Brad

5 hours left to enter. Not many entries so far so you'll have a very good chance to win a shirt

As always, if someone can score an early copy of this and wants to send it to me to post, send me a PM We'll definitely get you something for your effort.

If someone wants to be in charge of the store hours thread for this year, please PM me. Just be aware that this is an important and potentially time-consuming job, so for everyone's benefit, only volunteer if you are able to commit the time it requires Update: got a volunteer. Thanks everyone

Closing this thread now that the official thread is open: http://forums.gottadeal.com/topic/234035-2014-black-friday-live-webcast-schedule/

Another one of our favorite t-shirt contests! Below are 3 photos from last year's Black Friday. Come up with a caption for each photo and post them in this thread. Entries will be accepted until 10pm ET on Sunday, October 19th. At that point, I'll choose 3 of my favorites to win Black Friday t-shirts and then (for those of you who aren't as creative, lol) I'll choose 3 more at random from all the other entries to also win shirts, so we're going to give away 6 total t-shirts for this contest! If you've already won a BF t-shirt in a previous contest this year, you can't be selected as a winner again, but you can still feel free to post your captions. Good luck and here are the photos: PHOTO #1 http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/images/caption1.png PHOTO #2 http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/images/caption2.png PHOTO #3 http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/images/caption3.png http://i.gottadeal.com/main/images/merch/2014shirt.png

Well this was a disaster from my end, haha. Here are all the Harbor Freight 10/14 winners: merrywether Bopeep ISU ME Slimswife Tara3117 radritch Thumper501 mcwalker msyves bossy1 diana03 starbeck96 gjedda03 lindy0712 gatorburg tracy0504 okannie wizardofoz You'll receive your Amazon GC code via PM within a day or so. Remind me to change the rules of this contest next year, lol.

Listing: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/BlackFridaySales/Store/HarborFreight Scans: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/BlackFridayScans/HarborFreight PDF: http://i.gottadeal.com/blackfriday/scans/pdf/GottaDeal-HarborFreight-BF2014.pdf

Through November 3rd you can order Black Friday @ GottaDeal.com t-shirts and hoodies here: https://www.represent.com/blackfriday There are 3 shirt options: - regular t-shirt (sizes S - 2XL) - $11.99 each - larger t-shirts (sizes 3XL - 6XL) - $15.49 each - hoodies (sizes S - 5XL) - $23.99 each T-shirts are available in grey, pink, orange or black. Hoodies are available in pink and 2 shades of grey. The page will have sizing information for each type of item. Credit cards are the only payment method accepted. Prepaid credit cards should also work. These will ship after the November 3rd deadline, and you'll have them in plenty of time for Black Friday. Shipping is extra and depends on what you order. I realize these prices have increased since last year, but that's the price we have to pay for someone else to handle the processing, shipping, etc... It also allows us to offer more colors and hoodies this year. I set the prices to be as low as possible - I'm not making any $ on these. We're also going to be giving away many of the shirts this year. Those will be the heather gray color and will be available in sizes medium through 2XL, so if you want a different color or a different size, you may want to order one to guarantee you get yours. We went with a front design similar to shirts we had back in 2006 that many of you expressed that you liked. The back features our well-known tagline.

The 5 winners randomly selected are: hockeydon ISU ME kboyts sunni0913 okannie Congrats and look for a new contest soon!

Just announced: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1976947

DISCUSS BLACK FRIDAY & WIN AN IPAD MINI w/ RETINA DISPLAY! We're giving someone on the forum a brand new Apple iPad mini 16GB tablet with Retina Display for doing what you all love to do anyway - talk about Black Friday! Here's how it works: Through November 30th, every time you post in one of the Black Friday forums (such as this main Black Friday Discussion subforum, any of the store-specific subforums, Posted Black Friday Ads or Online Black Friday subforums) you'll earn one entry into the contest. We're not going to require your posts to be a certain length to qualify or anything like that - we just want a lot of great discussion. We know there are times when a one-word reply is fine. All posts in all threads in these forums will count, including other contest threads. Be aware that it's pretty obvious if someone is attempting to "game the system" by posting repeatedly to get more entries. If that happens, we will give you ONE warning via PM. If we see the behavior continuing, you will be disqualified from winning the iPad. I don't expect this to be an issue, but I wanted to make it clear that myself and the mods will be watching for any abuse. Any member who is banned is obviously no longer eligible to win the contest either. This includes posting multiple times in a row in a single thread when one post would be enough, replying to many threads with nothing but "thanks!", etc... as I said, it'll be obvious if anyone does this, so don't do it. There is plenty to discuss without having to cheat your way to more entries. So create interesting threads, reply to other members' questions, give your opinions on everything that is being discussed. This is a discussion board - let's have some interesting discussion here! The winner will be randomly selected on Cyber Monday, December 1st and will receive the iPad mini with Retina display. And as a benefit to those who were here early this year, all the posts in the forums up until now will also count towards this contest. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me and I'll be happy to answer them. Update 11/22: For the remainder of the contest, posts made in the new Online Black Friday Sales sub-forum will count for double entries! http://i.gottadeal.com/main/images/ipadmini.png

