by: Emily Price
Black Friday is traditionally the day shoppers head out to stores before sunrise to catch huge holiday deals early. While camping out in front of your favorite electronics retailer is certainly an option, there are a few ways you can still cash in on Black Friday savings from the comfort of your own home. After all, not everyone wants to spend all night in line, especially in places where the weather isn't exactly cooperative. Here are some tips to help you avoid the crowds (not to mention get at least part of a good night's sleep).
Hit the web
Quite a few retailers offer Black Friday bargains on their websites as well as their brick-and-mortar locations. Check out the sales you're interested in ahead of time, and see if the retailer offers an online option as well. Online sales, like in-store events, often have a set start time and a limited quantity of items available. For instance, the television you want may go on sale at 3 a.m., but the store may only have a couple of hundred of them to sell at the discounted online price.
If a particular sale has a set start time, make sure you're online and ready to buy the items before sales time. Competition is fierce on Black Friday, both in person and online, and if you aren't ready right at the start of the sale, you're apt to miss out. Whether it's worth staying up late or getting up early is up to you; maybe a tryptophan-induced snooze early on Thanksgiving evening will have you ready to hit the web for those pre-dawn specials, but setting a few wake-up call reminders probably wouldn't hurt.
Read the fine print
Black Friday sales almost always start on Black Friday, but that doesn't mean they all end that day. Check out the details of deals you're interested in to see if the bargains are available for a limited time only — and then see exactly how "limited" that time actually is. Popular items are likely to sell out early on Friday morning; however, some stores offer rain checks if you stop by later in the week and they're already sold out.
Depending on the deal, you may be able to purchase the item a few days early and then get a price adjustment for the discounted price later on — a smart way to ensure you get both your item and the discount. Competing retailers may also be willing to honor a discount. The worst thing that could happen is being told "sorry" after ending up with the item you wanted, just without the special sale price. Not a bad consolation prize!
Rally the troops
Every good Black Friday shopping team needs a ringleader. Gather a group of friends, create a master shopping list, and divide up the shopping responsibilities. You can run the show from home while having your team pick up items from various stores for yourself and other members of your group. Splitting up store responsibilities lessens the load for each person and makes sure you all get to take advantage of "door buster" deals that are only available for the first people through the door Friday morning.
By playing to everyone's area of expertise, each of you gets to focus on what you know best and are most enthusiastic about. Everyone not only has a better chance of success but gets to enjoy picking out the items, too. Plus, if a special sale item runs out, your team's expert can probably spot a pretty good substitute on the fly and "radio in" to see if it's suitable for whoever was looking for it.
Hire a professional
If you absolutely can't go out Black Friday but can't pass up some of the deals, try hiring someone to nab them for you. TaskRabbit allows you to post job opportunities with your iPhone for local folks to complete the tasks for you for a small fee. While the app and sites like Craigslist might be good for finding someone to buy small stuff, if you're looking to buy a big-ticket item, you may want to try getting someone a little closer to home (maybe a home-from-college student or friendly neighbor) to complete the task.
Over the past few years, Cyber Monday has become a shopping event all of its own. If you're not a fan of battling the crowds at your local stores, Cyber Monday deals offer some of the same bargains (and better) that Black Friday does, with the added bonus that they're supposed to be taken advantage of from your computer.
[Image credits: taylormiles]
More from Tecca:
- 5 secrets to finding great Black Friday sales deals
- How to take fabulous family photos this holiday season
- Best websites for making free online holiday e-cards
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