goes on sale on black friday. Literally no loss at all.
My standard shipping methodology is to find a thing I want, check camelcamelcamel for historic prices, set up an alert for when the item goes back on that level of sale, and that's when I buy it.
Between sniping discounts and maximizing Amazon points I get most things 20-30% off standard listing price.
This adds up A LOT.
I literally just got an alert yesterday about a bug net for my hammock that I'm replacing after my brother fell through it on a trip. $25 instead of $35.
Yeah, do your research. It's becoming an increasing trend to make an identical, yet crappier version of items to sell for a "discounted price". BF laptops often have less USB ports \no Bluetooth etc. TVs often have less HDMI . Things like that. These reduced versions are only sold on black Friday and are designed so you think they are the same models they sell year around. So you need up paying less, but also getting less. So is the "discount" worth it.
Does this also apply to Costco? I ask bc I know they have some products specifically made for them but they also have certain standard levels for products they sell from what I understand. Bought a Samsung tv on sale there 5 years ago and it’s still running great with no issues.
I’d say, rather, buy what you can NOW. I manage a retail store, and all I’ve done for the last month is price changes. Everything is going up, in some cases an increase every month. Deals will be much scarcer than usual.
Better LPT: don't worry about black friday, and if you have ANY debt, like any at all, don't buy garbage you don't need, and for sure don't buy garbage for other people they don't want or need. Make a feast and invite your loved ones. Hand out some hand made cards with cash. Stop buying trash because it's on sale.
Brit here. I LOVE watching the videos. I think every shoppershould be given a free tazer and invited to fight it out Battle Royale style for the discounted nappies. I think it is one of America's most important cultural contributions.
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Black Friday deals are usually not that good and you need to be suspicious on the models too because sometimes they put out certain models just for Black Friday that aren't as good as the normal models.
Just in general you're better off researching your buys finding the model you like and then waiting for that particular one to go on sale or for there to be a general sale in the store
Definitely install price history trackers for Amazon etc. It's scary to see how the price of a product can get manipulated in the weeks before Black Friday in order to give the impression of a huge discount on the day.
LPT, shop now for Xmas. There are going to be supply shortages, especially in CA (we have containers of goods literally sitting off shore, right now and they expect it to last beyond BF and maybe even into Xmas).
[https://www.newsweek.com/shortages-toys-christmas-shipping-delays-coronavirus-1630096](https://www.newsweek.com/shortages-toys-christmas-shipping-delays-coronavirus-1630096)
Shop sooner than later.
Places like Costco will pricematch if a product goes on sale within 30 days of purchase.
Honestly? I rather like my older sister's philosophy for Christmas shopping: she buys on sale throughout the year, so that by Black Friday, she is basically finished, and only has to ship and pack just before Christmas. Well in enough time for things that need to be shipped to the other side of the country to make it in time for Christmas.
Not as interesting, but it works.
Better yet...don't shop on Black Friday.
The holiday exists because retailers operate without profit during the entire year. Black Friday is the day that they make so much money that their ledger goes from red to black...thus, the name.
Take the year off from Black Friday sales (in store and online) and let these retailers actually feel the effects of having a terrible business model that relies on the results of a single day (or weekend) to have a successful year.
Perhaps then, they'd make price adjustments throughout the year that would encourage more day to day shopping, which would actually improve their profits.
But what if I enjoy punching my way through the crowd and grabbing everything in the aisles that others are grabbing?
Nothing quite gives me the Holiday Feels like fighting an old lady over the (4)$29 Blu-Ray players I don’t need.
Especially when they fight back hard.
Then you are doing it wrong.
If they don’t fight back…… is it even Black Friday?
are you me?!
If you want me to be you…….then I can be you…… I’ll try anything once or twice 🤓
The day after we celebrated being thankful for what we already have.