http://www.farmandfleet.com/promotions/ Not to be confused with the Fleet Farm catalog that went up yesterday. Both are also on the BF site.

Down to 50 days to go. Just added a countdown on the BF site: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/

https://nrf.com/media/press-releases/optimism-shines-national-retail-federation-forecasts-holiday-sales-increase-41 The NRF is predicting a 4.1% increase in November and December this year, a full percent higher than last year and the recent average increase. Any thoughts? What could make them think sales will be up this year?

I believe these sites take credit cards only. I've got 2 sites that I'm considering. As for sizes, it'll depend what they have available. I know one of the two sites offers very large sizes so that might be something to consider. These are crowdfunding sites, so the price of the shirts depends on how many I set as a "goal" for the number ordered. If we don't hit that goal, none of the shirts ship. So I'll set a very low goal, but it could mean the cost is a couple dollars more than past years. For the shirts that I give away, I'll probably place an order with the local printer I've been using the last few years. Those will be just one color and limited in size (likely M, L and XL) so if you want one of the "special" colors or want a long-sleeve shirt, hoodie or special sizes, you'll have to order those when the sale goes live.

OK, we've done this one for many years and it's always been fun: simply reply to this thread with your guess for the date and store for the first ad to be posted on the Black Friday site. Only post one guess and if you edit your post more than 10 minutes after your initial post, your entry won't count, so make your best guess now! For help, view this chart for 2006-2013 dates: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/dates.php I'll accept entries until Sunday October 12th at 9:00pm ET. At that point I'll randomly select 5 people who posted their prediction and they'll win a Black Friday t-shirt. If anyone ends up being correct on both the date and store for the first ad, I'll send you a $10 Amazon gift card. If more than one person is correct, you all win gift cards. We'll use eastern time zone to determine which day a late-night ad is posted on. Good luck to everyone! If the first ad comes out before the contest ends, there will be no additional winners beyond those who already had their guesses posted (but you can still reply to the thread with a comment to have a chance to be chosen randomly for the 5 shirts).

OK, so it looks like the ordering "window" for Teespring and sites like that is capped at 21 days, and they say to allow up to 2 weeks for delivery so I think I'm going to wait until Monday to open ordering. So the timeline will be: 10/13 - First day for ordering 11/3 - Last day for ordering 11/17 - Shirts should be delivered by this date

I'm most likely going to set up a campaign through Teespring.com. That'll let us offer several colors and types of shirts (t-shirts, long-sleeve and hoodies). I'll price them as low as possible (not looking to make any $ from these) and Teespring will handle the orders and shipping. I'll have something official to announce this week once I finalize a design.

Thanks to those who have contacted me so far. I'll be in touch this week with further details

