10 Best Ways to Make Sure a Black Friday or Cyber Monday Deal Is Actually Profitable
Black Friday may be over, but the holiday shopping season has just begun and Cyber Monday is approaching. But before you spend your money – or even if you’ve already done so – here are some great ways to make sure what you’re looking at is actually a deal, or just overpriced and then discounted.
10. Track prices over time and compare
The first way to be sure that what you are buying, online or in a brick-and-mortar store, is indeed a good price, is to compare it to prices a few weeks or months ago. To that end , we’ve shared some great price tracking tools , but our favorites are CamelCamelCamel for Amazon and SlickDeals price tracker , which works for multiple retailers both online and beyond.
Even if you’re planning on heading to the store or just bought something at a sale and want to know you’ve got a great deal, you can look up the model number or search for the same product on Amazon and compare it to what you just did. bought or plan to buy. You can even extend the price history for a full year to see how low they fell this time last year.
9. Compare prices on the go
Just because you’re out and about to check out the holiday sales at your favorite store doesn’t mean you can’t check out and make sure you’re getting a great deal. If you want to compare to Amazon, all you need is the Amazon app for whatever platform you use . You can just as easily Google model numbers for the products you are interested in to see how they add up, or use apps like ShopSavvy or PriceGrabber to compare prices with other retailers by simply scanning the barcode of the item you are interested in.
8. Ask about the price protection policy
Of course, before opening your wallet, especially at this time of year, you should definitely ask about pricing and price protection policies. Many stores discreetly drop their protection policies where you can return with a receipt and ask for the difference within a specified period of time if you find the same item elsewhere at a discount.
Ask before you buy, and get clear before you leave the store – you do not want your “deal” turned out to be much less available somewhere or even a week after the madness of Black Friday / Cyber Monday subside. Also, keep in mind that even if the store doesn’t honor price protections, sometimes your credit card does , and you might get better results by calling them instead.
7. Study the retailer price codes.
This one won’t necessarily save you a ton of money, but it will let you know if you’re looking at a sale item or a premium item that might be discounted later. Explore the so-called “secret price codes” of retailers . They are obviously not all that secret, but in some cases, you will be able to immediately determine if the price you are looking at is the lowest possible price, or if you might want to go away and give it a try. later – or look elsewhere.
In addition to the list above, this cheat sheet can be secured and carried around and includes a few more details. There is no guarantee that leaving an item behind to see if its price drops further will mean it won’t be there because someone else grabbed it – and of course these rules do not apply to selling prices. – but it’s good information to be armed anyway before you go shopping.
6. Check other models of the same product.
Too often, Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions are about very specific product models . A specific model of a shiny new TV, for example, in which the store only plans to place a dozen in order to get people to the door and buy more expensive ones, or a specific blender that is very cheap but still overpriced.
Whatever you are looking for, it is worth taking a look at other models in the family or models of the same competitor product. You may be able to find something just as affordable that suits your needs, or even more expensive but more valuable to you. Don’t get a tunnel vision flyer.
5. Make sure you are purchasing the right products.
Also, make sure the items you buy are indeed smart purchases for this time of year. You don’t want to run out and spend a ton of money on a product that will be updated in a month or two (if you don’t care, of course). Likewise, the lowest prices are at different times of the year. and now may not be the best time to buy. Check out our guide for more details .
After making sure that now is the best time to buy the product you are looking for, you should also make sure that you are purchasing the correct brands and models. It makes sense to buy quality rather than skimp on a cheap discounted product that the store might just want to shove out, so keep that in mind. Just don’t use “buy quality” as an excuse to buy useless crap, or over-think your purchase!
4. Make sure you shop at the right stores.
Make sure you buy the right items, but also make sure you shop at the right stores. Sure, everyone promises a great deal or a special series of discounts, but some stores clearly have better discounts during the holiday season than others. Some are even better off shopping at the end of the season than at the beginning.
3. Make sure you don’t get a better deal by waiting
Speaking of waiting until the end of the season, we’ve already mentioned that Black Friday and Cyber Monday aren’t always the best times to get great deals. For example, small business Saturday (today!) Is a great way to go out and support local businesses and small shops in your area, and we can’t encourage it enough.
Likewise, setting aside the fact that many items, such as jewelry or household appliances, often become more expensive as the season approaches, only to have their “markdown” decline to more regular prices when the season is in full swing. you can get even better service if you wait. for holidays and last minute sales in weeks near the end of the shopping season.
2. Avoid classic gimmicks that make you spend more
As with any shopping trip, retailers use every trick in the book to get you to spend more money than you planned. Regular retailers manipulate your senses into the music they play and the smells in the air, and more reasonably use the intelligent placement of the items they want you to notice at eye level and at the ends to draw you towards them.
Online retailers aren’t immune to these gimmicks either . They may not have your presence in their building, but they have a variety of tricks that will make you buy or spend more than you planned, including stopping free shipping, stock alerts, and other things that really don’t matter in the long run. perspective. but I highly recommend that you open your wallet. Of course, this all starts long before you even go shopping, so make sure you understand how ads are manipulating you in the first place .
1. Use browser extensions to automate discounts
Finally, if you plan to shop online, take your deals and money saving into your own hands with several tools that can automate these discounts for you so you always get the best price on whatever you buy. We’ve covered some of them here and more here , including extensions like Invisible Hand , which will ensure you shop at the lowest prices, and Honey , which will try various discounts and coupon codes to save you a few more bucks. …
The list doesn’t have to stop there – you can get discounts on just about anything, and this even broader list of ways to save a few dollars here and there, no matter what you buy, comes in handy as you need to shop for gifts, throw parties or just restock. Houses.