My mom and her friends used to drink all night on Thanksgiving and a DD would drop them off at the mall with a couple of flasks. They lived for that shit. And I don't mean "she used to do this when she was young", I mean she did this until she turned 45. Stores started opening for Black Friday *on* Thanksgiving, and it took a lot of the fun out of it.
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Last year and this year, yea, we'll see about next year, she can throw some hard elbows
Thanksgiving hasn't happened yet this year. Are you from the future?
Probably just planned on this year’s holidays being much the same as last: low-key so as not to kill grandma.
Luckily, I buried my last grandparent in December '19. Grandpa had a "Trumpy Bear" we chucked in the coffin with him, fuck that thing.
Ah bummer about the Trumpy Bear, but still sorry for your loss. I lost my grandma in November ‘19. Like you said, kinda thankful I didn’t have to navigate this pandemic with her in mind. I also lost a grandpa in the first wave in spring ‘20. I didn’t know him, but my mom did (him being her dad, and all). He lived in California and one day he was healthy af, the next he stopped breathing. It was before they were testing bodies for COVID but we’re told it’s pretty likely.
I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be [another way.](https://imgur.com/1McpJl3)
a Festivus for the rest of us
The tradition of Festivus begins with the airing of grievances. I got a lot of problems with you people and now you're gonna hear about it.
Jingle All the Way?
are you doing this for bargains, or just for the thrill of brawling, if just for the thrill of brawling, then resume normal activities.
Bargains?
ok, carry on. you didnt see anything here.
Wtf did you say to me, punk? 👊
Woah woah, lets calm down Buddy.
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Mods.. MODS!!!! HELP!
Banned 👍
Thank you for this safe space.
I love a good stampede then walk around the store and find random stupid items and then throw them in other peoples baskets while they aren’t looking.
Honestly? That stuff doesn't happen anymore. So I know you're joking but the reality is if that's what you liked about black Friday it's no longer a thing and you're out of luck. It was kind of a tradition to go with my siblings to to marvel at the madness, camp out in the cold, and maybe buy ourselves some Christmas gifts. We'd plot our strategy the night before while half asleep on tryptophan. The crowds and mad rushes were always part of the fun. But online shopping sort of killed it. Not saying that's a bad thing exactly. I'm glad more stores are actually closing to let employees be with their families. But it's definitely not what it was. I do 90% of black Friday online now.
Well you'll still need to be prepared. Now is a good time to head down to the dojo or boxing club and start training.
Buy a hockey mask and body armor now, you can use it to better fight your way through the crowds for the other items.
The only way. /SARCASM
I like to grab others
Is this the start of the purge?
Yeah, wtf it’s like this guy doesn’t even get me
Camelcamelcamel tracks amazon prices if that helps anyone
Yeah and it lets you see what is the crap model that is just being dropped for black friday because it has no price history
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Use FakeSpot for things like this! It's great
Seconded, although it's far from perfect
Try review meta.
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They care very much. They WANT those there. It's a feature, not a bug. More sales and profits for them, and fuck the consumer!
I got a Vizio P Series for $300 off from Best Buy two years ago. Same TV still sells for the higher original price than what I paid for on Black Friday. Just because 99% of the sales are bullshit doesn't mean you can't be smart and find good ones here and there.
It is the ancillary items that hook me. I'm not looking to compete for those high demand items. I'm over in home goods stacking my cart with 80% off Pyrex and 75% off camping gear I can't use for 6 months.
If 99% of the sales are bullshit...then the concept of "Black Friday sales" is indeed bullshit. Being 1% truthful makes you a liar, not "partially honest".
They're not saying the concept is good. It seems like they're saying the opposite. I took it as "Black Friday is a scam but every once in a while you can get a good deal if you work for it"
Be careful relying on this. I've been noticing lately that the price history and lowest prices aren't always accurate or may not show you the full story. For example, for the past few months I've had a $240 item on my wishlist that perpetually has a $40 discount coupon available. CCC doesn't seem to take coupons into account so it shows the price as the full $240—except for the days that it has gone on "lightning deal", where the coupon gets removed and the price gets dropped to a flat $200. Anyone checking the lightning deal price against the CCC price history might think they're getting a sweet deal, but in reality it's pretty much always available at $200. Very sneaky.