http://www.gottadeal.com/images/target.gif Welcome to the Wonderful World of Target Perimeter Perusing! As many of you know, Target B&M stores are known for their terrific clearance deals. This thread is for GottaDeal.com forum members to share their latest clearance finds. Also, please keep non-clearance discussion to a minimum - there are other threads for discussing weekly sale ads and store policy. This first post will contain some background information on the wonderful world of Target clearance, otherwise known around here as Perimeter Perusing! You may have noticed that although the sticker price (the red-orange clearance sticker) show one price, many times the items will actually scan for a lesser amount. You can use this to your advantage because many shoppers without the benefit of being GottaDeal members do not realize this and pass the item by, thinking the sticker price is the actual price. Also, many times an item is not marked clearance in any way but still may be on clearance, so if you have an item that you would consider buying if it was on clearance, we suggest you take it to the nearest scanner and check the price that comes up. This is especially true of items which other members have reported being on clearance at their local store. The standard clearance pattern at Target usually begins by items being marked down 15% or 30% at the beginning. This price can last somewhere between two weeks to a month, depending on how well the item sells at this price and what department the item is from. Then the item typically drops to 50%, again for anywhere from two weeks to a month in most cases. Generally, the lowest an item will be marked down is 75% off, with a few exceptions. Items considered 'holiday' or 'seasonal' items have been known to go as low as 90%, and you will find a few occasional display items or things found in the stockroom after inventory discounted in the 80%-90% range. In many cases, the lowest price an item will go will usually end in $x.x4 or $x.x8, but this is not always the case for 100% of items, so take that into consideration. A typical markdown schedule for the seasonal or holiday clearance is as follows: Traditional Post-Holiday Target Clearance Schedule 50% off - marked down on the day after the holiday, usually lasts for three days 75% off - marked down on the fourth day after the holiday, usually lasts for three days 90% off - marked down on the seventh day after the holiday, usually lasts for 1-3 days Other than Christmas, this is usually the schedule used for post-holiday clearance, including Valentine's Day, Easter, Summerville, and Halloween, for at least the last few years. The holiday mark-down does seem to fluctuate from store to store on occasion, but to help demonstrate how the holiday clearance has gone in 2008 and 2009, here is the Decatur, AL clearance dates for Valentine's Day and Halloween, courtesy of Timswife81404: Valentine's 08 Feb. 15th, 2008 = 50% Feb. 18th, 2008 = 75% Feb. 20th, 2008 = 90% Valentine’s 09 Feb. 15th, 2009 = 50% Feb. 17th, 2009 = 75% (red dot dollar spot too) Feb. 21st, 2009 = 90% Halloween 08 Nov. 1st, 2008 = 50% Nov. 4th, 2008 = 75% Nov. 8th, 2008 = 90% Halloween 09 Nov. 1st, 2009 = 50% Nov. 3rd, 2009 = 75% Nov. 7th, 2009 = 90% Target initiated a controversial new return policy in November 2002 that says any seasonal clearance items returned will be refunded at the current clearance price, even with a receipt showing a higher purchase price. They updated the policy in April 2003 to specify these items as Christmas trees and decorations and Halloween costumes and decorations. Other seasonal merchandise should still be refunded at the price stated on the reciept. Christmas clearance is an animal all to itself. The dates appear to be as follows: 50% off - always December 26,lasts four to five days 75% off - within a day or two on either side of New Year's Eve/Day (12/31-01/01) 90% off - within a day or two of Epiphany (01/06) The Decatur, AL markdown schedule for Christmas in 2007, 2008 and 2009 was as follows: Christmas 07 Dec. 26th, 2007 = 50% Dec. 31st, 2007 = 75% Jan. 4th, 2007 = 90% Christmas 08 Dec. 26th, 2008 = 50% Dec. 30th, 2008 = 75% Jan. 6th, 2009 = 90% Jan. 2nd, 2009 = 75% Dollar Spot Christmas (black dot) Christmas 09 Dec. 26th, 2009 = 50% Dec. 31st, 2009 = 75% (black dollar spot too) Jan. 5th, 2010 = 90% Twice a year, Target has a major clearance on toys. Once in January and again in the summer. Here are the dates for the January toy clearance in Decatur, AL: Toys 08 Jan. 10th, 2008 = 75% Toys 09 Jan. 15th, 2009 = 75% on MOST toys some still 30-50% Jan. 29th, 2009 = 75% on remaining toys Toys 10 Jan. 15th, 2010 = 75% (Friday) Other departments have an annual major clearance. Dates will be posted here as they become known. Baby 09 Jan. 19th, 2009 = 75% on MOST already clearanced Jan. 26th, 2009 = 75% on remaining clearance Target is one of the few stores where many (although not all) of the cashiers have the ability to bargain when an item doesn't scan with a price. There are times when an item will scan as 'clearance + tax' - be happy in these situations instead of groaning. Sometimes the cashier can do a price override to find the most recent lowest price, but sometimes if you say "I'll take it for (whatever 75% off the marked retail price would be)" they'll just key that in. It's always worth a shot. The same thing applies for an item that scans 'NOF' (Not On File). This means the item is so old that it is completely out of the computer inventory system. Again, a good suggestion is to try offering the 75% off the retail price, but if necessary a price can usually be looked up at the Guest Services Desk. However, if an item has gone 'salvage,' this may backfire on you. In this instance Target marks the item back up to full retail value before pulling it from the shelves and donating it to a charity such as Goodwill or the Salvation Army for a tax write off. This is one of the reasons how Target can claim to donate so much to charity. The markdown teams in each many stores have been known to keep to a standardized schedule, but there are stores that have different ones, so your experience many vary. For those who do follow the standard schedule, the departmental markdown days are: Traditional Department Mark Down Schedule Monday - Electronics, Kids' Clothing, Stationery, Cards, Gift wrap Tuesday - Domestics, Women's Clothing, Pets, Market Pantry Wednesday - Men's Clothing, Toys, Health and Beauty, Lawn & Garden Thursday - Housewares, Lingerie, Shoes, Sporting Goods, Movies, Music, Books, Decor, Luggage Friday - Automotive, Cosmetics, Hardware, Jewelry Note that while this schedule says nothing about weekend markdowns, many Perimeter Perusers on the forum have seen items change in price between a Saturday morning shopping trip and one done on a Sunday afternoon. But nobody has found any rhyme or reason to what gets marked down on those days though - another part of the fun. Target does not have a layaway plan, but die-hard Perimeter Perusers have tried various methods of getting around this. Most are constantly debated on the forum as far as being 'ethical' or not, so we'll leave it for you to decide for yourself. Just don't be surprised to find some differing opinions if you bring it up in this thread. When an item goes 50% off and there are several left, some posters have said they find a hiding place to put the item. They then go back to see if the item is still there several weeks later, and if so, scan it to see if it has dropped in price. Some common hiding places shared are in the middle of a round clothes rack, where all of the clothes hide the item, about a third of the way off the floor of a stack of pillows or behind similar items, perhaps with newer packaging, on the proper shelf. Sometimes, when items are getting scarce at 50% off, posters will buy them at that price and hold on to the receipt. If they find the item later at 75% or 90% off, they will buy the item again, remove any clearance stickers that show the lower price and return the item at another time with the older, higher priced receipt, as long as it is within the 90-day return period. While not technically a clearance topic, in this thread, you may see reference to MM Juice or MM packs. These refer to 10 packs of Minute Maid juice boxes that can generally be bought for $.69. They are found in the juice aisle mixed in with the 15 packs. This usually includes only the Grape, Apple & Fruit Punch flavors -- never Orange Juice. They look exactly like the 15 packs which are generally stocked on the shelf, but instead of having 3 rows of 5 boxes, there are only 2 rows. They are often mixed in with the others, and even hidden in the back behind the 15 packs. You may go months or longer before you find your first set, but they really do exist. They are not an urban legend. And most of us can attest that you'll do a little dance in the aisle when you find them the first time. Helpful Target Clearance-Related Links Target Store Locator Target Coupon Generator Target Clearance Locator

