Black Friday can be as controversial a topic as what meat you’re going to eat for Christmas dinner. With viral clips of fighting over in-store goods and others claiming its all a scam, you can quite easily be put off by it all.
The rule of thumb is to only scan Black Friday sales for things you already want to buy, instead of putting yourself in the vulnerable position of letting sales sweep you off your feet.
Christmas is approaching and you’re going to need to buy some gifts regardless. Black Friday is actually very well placed in that respect, as it gives you time to have another pay-day before the actual day of Christmas and your quite possibly expensive and boozy New Years’ Eve.
So, rather than postponing the inevitable hand-over of cash until you’re passing by a garage on Christmas eve, browsing Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales can really reduce your Christmas spending. You have to go about it in a sensible, prepared way, however.
Planning
The first thing to do is plan the number of presents you’re going to need to buy. This means writing down the name of everyone that you’re intending to buy a gift for. It may also be wise to roughly write down how much you’re willing to spend for each name, too. This will help prevent impulse buys and blowing your budget on just a couple of people. You may also want to discuss this with others too – asking if you’re both planning on buying each other a present, in order to avoid the phrase “I thought we weren’t doing presents this year?” which leaves both parties embarrassed on the day.
Research
When you’ve figured out the list and budget, you can begin to look into gifts for each person. This comes before Black Friday, so you’re not left with finding and buying presents for everyone over a single weekend. Anyway, you’ll find that sales start from the week leading up to Black Friday in many stores (Amazon being one).
You can make good use of Chrome extensions such as Savelist and Shoptagr which will create a list of items that you’re interested in – and the latter will even notify you of price drops. Hopefully, the week leading up to Black Friday is enough to create a list that includes possible gifts for everyone. Another good option is to use comparison sites and select the vendor with the best prices. The last place for good and cheap products it’s well known eBay.
Timing
Timing is the next thing. You don’t want to just buy an item because it’s on a general sale, as it may drop further on the day of Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Equally, you don’t want to miss out on a potentially good deal by getting greedy.
You can deal with this in two main ways. Firstly, scan for dates and stock count. Sites such as Amazon often state how long you have until the deal runs out and goes up in price, and many sites also will tell you “only 5 remain”, although they may be lying depending on the company.
The second thing to do is to find the same deal on other sites. If you have only one option on a good price for a product on a certain website, then this may not be worth the risk of waiting. However, if you have three separate sites, it would be unlikely that they end their deal/run out of stock at the same time. Thus, if you have options, you can afford to wait. Once they get ruled out and one is left, it may be the time to strike.
5 Great presents on sale
RUNMUS Gaming headset
The RUNMUS gaming headset is suited to PC, Xbox One and PS4 users, and benefits from 7.1 surround sound for an enhanced gaming experience. Finding a highly rated gaming headset (4.6/5 from 10.279 reviews on Amazon) in this price range is a great bargain.
Price: $26.95 (reduced from $42.99) at Amazon
TCL 55” 4K TV
If you’re looking to spend big on a present this year for someone (or perhaps… a present for yourself?) then 4K TVs are getting cheaper by the day. The TCL 55” however is quite possible the first 55” TV I’ve seen for under 400 bucks that’s 4K. With 4* reviews, it looks like a great Black Friday coup.
Price: $399.99 (reduced from $699.99) at Amazon
Fitbit
It’s not called Cyber Monday for no reason! The Fitbit is next on the list, as you’re sure to pick a version up cheap over the weekend. These a great present as they mix utility technology with health benefits. Whilst there are many versions that will no doubt see a price drop, the Fitbit Versa 2 is first on sale at Amazon.
Price: $148.99 (reduced from $199.95) at Amazon
DAYBETTER LED strips 10m
Colorful LED lights are that product that you never think about buying for yourself, but when you see someone else’s, you can’t help wonder why you haven’t got around to getting any yet. They can transform a room and add an incredible ambiance. At 10m long, these LED lights are sure to fill up a medium to a large bedroom.
Price: $19.74 (reduced from $28.99) at Amazon
Magilano SKYJO
SKYJO is the self-proclaimed “ultimate card game for kids” – and it really is a lot of fun even for adults. Christmas is a time for socializing with family, so it’s good to have some non-tech gifts that you can play over the dinner table too. Whilst the deal appears to be coming to an end soon, it’s likely to see the same deal pop up elsewhere this weekend.
Price: $7.49 (reduced from $19.95) at Amazon