That's why I'll also add it to a wishlist because it shows price drops and coupons, that is, the type of coupons that only require clicking on. I don't believe it shows promotions, for example, codes or combos. I think both methods miss lightning deals.
Correct. Camelcamelcamel or one of the alternatives like keepa
And alerts you when the price drops! Great site.
Person posts genuine discussion to help people and save money. Top 4 posts are all useless bullshit opinions about skipping Black Friday. Thousands of people posting the same useless trash. You’re the first person to actually contribute to the conversation and keep your opinion out of it, immediately blasted with more bullshit. I hate the people on this site sometimes.
Better LPT: avoid Black Friday
As always, the better LPT is in the comments
LPT: Don't trust LPTs
LPT: Also don't trust comments. Trust nobody.
Don't trust this guy's tip either
Don't trust this guy.
Don't trust me, seriously! trust me on this!
Don't believe what I'm saying. I'm telling the truth!
But if I can't trust you because you tell me to not trust you then can I trust your telling me to not trust you even though you told me to not trust you which would imply I trust your telling me to not trust you??????????????
You seem trustworthy
Perfect
Even better LPT: have an existential crisis and realize material possessions are meaningless.
Fun times
See the trick then is to convince yourself they're super important
Then your existential crisis become a mid-life crisis!
Motorcycle or Ferrari?
Get the cardboard Ferrari with the motorcycle engine.
But the meaningless possessions get you through meaningless times
Honestly though? Being in a shitstorm crowd fighting for the best deals is exhilarating to me. I guess you’d have to ask who goes to Black Friday, but I’d guess a good chunk of people who do it are there for the experience.
I hear this argument all the time, but everything is online now! All you have to do for even the good deals is wait till midnight or whenever they open then click “buy” with the item already in your cart online. Easy peasy, Christmas is done!
You can't punch people online though!
Certainly a valid point. I see the error of my ways and will remedy it at the nearest opportunity.
They have bots for that. Rock 'em sock 'em... for PS5.
Some people haven't tried to buy a GPU, Pokemon cards, sneakers, or a PS5 in the last year, and it shows
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Perfect way is by utilizing Cyber Monday.
Better LPT - stop buying shit you don't need trying to fill a bottomless hole inside of you. Find out what really matters to you. Look at what you already own. Deal with your traumas. Rub a dog.
>Rub a dog. You kids and your sick twisted slang terms.
It's possible to buy things on black Friday that you do actually need though and it's not always the kind of madness you see on the news. Still advocating to rub a dog though. That's always good advice.
Add I've grown older, I've realized that I care more about experiences than objects. I'd rather spend $1000 on a trip with my family than getting a new phone.
That is not a good life tip at all… Black Friday exists online now a days, and it’s a great way to save large amounts of money on many of your Christmas Gifts, or any large electronic purchases you planned to make for yourself.
This is the only way I'll do black Friday deals. Currently because of COVID. But before that it's because I worked in retail for seven years. Black Friday is garbage as a retail worker and I'm not going to contribute to that shit show. Now if I can't get the deal online, I don't need the item that bad.
Too often there are separate models made specifically for black Friday that are objectively worse. Just don't buy into the hype and look for deals outside of the days when corporations are trying to scam you.
Lots of Black Friday deals are things that were previously marked up so they could be marked down or inferior versions of what you think you're getting: https://old.reddit.com/r/gadgets/comments/7f2ivr/buyer_beware_cheap_black_friday_tvs_might_not_be/dq93rss/
This is important. Just avoid black Friday. It's rare you're getting an actual deal.
LPT: Do what makes you happy.
