Brad

Great job so far by everyone. I'll keep you updated if/when your efforts result in any kind of story :)

Another chance to win a limited edition Black Friday t-shirt here on the forum As we get closer to Black Friday, we could really use some help spreading the word that the site is open and that the ads should start appearing very soon. So here is what we're asking you to do: Find 3 ways to help spread the word about Black Friday @ GottaDeal.com. This can mean posting about it on another forum or blog (if allowed), e-mailing your local newspapers and TV news stations (contacting the consumer reporter is a good idea), submitting the site as a story idea on another site or blog - any combination of 3 attempts to help spread the word. Do at least 3 of those things and reply here telling us what you've done. Include URLs of the sites you've contacted or posted on if possible so we know who to thank if it leads to a big news story for GD. We'll keep this contest going until Friday morning at 11am ET. At that point I'll randomly give away 3 prize packs to members who have completed this task. These winners will each receive a Black Friday t-shirt and a GottaDeal.com backpack! You can mix-and-match as you'd like. So you can contact 3 local TV stations or contact 2 local newspapers and 1 TV station, or you can post on 2 other sites and contact a local newspaper, etc... however only things you do this week count - things you've posted in the past won't count for this contest - although we do appreciate them. So you might be asking, "what should I tell them?" Good question. Tell them the Black Friday site is open. Give them the URL: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com Tell them how much you love the site and how useful it's been for you in the past. Let them know that we've posted our predictions for this year's ads: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/BlackFridayPredictions and that it would make a good subject for a story. Tell them about this great forum with all your fellow helpful and chatty members: http://forums.gottadeal.com And most importantly, tell them if they'd like to contact us about a story they might want to do, have them go here: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/MediaRoom Just be responsible. Don't spam. I realize that this is more work than just replying to a thread with your favorite store, but we could really use the help spreading the word. If the response to this request is high, I'll add more shirts and backpacks to the prize pool so you'll have a better chance to win.

Stores can't really advertise the iPods for less than MSRP (an Apple rule), so like happysunshine said, the best you can hope for is a free accessory or GC with the purchase.

those doorbuster items would have been sold regardless of if you sold the tickets or not, so that's not a valid justification...

one thing they could do would be to have tickets for people, not for items. so if you are 8th in line, they ask which of the ticketed items (that would still have quantities available after the first 7 people made their selections) you want and they mark them all on your ticket (in some way that couldn't be faked/forged). that way you don't have a laptop ticket, a tv ticket, etc... that could each be sold, but rather a single ticket. sure someone could sell "their" ticket, but it would almost defeat the purpose of waiting in line if you would end up getting none of the hot items. it would also stop the people in front from taking tickets for every item, regardless of if they are going to buy them or not, just to sell later on to other people in line. but the employees are busy enough on that morning that it'd very unlikely any system like that would ever be feasible.

From what us affiliates have been told, this new RedTag.com is going to be very agressive for the next 3-4 months as far as adding new items and having great deals (and low shipping) to compete with the likes of Overstock.com and Smartbargains.com, so I'd keep checking back often to see what new things they add.

ugh. but at least we know you won't have to post one of these for cubs world series champs gear

Actually you missed it by about 45 minutes, so don't feel too bad There will be plenty more contests over the next 2+ months.

And this contest's winner is.... Crazy Mama Look for another contest soon :)

I added something to my cart and it keeps the $20 off $50 all the way through checkout. Might be something on your PC that's hijacking the affiliate links? Do you have any kind of toolbars or anything installed on your web browser?

shows $20 off $50 for me. i know the standard site offer is $20 off $75, but going through the affiliate link is supposed to get it to be $20 off $50. the image filename even is 20_off_50.

http://www.smartbargains.com/img/5/promo/belts/2008/pp_20_on50.gif Link: http://www.gottadeal.com/Deal/27904

Actually it's 2 hours, 45 minutes. The deals start at midnight west coast time, 3am ET.

It's probably similar. Costco model # is VK-42F240S. Best Buy is TX-42F430S Much more info on the BB model here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=851860

I bought a similar Westinghouse 42" 1080p a little over 2 years ago for 3 times this price. And no free DVD player either And that free DVD player isn't a cheap throw-away model - it sells for $125-175 most places.

My own tip: buy as many BF ad items online as you can before you leave the house. Many stores put their BF items online starting Wednesday night and throughout the day Thursday and early Friday morning. If you can buy something online, that's one less thing to fight the crowds for, one less thing to spend time searching for and one less thing taking up space in your vehicle :)

It's contest time again This one is very simple. Reply to this thread with your best Black Friday tip (or tips). Try not to copy anyone else's tip if possible. We might use the responses in here to put together a guide for BF newbies, so try to be as unique and informative as possible. The contest will run until tomorrow (Friday) at 8pm ET. One winner will be randomly chosen tomorrow night from all replies and they'll win a Black Friday T-Shirt AND GottaDeal.com Backpack! Good luck to all!

Sorry, no images (or dynamic code needed for any kind of countdown) are allowed in sigs.

http://www.gottadeal.com/Deal/27854

usually for any of the cards there is a long page of terms and conditions. what specific card(s) didn't you find it for?

... and despite the fact that the holiday exchange is not an "official" GD event, if anyone wants to send home baked cookies to their favorite GD adminstrator, feel free

Yes, I believe it's 360-exclusive until sometime next month.

Check our "sister" site: http://www.bettercreditcard.com You can select the "cash back" link on the left to view the current cash back cards available. Unfortunately the Citi CashReturns card no longer has the 5% cash back for the first 3 months like it did last BF. I know A LOT of people on here took advantage of that card.

The winner, randomly chosen from all replies, is iamcraftier Look for new ways to win very soon :)

OK, time for the first Black Friday @ GottaDeal.com t-shirt giveaway We'll make this one simple: just reply to this thread stating why you deserve a free t-shirt. Entries will be accepted until 10am ET tomorrow morning and I'll randomly pick someone from all the replies and that person will get a shirt mailed out to them tomorrow. With most of these giveaways, I cannot guarantee a specific size t-shirt. If you win I'll ask for your first 2 or 3 size choices and will try to get one of them to you. And in case you are wondering what the shirts look like, here you go. All of the shirts I'll be giving away will be basic black shirts (the BF forum mods were given the only opportunity to get custom colored shirts as a way of thanking them for their help this year). And thanks to Marcster for the slogan idea that he came up with late last year: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/images/bfshirt.jpg