The weekend after Thanksgiving has become the biggest shopping period of the season. Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday attract millions of shoppers to stores and online sites. Readers Digest has holiday shopping tips to help you get the best deals.
- Price Tracking – Websites such as Amazon constantly adjust prices of merchandise. If you don’t have time to keep checking back, go to camelcamelcamel.com. Select an item and this site will track its price history. A graph will be shown of the item’s highest and lowest price attained over a several day period.
- The Best Deal – Go to getinvisiblehand.com and install the “Invisible Hand” extension on your computer or download the iPhone app. If you’re searching for an item on a major retailers’ site, the “invisible Hand” will check for the best deal on alternative sites.
- Tuesday Deals – According to the New York Times, most online retailers offer their best deals on Tuesdays. In fact, Tuesday morning, early, may be the best time.
- Shop Early and Late – Most of the best sales start early in the morning. This is true throughout the year, not just during the holiday season. Business Insider found, however, that after 6 p.m., many retailers have their next day sales ready to go online. So, you can get a great deal without having to get up with the birds.
- Price Matching – If you’re a brick and mortar store shopper, it’s still a good idea to check out a retailer’s website for sales before heading for the mall. Some retailers such as Target will price match an item if you found it cheaper online, according to the New York Times.
- Beware “Holiday Sales” – Some of the best sales, particularly on electronics, are actually after Black Friday and Cyber Monday and before Dec. 13, Consumer Reports found. If you don’t mind last minute shopping, you can get some great deals the week before Christmas. The best clothing and home goods sales are usually in January.
- Apps for Deals – There are many smartphone apps such as Price scanner of Shop Savvy Barcode Scanner that can scan in-store item prices and locate better deals and coupons. Some major retailers’ apps also allow you to scan prices and find the best sales in their stores.
- Cash Back – Ebates and Mr. Rebates are among the sites that actually pay you to shop. These sites earn a commission when they refer a customer who purchases an item. The customer earns a percentage of the commission as a cash back reward.
These holiday shopping tips will help you find the best sales. Happy shopping!