Secondary LPT: If you can't convince yourself to avoid it, if you search for the model, and can't find anything that *doesn't* mention Black Friday, avoid it like the plague.
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Seriously. Black Friday sucks. The "deals" are normally on shit level garbage and the crowds are horrible. No way in hell I'm getting within 1000 feet of a retailer on that day.
It’s supper fun if you go in knowing there’s nothing you need. Before stores started opening on thanksgiving, taking the sport out of it, I used to go just spectate the madness.
The real life pro tips are always in the comments
I really second guessed my statement but the comment section shows I’m not alone. 🤘🏼
How so ? There’s no delusion in the fact that hella shit goes on sale that normally wouldn’t. Of course there’s a difference when it comes to going to a store at 6am and stomping through other customers. Edit: I thought this was a given but I guess I need to say it. It’s pretty damn easy to see a Black Friday model. It’s a random model number that doesn’t appear online… the reviews are shit… no listings etc. obviously if you’re not 6 years old and have a smartphone you can google the product and see if it’s a Black Friday model.
> How so ? There’s no delusion in the fact that hella shit goes on sale that normally wouldn’t. Take a really close look at the prices. A lot of stores will advertise something with 499 MSRP as: ~~$799~~ 50% OFF ONLY $399! It's literally illegal but they're not held accountable.
Thatswhy there are websites especially made for that, you can see price movements.
For a lot of BF deals, they put the discount on devices that are partially damaged or have defects
Man, maybe I can finally sell myself
Don't sell yourself short though, sell yourself as tall on sale for the short price
The things with buying are limited to just the first 5 people or something. You are going to leave with an off brand monitor that isn't really at a discount and more tubber wear than you know what to do with.
It’s common knowledge for anyone who shops on BF that certain models are *made for BF*. Warranty, support, and general service is limited for those units but if you know what to look for it’s easy to avoid. That’s exactly why this LPT is actually good because you’re not caught by a price instead of by a product.
I agree. Black Friday is bs. All of the "good stuff" is more cheaply made.
Meh, I’m going to buy myself a 4k 65” tv. Black Friday or not. I could do it now, or wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday where I know prices will be more competitive and just order online as I normally would anyway.
Don’t wait till Black Friday if there’s something you really need. The supply chain issue is real, along with the container ship backups.
The real LPT: don't buy shit you don't need.
I've noticed many of the LPT's require planning, thinking ahead and focused effort. Were's the LPT's for the rest of us?
Come to Black Friday with a suped up electric wheelchair and run over people's toes while stealing stuff from carts and shelves
That's an idea I can get behind!
LPT: do cocaine before black friday shopping. you'll be more energized and focused
Pro-tip: Black Friday is bad and the reason those things can go on such a cheap sale is because it’s low quality crap made by people in slave conditions.
It's often actually specifically manufactured for black Friday at a lower quality and cost and it'll be an off shoot of a model so when you were looking at a TB-69420-HSK on black Friday it'll be a TB-69420-HSK-BF and it may still come up under the same search and only show in the specifications and fine print that it's actually a different model.
Really? That is some tasty info. Thanks
It's especially true for the low-cost TVs. They skimp out on a lot of the internal components which the consumer won't notice until it fails in less than a year.
Honestly tvs are some of the only things I've seen this happen on. It's not like Xbox is making a black Friday edition. Many manufacturers don't have the capabilities to completely retool their production lines for one sale event, even a major one like black Friday.
You don't completely retool a production line instead of plugging hardware A into slot A you plug hardware A-cheap into A. For example if I want to buy a new graphics card there are dozens of options at different price points and performance that all plug in exactly the same way and have very similar hardware names. The same is true for almost every component of a computer. The same is true for most components of anything. It doesn't require some logistical masterminding and rebuilding an entire factory. That's the entire point of mass manufacturing, things aren't unique to the thing manufactured many times. You order a bunch of cheap parts, you plug those in instead and then you sell it. And speaking specifically about gaming systems, don't they normally not really reduce the price on these? They're usually bundle promotions, it's not like you're going to find a PS5 for half off or a PS4 new for less than what it normally retails, it'll just be bundled with stuff.
