*** Official Black Friday FAQ - Last Updated 11/11 ***

[Brad]

Last year we got a lot of the same questions popping up here in the Black Friday forum, so we thought we'd try to answer some of them now so we don't have 492 posts asking the same thing

 

What is Black Friday?

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when most retailers have their biggest sales of the year. For a complete history of Black Friday, see here.

 

Where are the sale ads?

The sale ads that we have will appear on the main Black Friday @ GottaDeal web site available at http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com

 

When do the rumored ads start appearing?

We expect the first rumored ads to appear on the site in late October or early November. If you or someone you know has access to the ads early, please contact us. If you can give us an exclusive look at the ad early, there is a good chance you'll be rewarded for your help :)

 

When do the ads come in the newspaper?

Traditionally, the actual printed ads come with your newspaper on Thanksgiving Day, however in some areas they will be in the paper on Wednesday or on Black Friday itself. Check with your local newspaper if you need to know the exact date. Some retailers such as WalMart occasionally distribute their ads sooner.

 

Do retailers allow price matching or returning & rebuying for BF items?

There is no set answer for this. Each retailer makes their own decisions and policies, and those can even change from year to year. Your best bet is to contact the retailer directly to get their price matching policy. Some stores that allow it during the year won't allow it during BF. Different stores in different areas might have different policies as well.

 

Why is this forum for registered members only?

We want to encourage as much participation on not only this Black Friday forum, but all of our other forums. Now that you are registered we invite you to post anywhere you'd like on the various forums. You can earn GottaPoints which can get you prizes and contest entries as well. We'll have a special private forum for scanned ads and other exclusives only for active members who have been posting, so be sure you have made a few posts if you want access to that information when the time comes.

 

How can I help support the site?

We're glad you asked :) We don't want your money, we don't accept donations, we don't even have any annoying ads on the site. If you appreciate what we are doing with the BF site, the best thing you can do is just spread the word. Tell your family, friends and co-workers about it, post a link on other sites (without spamming of course ) - anything to let others know about the site. We'll be very grateful and if we see you doing it we'll give you some GottaPoints as well :)

 

What do some of the abbreviations I see on the site mean?

BF = Black Friday

GD = GottaDeal

AR = After Rebate

MIR = Mail-in Rebate

BB = Best Buy

CC = Circuit City

TRU = Toys R Us

OP = Original Poster (the person who started a thread)

FAR = Free After Rebate

PM = Price Match or Private Message

YMMV = Your Mileage May Varry

B&M = Brick and Mortar your local store

 

What about price matching and layaway?

In the vast majority of cases, each store will set it's own policy regarding pricematching and layaway as it relates to BF. Many times the stores' policies change year to year, so posting a new thread will not likely get you a confirmed answer. Therefore we suggest you contact your individual store to see what their policy will be.

 

When will 's BF ad come out?

We have no idea when each ad will be leaked/released. Rest assured, as soon as it's available we'll post it and you'll know about it, so please do not create these threads asking us as we don't know.

 

How do I use the search function to find something?

To perform a generic search, just click the "Search" link in the top blue navigation bar and enter your query. If you want to do a more advanced search (such as searching only titles, only in certain forums, etc..., click the Advanced Search link under the search box, or just click here: SEARCH and perform your search from that page.

 

Can I get these deals online?

Again, this varies on a store-by-store, and item-by-item basis. There is no way to know when or if a particular item will be available online at the BF price. However, if you add items to your Shopping List on the site, you'll get an e-mail alert when any of your items become available online at the BF price. We will also have a big page listing every single item we find that is available at the BF price. We will make sure you are aware of this, so as long as you keep coming back to the site, you won't miss anything. Many of the items become available online Thanksgiving Day.

 

Can you tell me more about a certain item?

If we don't have the scanned ad posted and the item is not linked to the store's web site on the BF site, some good places to search for info are Google, PriceGrabber, and Amazon.com.

 

My post/thread appears to be deleted - what happened?

With all the posts, we are getting a lot of reposts and threads with the same topic. In most cases, we'll either close the thread and include a link to the older thread on the topic, or we will merge the thread with the existing one. We have master threads for many of the popular products such as laptops and TVs, so keep discussion of those items in those threads. New threads created about those items will likely be merged.

 

Any other questions?

If you have any other questions about Black Friday in general, feel free to post a new thread AFTER you have searched to make sure it has not been covered already. However, if you are going to post a new thread with a question, be sure to include a detailed thread title. Do not post a thread with the title "Question" or "Help Me". If you have questions, comments or suggestions about the site, send a private message to Brad or RossMAN, or use the contact form on the BF site and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

 

 

Last Updated: 11/11/05

[Brad]

Updated this thread with answers to more of the questions that keep popping up. If you see someone asking these questions, kindly refer them to this thread.