bigjimslade Posted November 15, 2006 Posted November 15, 2006 Here is a press release that I pulled from the wires today. I just thought I would pass this along. Enjoy! Top 10 Tips to Bag a Bargain on Black Friday To get the best bargains after Thanksgiving, smart shoppers have to employ a variety of savings strategies, and make wise product and store choices. Consumer World offers the top 10 tips for bagging a bargain on "Black Friday," including a sneak preview of hot sale items. Boston, MA (PRWEB) November 14, 2006 -- As the best bargain shopping day of the year approaches (November 24), shoppers are being encouraged to start doing their homework now to snag the hottest deals then. "Savvy shoppers need to use a variety of strategies to bag the best bargains on Black Friday, but they also have to ensure they are making wise product and store choices," says Edgar Dworsky, founder of Consumer World, (http://www.consumerworld.org) the leading non-commercial consumer resource guide on the Internet. Consumer World offers these holiday bargain shopping tips, also available online at http://www.consumerworld.org/pages/shoptips.htm : 1. READ THE ADS: Check out local newspapers on Thanksgiving Day. They will be chock-full of circulars, ads, and coupons. Friday's papers will include additional sales. To preview some of the items now that will be on sale on "Black Friday", visit http://www.********** or http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com, websites with advance copies of store ads. 2. EVALUATE THE DEALS: Not all advertised items are great deals. Use several Internet shopping robots, such as the Price Checker in Consumer World, or the ones at Shopping.com, PriceGrabber.com, Shopzilla.com, or NexTag.com (with price histories) to compare what a variety of online stores charge for the same item. If shopping online, find out the total price including shipping and tax (if any), and what the reputation of the seller is (use Shopzilla.com or ResellerRatings.com). 3. RESEARCH THE RIGHT PRODUCT: A low price on a lousy product is no bargain. Check websites where professionals evaluate products, such as Consumer Reports, Steves-Digicams.com (for cameras), Ecoustics.com (TV/hi-fi equipment), PCMagazine.com (computers), best/worst toy lists, etc. Also, nothing beats reading customer reviews by real owners of the products you are thinking of buying. Check Epinions.com, and read the user comments posted after most product descriptions at Amazon.com. 4. SAVE WITH "TRIPLE PLAYS": To save the most, combine the primary ways to save: buy items at a good sale price, use percent-off/dollars-off coupons offered by many stores to lower that price even more, and look for items that also have a cash back rebate. 5. BE AN EARLY BIRD: Look for "doorbuster" deals at rockbottom prices as early as 5am, typically lasting only until 11 am. Plot your route from store to store based on store opening times, and arrive before the doors open. Doorbusters often sell out in the first hour. Some blockbuster deals this year include: a free $10 reward card to the first 200 customers (Sears), a $999 Westinghouse 42" LCD HDTV and a $159 Panasonic miniDV camcorder (Best Buy), a $2.99 one-gig Sandisk SD memory card and a $99 Kodak five megapixel camera and printer dock (after rebates at Circuit City), and a $149 MIO GPS (after rebate Staples, Circuit City). 6. BEAT THE EARLY BIRDS: Some "Black Friday" deals may also be orderable online for pick-up at the store, or for home delivery. Visit retailers' websites in the wee hours of Black Friday to see if you can beat the crowd. Some stores may open on Thanksgiving Day or at midnight on Black Friday. Check local newspapers. 7. CHECK THE RETURN POLICY: Before buying, find out the store's return policy. While many stores have extended their return deadlines into January, others are clamping down by imposing restocking fees on certain categories of items, or by using a blacklisting database or returns tracking system to deny refunds to returns abusers. 8. GET A GIFT RECEIPT: Make returns easier for gift recipients by asking the store for a gift receipt and include it in the gift box. Without a receipt, a refund may be denied outright, or may be limited to only an equal exchange, or to a merchandise credit for the lowest price the item has sold for in the recent past. 9. USE THE RIGHT CREDIT CARD: Certain credit cards offer valuable free benefits. For example, don't be pressured into buying a service contract when you can get up to an extra year of warranty coverage free just by using most gold or platinum credit cards. These credit card issuers will double the manufacturer's warranty up to an additional year for warranties whose original duration is one year or less (MasterCard), three years or less (Visa), five years or less (American Express). Some credit cards also offer a return protection guarantee (they will refund the purchase price within 90 days if the store will not), or a sale price guarantee (they will give you back the difference if an item goes on sale within 60 days of purchase.) 10. SAVE MORE WITH PRICE GUARANTEES: The bargain shopping process does not end with a product purchase. Keep checking the prices of the items you bought. Since many stores offer a price protection guarantee, you may be entitled to get back some additional money if the seller or a competitor offers a lower price before Christmas. Consumer World®, launched in 1995, is a public service, non-commercial consumer resource guide with over 2000 links to everything "consumer" on the Internet. Edgar Dworsky, an avid bargain hunter, is the founder of Consumer World and a former Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office. ###
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