Black Friday is known to many as one of the best days to shop. Countless stores offer deeply discounted prices on their items and people go crazy trying to buy said items. Mostly everyone who shops during Black Friday is out to get a good deal on gifts for Christmas or items for their home. This year, Black Friday is on November 29th, 2013.
Electronics and apparel are the hot sellers every year and a lot of emphasis is put on both categories. Over the years, Black Friday has evolved from waiting outside a store for 8 hours to buying items online the night before. For example, Best Buy now offers their elite members early access to a private online sale which happens to have the same items that are going to be on sale in store during Black Friday.
Throughout all of this excitement, some people might forget to get extra points and miles when purchasing items. As is often the case, items that are are sale don’t tend to last very long.
Here are some tips to help you maximize your points this Black Friday!
Make sure to check out THIS site. Bfads offers leaked adscans and the latest online deals as they come!
Online:
If you’re planning on buying big ticket items like TV’s, Laptops, Tablets or Phones, you’ll want to look at the Bestbuy online sales. Before you decide to buy anything, I suggest heading to a local Office Depot or Staples and stocking up on Bestbuy gift cards. With the Chase Ink Bold, you can get 5 times the points for buying those gift cards! Once you find an item you like, go through a portal for points like Chase Ultimate Rewards Mall or a cash back portal like Big Crumbs to get more value! Even if you don’t use gift cards, make sure to use a portal when shopping online so that you can get those extra points!
Example:
65 Inch T.V at Bestbuy is on sale for $1000
Bought online in haste: 1000 points + $20 back from Bestbuy Rewardzone
Bought through Gift Cards & Portals: 6,000 Points + $20 back from Bestbuy Rewardzone.
- 5,000 from gift cards at Office Depot or Staples
- 1,000 from 1 Point/Dollar at Chase UR Mall
This strategy goes well with a lot of online stores that sell gift cards at physical locations. Amazon.com is known to host a week of Black Friday sales and often times, has prices matching or below Best Buy!
Outlet Malls:
Many people head to their nearest outlet malls, which offer Midnight Madness sales. This is ideal because there are different retail stores located next to each other! When shopping at these stores, most people just put their purchases on a credit card but to maximize points, they can purchase some prepaid gift cards from an office supply store like Staples. Keep in mind that the max you can purchase on each pre-paid card is $200 and that there is a $5.95 fee to purchase. By purchasing pre-paid gift cards, you are actually able to manage your spending a little better. I know that when I go shopping on Black Friday, spending goes out of hand sometimes. By having $200 on each card, I can better manage spending. This also works if your kids want something and you want to set a budget for them! Depending on how many cards you buy, you can get 1,000 points per $200 that you buy. If you use other cards that offer benefits at the local drugstore, you can earn up to 1,250 points per $200 purchased.
Transportation:
If you like to go out for Black Friday, most of your time will be spent looking for parking or driving to an outlet mall that is far away. Don’t forget to use a credit card that offers 2-5X on gas purchases so that you can maximize points on your drive there! Every month, I go to staples and buy $200 in gas cards from Shell. Not only do I make an easy 1,000 points but I know i’m getting the most out of my fuel purchase. If you live in California, you can couple those discounts with your Ralphs card number and earn up to 20 cents off per gallon. Best of all, there is no additional fee to purchase these cards!
Buy Now, Change Later:
This has worked for me in the past but you need to read the terms and conditions of every store carefully. If you are eyeing an item now and think it might go on sale for Black Friday, buy it now and try to get the difference in price if it goes down within the next 30 days. I have successfully done this at a number of stores! With the current 18 Mile/Dollar promotion going on with Neiman Marcus on the AA shopping portal, this can mean a ton of miles without the hassle of waiting in long lines.
Here’s some general advice that should be common sense to many of you:
- Wear appropriate clothing if you’ll be out in the cold. There have been countless times where people would show up to wait in front of a store for 8 hours wearing shorts while it was 30 degrees.
- Do your research. Make sure you know what you want beforehand so you aren’t scrambling right when the store opens.
- Don’t overspend. It seems like everyone knows better but when Black Friday rolls around, even the smallest of deals are made out to be amazing. Make sure you always ask yourself what my dad asks me: “Do you want it? Yes. Do you need it? …”
- Have fun. I’ve seen tons of fights over the last monitor on sale or piece of clothing. Heck, i’ve even seen people trying to cut in line. Honestly, at that point, I don’t need that shirt as much as those people think they do. Take everything easy because as i’ve seen before online, only in America do we fight over material items the day after being thankful for what we have.
Tips:
Here is a link to find the closest Outlet Mall in your area. I highly suggest going to them before going to regular malls.
Here is the Link to Bfads.net. They are the leader in finding deals and posting early scans from retail stores.
Make sure to call your credit card company beforehand and tell them you’ll be doing a bit of shopping at odd hours of the night. The last thing you want is to go to the back of the line because your credit card got declined.
If you plan to buy electronics, sign up for BestBuy Rewardzone. Every $250 spent gives you $5 in credit. It might not be much but it adds up!
If anyone has any other tips, leave them in the comment section below! Have a Happy Thanksgiving and safe Black Friday
-Tahsir (BMG)
