Brad

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/

Tough to say, with it being so new. You might see it on sale at a few stores, but don't expect any massive discounts.

2013 link now works. The page that has all the dates will be updated to include 2013 when we launch the "refreshed" version of the BF site in the next week or so.

So I need to start getting some ideas for the Black Friday t-shirts this year. Please use this thread to post ideas, slogans, color suggestions or actual designs. To make things easier on myself this year, I may outsource the ordering/fulfillment of the shirts that you guys order to an outside company. The prices would likely be the same (I'd price them at the bare minimum as I'm not looking to make any $ on these). But doing this would also likely allow us to offer hoodies and other "versions" of the design and more importantly, would let me focus on more important BF-related tasks.

As always, we have several dedicated threads for the hotter items each Black Friday. Please try to keep all discussion related to these items in their official threads. Other threads posted will likely be merged into this main thread.

As always, we have several dedicated threads for the hotter items each Black Friday. Please try to keep all discussion related to these items in their official threads. Other threads posted will likely be merged into this main thread.

As always, we have several dedicated threads for the hotter items each Black Friday. Please try to keep all discussion related to these items in their official threads. Other threads posted will likely be merged into this main thread.

As always, we have several dedicated threads for the hotter items each Black Friday. Please try to keep all discussion related to these items in their official threads. Other threads posted will likely be merged into this main thread.

As always, we have several dedicated threads for the hotter items each Black Friday. Please try to keep all discussion related to these items in their official threads. Other threads posted will likely be merged into this main thread.

Here are the dates (according to our records) when various ads were posted during the past 8 years: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/Dates And here are links to text lists of the items in the ads (at least the ones in our database) dating back to 2003: 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 And don't forget, you can also browse the older scanned ads at http://www.blackfridayarchive.com

Today would normally be the day we open this forum, but since it's been open all year, no need I may move it to the dedicated Black Friday section later today though. Consider Black Friday season underway

We're two-thirds of the way there. Getting close now...

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

Almost halfway there. Where did the last 6 months go? Guess I better start preparing, haha

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

First time this has ever happened in the 10 years the site's been open, but we had a major hard drive failure which took down our whole server. So we had to quickly get a new server ready and transfer the daily backup which was almost 24 hours old at that point, so everything you've done since 4am EST on Sunday is gone. Sorry for that

That's one of the reasons I made the change

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