Tips for Black Friday Shoppers

Updated: Thu 6:43 PM, Nov 15, 2012

STATELINE (WIFR) -- With Black Friday, just around the corner (only 7 days left), many stores have released their Black Friday ads.

You can see them all at http://blackfriday.com/flyers.

New This Year / Trends:

Stores are opening earlier than ever with some stores opening at 8pm on Thanksgiving Day. Also, stores are having multiple doorbuster sales that begin at different times.

It is recommended to shop online as much as possible. The online portions of Black Friday sales start very early (12:01 am to 6 am) on Thanksgiving day. You can get almost everything except a few doorbusters online so get everything you can online, then you can decide if it's worth lining up and fighting the crowds for the items you can't get on the web.

Many people may be shopping via their cell phones or iPads. If you have an iPhone or iPad, BlackFriday.com recently launched both iPhone and iPad Apps. You can find it at http://blackfriday.com/mobile.

Black Friday Shopping Tips:

Divide and conquer. The big-ticket items sell out fast so this goes for online and in-store. Especially true if you've got multiple stores on your list.

Research first. Especially with electronics. Many doorbusters are offered on less reputable brands, so know what you want to use it for before you buy.

If you are shopping online, be ready. Items can sell out quickly and retailers' site can get slow as the web volume picks up. Use the wishlist feature available on some retailers' and black Friday sites to save all the items you want. As soon as you get the alert that the online sale is on, get those items into your shopping cart and checkout.

Several of the big players are offering price-matching:
- Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Toys R Us/Babies R Us.
- PayPal is offering price-matching on purchases made through them, so as long as you have a valid U.S PayPal account in good standing.

When to shop:
- The stretch between Black Friday and Christmas is the most important for retailers. Look for deals during that period. This year Black Friday falls on the earliest possible day, so that stretch will be especially long.
- Many Black Friday deals can be found on Cyber Monday. Last year Cyber Monday sales hit $1.25 billion according to comScore.

How to see the Black Friday ads
-Use Black Friday sites to streamline the process - Benefits: email alerts, all the ads are in one place and searchable, and it's easier to compare prices between stores.

Social media is another way to keep on top of breaking ads. 'Follow' or 'like' Black Friday sites or the stores you want to shop to get instant updates on ad breaks or online sales starting.

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