It's that time where we start looking for volunteers for various Black Friday-related tasks on the site. Below you'll find some descriptions of things that we will need help with. If you want to help out, please PM me and let me know which of the items below you'd be interested in helping with along with any related experience/skills you may have. If you've helped in the past, let me know as well. To make things easier, we have 2 jobs that we need help with: Ad Linking: We'll need several people to help link the thousands of Black Friday ad items to the product pages on the store web sites. This involves looking at the BF ad and searching for the same item on that store's web site and pasting that link in a special form. You basically just need to know how to search a store's site using either the item number (if the ad shows it) or the product's name and then copy and paste. Ad Posting: We'll need several people with excellent availability (primarily during the first 3 weeks of November including early mornings and nights) and who have above-average typing skills. You'll be taking the scans of the ads and typing up each item in the ad, selecting the appropriate category, entering price/rebate info, etc... This one requires a little more work but you'll get to see some ads before anyone else if you can do these things. To make things easier so we don't have more than one person doing the same work, we'll set up a private forum for the helpers to get together, so if you are chosen you'll get access to that forum where we'll assign tasks and post updates. You won't be alone or feel overwhelmed - we'll hopefully once again have a small army of volunteers this year. These are volunteer positions, but you will be rewarded for your time and efforts at the end of the year. Those of you who helped with this the last few years would be very welcome to help again as you all have done a great job. So again, if you feel you could do one or both of these things, send me a PM. If you have any questions, you can PM me as well. Thanks

Last I heard from bigjimslade he planned to be back this year, so unless something came up, I'd say that the webcasts will be back.

Yes

If any GDer wants an invite to buy the OnePlus One (64GB black version), send me a PM.

http://consumerist.com/2014/09/18/newspapers-want-to-charge-subscribers-extra-to-receive-black-friday-ads/