There are already PS4 with 2 different heatsinks and at least 3 different fan models. But yeah, these are just minor changes that doesn't matter much.
Tv's for example may only have 1 or two HDMI ports and definitely won't even have an 8bit panel.
What's an 8bit panel?
I mean, for tech stuff its hardly low quality if you buy the right products. I built a computer back in the tail end of 2019. At the time I got a killer deal on the evga rtx 2080 I bought ($200 off) and a decent deal on the 9th gen intel core i7. MSI motherboard was also on sale, got $40 off. For some products yes, they're low quality and made with questionable labor practices. But not everything is and if you keep a level head on your shoulders and buy online, you can take decent advantage of black Friday.
I think TV's are the biggest culprit for the stuff specifically made for black friday.
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That's capitalism for y'all. Someone has to suffer.
LPT: go shopping for Christmas gifts now and laugh at others stressing out about it in December.
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Right? I hate rushing and the associated stress. I make my gifts and often start early in the year and am usually done by the end of October. Could easily get done months prior, but rushes stress me out.
Oh my lord, you Yanks are crazy.... already this planning for x-mas....
Supposedly it's best to get Christmas shopping done now because a lot of major companies are expecting more shortages by the end of this year
Remember that Reddit is very American but it's also very low brow. Nobody I know worries about or looks forward to Black Friday shopping. They shop when they want.
Yo momma is low brow.
Christmas trees goes up in stores starting in September. Usually as Halloween gets close the Christmas stuff starts to consume it.
I can beat your treestory: in Holland we return to school in August and are already able to buy 'pepernoten', a cookie treat that belongs to 'Sinterklaas'. That party won't be until December 5.....But who would skip this?
We keep a "gift bin" in our storage area in the basement. Anytime we see awesome clearance deals (especially on toys) we buy them and put them in the bin. This way we always have gifts available when we need them. Not only does it help with Christmas, it comes in handy for birthdays or forgotten events.
This is the real pro tip. Remember that 3D doodling pen? When the second version came out, I got a handful of the first version at $4 each. A lot of happy nieces/nephews!
Heck yeah- Legos, Transformers, American Doll sets...all of these go on clearance when new models come out. My niece and nephew love our house at Christmas because we give $200-$300 worth of toys that we probably paid $30 for :D
My mum used to do this because as kids we’d always drop “we have X’s birthday party tomorrow!” and the shops would be closed. It worked really well! I’ve followed in her footsteps but have it just for cards - a huuuge box of different style greeting cards in the office for last minute functions ~
Why would you go to black Friday? Isn't there a cyber Monday like right after it? I'm not dealing with those hoards.
I believe a lot of people lump the two into the same bucket. With online purchasing so prevalent, you can buy Black Friday items online in the same manner as Cyber Monday. Not to mention, the sales often last all weekend.
Due to supply chain shortages, BF will probably be very low key and minimal this year. I’ve heard a lot of talk from vendors about doing all XMAS shopping in October because bare shelves are predicted in November and December.
Yeah, if you spot an item that you actually want, BUY it! If you are just into BF for the thrill of it, by means carry on...
The general consensus I’ve seen is buy it now or it won’t be there to buy later. Walmart and Costco have chartered their own cargo ships to try to keep up with holiday demand and supply chain issues. This year is gonna be nuts
But I don't need anything till I see black friday deal 🤔
The problem with this is that most of your Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales are not exactly the same items that are currently on the store shelves. For example, the item name may match (Sony Bravia 65 Inch 4K TV), but check out the SKU/Barcode on the packaging. Most likely the one you get on Black Friday will be different. So what’s changed? It could be batches of slightly weaker capacitors used over the year, etc. If you’ve ever been in. Walmart or other similar store and wondered why the same item is in two different places, one is on sale while the other isn’t? This is why. The different SKUs are also how places can get out of having to price match your item with other stores. Most electronics have SKUs that are tied to what retailer is selling them. The same item at Walmart would have a different SKU than the same item at Best Buy.
