Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Are you ready for Black Friday? Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally the day for the biggest sales, especially the Early Bird specials. People line up at 3 or 4 in the morning, or sometimes overnight, to get the best, limited deals. Last year we got a Hitachi 51″ rear projection TV with true high-def. We could have gotten a very nice b RCA 52″ rear projection TV with true hi-def and DVI inputs for $474.00 from Wal-martut were not quick enough (and I was first in the door, but went in the wrong door and I think there were only 12 or less available). I just looked at the price on this now at Wal-Mart and it is $698 and it is one year later. This is that TV. We did get a very nice Hitachi 51″ though from Best Buy for $698 which was still good. I was able to order this online so I didn’t even have to go to the store. And shipping was free.

So anyway, Black Friday is the day to get all sorts of great deals. And many of the deals can be ordered online so you don’t even have to leave your house! You just have to figure out exactly when they go on sale online so you can quickly order them before they sell out.

And to help you with that, there are several websites that make a point of getting copies of the ads way before they are released (by hook or by crook) and posting the information so you can plan your shopping experience. They even separate them into the the deals you can get online, which is by far the easiest way to shop.

My two favorite sites are Black Friday @ GottaDeal and BF Ads. Each has things they do best and you can sign up for email updates from both of them. BF Ads lets you sort by several categories by store and by Early Bird Specials only. They also list “Better than Black Friday” deals that have come along, such as the Acer Aspire Laptop with 1 gig memory and 14.1″ screen for $279.99 after rebate at Circuit City. Currently it is selling for $599.99. You can also create and save a shopping list of items for your reference. They also have a message board to discuss online and offline Black Friday deals and more.

Black Friday @ GottaDeal lets you look at every item listed by category, such as Televisions without having to go to each store and look. You can also make a shopping list with them and they list the most wanted items based on everyone’s shopping lists. They also list the items that are available online now at Black Friday prices. The parent site GottaDeal.com has deals all the time and is a year round good site for deals. And they have very good forums that discuss the online and offline Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.

Have you heard of Cyber Monday? This is less well known than Black Friday. It is the Monday after Thanksgiving and is the day that has online specials. Here is the wikipedia entry for Cyber Monday. And here is the official website for Cyber Monday. The term “Cyber Monday” was invented by Shop.org and was never in common use before the 2005 holiday season. According to Scott Silverman, the Executive Director of the organization, the term was coined based on research revealing that 77% of online retailers reported a significant increase in sales the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2004.

And here is a link to the Amazon Black Friday deals. And here is a link to the Amazon Black Friday sweepstakes to win a $10,000 Amazon.com shopping spree.

And here is an UPDATE: Dell has the Dell Vostro 1000 Dual Core Laptop w/ 1GB Memory and 15.4″ Widescreen Display for $399 shipped right now. For those who prefer Windows XP over Windows Vista, you can also get the Vostro 1000 w/ Windows XP for the same price by clicking here. A better than Black Friday deal.

So stuff yourself with turkey, then shop ’til you drop. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Happy Thanksgiving,

~Susan Mellott