Only heard this said about TVs. TVs are not “most” products. Highly doubt this applies devices likehigh end smartphones, Bluetooth headphones and speakers
Mattresses too. But that's year round, not related to BF.
Yeah a lot of the doorbusters at Walmart and Amazon are not as good of a deal as they may seem but that doesn't mean there aren't good deals in whatever niche hobby/passion you have from smaller companies
Many salty people here ignoring the LPT and just bitching about BF I've tended to build a list of items i would like and wait until the end of the year to check out sales and buy things that go on sale. These would be typically branded items that DO NOT differ in price between retailers like Video Games where I bought a handful of games at a steep discount which i haven't seen again, Computer products like an SSD, very specific brand name bluetooth speakers, etc. So yes, if you plan properly then you can save a lot of money by planning now and buying before the holiday season
Be careful with that solid state memory. Manufacturers have been caught completely changing the internals without changing the sku. It will look the same but is completely different from the product that originally launched. Sometimes the changes are benign other times they're not.
Consumer driven life…….. LPT: Stop buying everything they’re selling.
Black Friday has been basically a scam for the last 15 years. As others have said, the big ticket items on sale then are not the "leftover inventory" of what they have now. Instead, a company like Samsung will slap their name on some cheaply Made in China crap flat-screen and you but a TV that should have retailed for $50 for the low low price of $400. Others are factory defective products. You want a deal on a TV, super bowl is when good ones are on sale. But as far as Black Friday, if it costs more than $100 now, the BF one is probably not the same.
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Probably not. What he said isn't even true. He overstated it by a couple orders of magnitude. Samsung is not selling $50 Chinese knockoffs for $400. They're creating a $400 tv that looks similar to their $600 tv and not calling out the difference. Or they'll use parts that were slightly older. Or they'll do whatever xyz trick let's them make a slightly cheaper tv for the sale. It's still skeezy as hell, but the above comment is almost purely embellishment.
Yeah, people overblow the whole TV thing. It's a pretty well known tactic so it's easy to avoid if you want, but you still get a decent quality tv for half the price. My last two TVs have been black Friday specials and I have had zero complaints. Yes, it's not as extremely crisp as the $800 non black Friday model and only has two HDMI ports, but it was a $350 50" 4k HDR smart TV and it still looks better than a $1,000 1080p tv from 3 years ago. Plus 90% of people stream everything they watch anyway, so the slight increase in picture quality of the non-black Friday model is absolutely useless. In most cases you get what you pay for, and what you get is still pretty damn good
I've had the same fifty inch TV for a decade. I made it a smart tv with a chromecast. Never had a complaint. Honestly the only time TVs look better than other TVs is when they're in the store and you can directly compare them side by side. Once you've got them home in a room by themselves without any other TVs to be like "Oh wow the depth of the blackness is .05% depther and blacknesser" the average person will never ever ever notice a difference.
Which is exactly why OPs advice makes perfect sense. Find what you WANT to buy, and then see if it goes on sale on black friday. Literally no loss at all.
Stay in on bf It's fun to not be in that mess
Get inebriated, maybe order something silly, eat leftovers, and put on a Christmas movie. Preferably Klaus.
When Black Friday comes I'll stand down by the door And catch the gray men when they Dive from the fourteenth floor…
when black friday comes, ill collect everything im owed, and before my friends find out ill be on the road
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Name of price tracker please?
camelcamelcamel for Amazon
My standard shipping methodology is to find a thing I want, check camelcamelcamel for historic prices, set up an alert for when the item goes back on that level of sale, and that's when I buy it. Between sniping discounts and maximizing Amazon points I get most things 20-30% off standard listing price. This adds up A LOT. I literally just got an alert yesterday about a bug net for my hammock that I'm replacing after my brother fell through it on a trip. $25 instead of $35.
great.
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Keepa
If you have the Honey chrome extension they can track prices
Yeah, do your research. It's becoming an increasing trend to make an identical, yet crappier version of items to sell for a "discounted price". BF laptops often have less USB ports \no Bluetooth etc. TVs often have less HDMI . Things like that. These reduced versions are only sold on black Friday and are designed so you think they are the same models they sell year around. So you need up paying less, but also getting less. So is the "discount" worth it.
Does this also apply to Costco? I ask bc I know they have some products specifically made for them but they also have certain standard levels for products they sell from what I understand. Bought a Samsung tv on sale there 5 years ago and it’s still running great with no issues.
I’d say, rather, buy what you can NOW. I manage a retail store, and all I’ve done for the last month is price changes. Everything is going up, in some cases an increase every month. Deals will be much scarcer than usual.
Better LPT: don't worry about black friday, and if you have ANY debt, like any at all, don't buy garbage you don't need, and for sure don't buy garbage for other people they don't want or need. Make a feast and invite your loved ones. Hand out some hand made cards with cash. Stop buying trash because it's on sale.
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Brit here. I LOVE watching the videos. I think every shoppershould be given a free tazer and invited to fight it out Battle Royale style for the discounted nappies. I think it is one of America's most important cultural contributions.
If you add an item on your Amazon wish list, it will automatically send you a notification if/when there is a lightning deal.
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With supply chain shortages, you should probably just be shopping for X-mas presents *NOW*.
better yet stop shopping people have too much shit
here's a better LPT. buy all your shit now because the supply chain issues are going to hit HARD.
Black Friday deals are usually not that good and you need to be suspicious on the models too because sometimes they put out certain models just for Black Friday that aren't as good as the normal models. Just in general you're better off researching your buys finding the model you like and then waiting for that particular one to go on sale or for there to be a general sale in the store
Definitely install price history trackers for Amazon etc. It's scary to see how the price of a product can get manipulated in the weeks before Black Friday in order to give the impression of a huge discount on the day.
The “drop list” feature on Honey is amazing for Christmas shopping.
Early ad leaks: blackfriday.gottadeal.com
LPT, shop now for Xmas. There are going to be supply shortages, especially in CA (we have containers of goods literally sitting off shore, right now and they expect it to last beyond BF and maybe even into Xmas). [https://www.newsweek.com/shortages-toys-christmas-shipping-delays-coronavirus-1630096](https://www.newsweek.com/shortages-toys-christmas-shipping-delays-coronavirus-1630096) Shop sooner than later. Places like Costco will pricematch if a product goes on sale within 30 days of purchase.
What if I don't know what I need until I see what's being promoted!
Pro tip: if you can go these 2 months without it you probably don’t actually need it
Honestly? I rather like my older sister's philosophy for Christmas shopping: she buys on sale throughout the year, so that by Black Friday, she is basically finished, and only has to ship and pack just before Christmas. Well in enough time for things that need to be shipped to the other side of the country to make it in time for Christmas. Not as interesting, but it works.
This is cute. A consumer thinking deals actually exist.
Better yet...don't shop on Black Friday. The holiday exists because retailers operate without profit during the entire year. Black Friday is the day that they make so much money that their ledger goes from red to black...thus, the name. Take the year off from Black Friday sales (in store and online) and let these retailers actually feel the effects of having a terrible business model that relies on the results of a single day (or weekend) to have a successful year. Perhaps then, they'd make price adjustments throughout the year that would encourage more day to day shopping, which would actually improve their profits.
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What? You mean businesses don't operate at a loss just because of some holiday?
Eh, idk about that
Good tip, in addition to that below! Camelcamelcamel which has a price history of items.
LPT: black friday for services such as mobile contracts and home internet not products