Frequently Asked Questions:

When is Black Friday?

What is Black Friday?

What are the useful bargainshare.com Black Friday threads this year?

When do retailers offically publish the Black Friday sale ads?

What are good strategies for Black Friday 2008?

Are there useful coupons to use on Black Friday?

Is Black Friday really worth it?

Have you heard anything in the news media about Black Friday this year?

Were there any interesting news articles in previous years?

What was Black Friday like in previous years?

Are there any useful bargainshare.com Black Friday threads from previous years?

What is Cyber Monday?

Is there an easy way to navigate to this useful thread?

Do I need to register to bargainshare.com to view the sales and deals for Black Friday?

Are there some handy threads on this forum for new members?

Friday, November 27, 2009. The day after Thanksgiving in the United States.

Future Black Friday Dates:

Friday, November 26, 2010
Friday, November 25, 2011
Friday, November 23, 2012
Friday, November 29, 2013

The day after Thanksgiving in the United States, is often referred to as Black Friday. Black Friday is one of the major U.S. holiday shopping days when many U.S. consumers begin Christmas shopping.

The origin of Black Friday comes from the shift to profitability during the holiday season. Retailers went from being unprofitable, or "in the red," to being profitable, or "in the black", at a time when accounting records were kept by hand and red indicated loss and black profit.

Retailers publish special sale ads on Thanksgiving day to get customers into their doors the following morning. "Doorbusters" and "Early Bird Specials" help lure customers in with heavy discounting on retail items. Lines often stretch around the block as customers jam parking lots waiting to snatch up the hot sale items of the year.

Black Friday is a shopping holiday that often translates into both an online and offline shopping experience. Many retailers publish the same ads online offering similar discounts with free shipping promotions to get customers onto a retailer's online shopping portal.

References: Black Friday @ About.com, Black Friday @ Wikipedia.org

Black Friday 2009 Discussion Threads

Black Friday 2009 Sale Threads - Master List

Black Friday 2009 Sale Ads Forum

Black Friday Predictions 2009
Black Friday Tips and Advice 2009
Do you order online on Black Friday?
How early do you get in line for doorbusters?
Black Friday Guidelines Thread 2009

Most ads are published in the newspaper on Thanksgiving Day. (The day before Black Friday)

Some retailers like Walmart release ads earlier to the public. Many even have two overlapping ads for the same time period to cover both Black Friday and the holiday shopping season.

A number of retailers have recently started publishing their ads online in the few days before Thanksgiving Day.

Discussion on when the ads are released.

2009 Tips Thread

Holiday Shopping Tips Discussion

Black Friday Strategies Summarized:

1) Simplest strategy is to make your plans in advance and get to the stores early in the morning.

Bring along a list of the Black Friday items you're interested in. Stay organized and get your coupons ready in advance. Some families formulate a plan by dividing up to take advantage of promotions at different stores. Plan out your items and lists so that you can get in and out of the store quickly. Plan to get to the store early. Arriving at the store an hour or two in advance may help you get ahead in line. Try to get to the check out line as soon as you can. Lines can be long and you want to try to get to the next store on your list as soon as you can. Be aware of store hours and special promotions on Black Friday. Special sale promotions like "Doorbusters" and "Early Bird Specials" may start as early as 5am and last only a few hours.

Current 2009 Discussion Thread
Tips While Standing In Line
Tips to Stay Organized

2) Buy Online!

Many stores who participate in Black Friday sales offer similar promotions on their online websites.

Online Shopping Discussion Thread

3) Pricematch, Pricematch, Pricematch!!

Capitalize on a retailer's pricematch policy. This can save you extra trips to different stores on a busy shopping day like Black Friday.

Pricematch Discussion Thread

4) Return and rebuy.

Buy the item in advance of the sale. Return the item to the store on Black Friday and then immediately rebuy it to take advantage of the new sale price. This may discouraged by some stores. So your experience may vary.

Return & Rebuy Discussion Thread

5) Camp out all night at the store.

If there is a deal you really can't afford to pass up on Black Friday, then you could beat others in line by camping out all night at stores. Although it could get fairly cold in some states.

Yes, there always coupons available to use on Black Friday. Many manufacturers release coupons in the Sunday newspaper inserts that can be used at a number of stores on Black Friday.

Often times you can get retail store coupons by signing up to their online newsletters or rewards programs. These retailers may send out coupons via email or through the regular mail.

Stocking up on coupons in advance for Black Friday can add to significant savings. Be aware of expiration dates on coupons. You may also wish to acquire coupons that may have longer expirations so that they may be used later in the holiday shopping season.

Here's a thread on the coupons that bargainshare members are getting in advance of Black Friday:

(2009 Edition) What coupons are you collecting for Black Friday?

A thread that might help answer that:
Our Current 2009 Poll

Previous Years:
2008 Poll: Is Black Friday really worth it?
2007 Poll: Is Black Friday really worth it?
2006 Poll: Is Black Friday really worth it?
2005 Poll: Is Black Friday really worth it?
2005 What stores are you visiting on Black Friday?

None so far

Black Friday News Articles from Previous Years 2002 and 2007

Black Friday 2008
Black Friday 2007
Black Friday 2006
Black Friday 2005
Black Friday 2004
Black Friday 2003

Black Friday 2008 Discussion Threads
Black Friday 2008 Sale Threads - Master List
Black Friday 2008 Sale Ads Forum]
Deal Compilation Threads - Desktops, Printers, Laptops, TVs, Hard Drives, GPS, etc
List of Stores with Black Friday Unadvertised Specials
Black Friday Guidelines Thread 2008
Black Friday Tips and Advice
Do you order online on Black Friday?
How early do you get in line for doorbusters?
Black Friday Predictions 2008

Discussions from 2004 to 2007

The Monday after Black Friday, is often referred to as Cyber Monday. It is considered the busiest online shopping day of the year as workers recover from the holiday weekend and return to a normal schedule. Mondays between Thanksgiving and Christmas are historically considered heavy online shopping days.

In the past, retailers did not go out of their way to release promotions on Cyber Monday. However, in the last few years some have started creating online promotions. Expect to see more deals in the future from online retailers who are trying to capture that heavy shopping traffic.

Our Cyber Monday deals should be posted in our Hot Deals section of this website.
Hot Deals! Forum

Yes, we've made a nice easy to remember the link for our Black Friday information this year.

Here it is:

http://blackfriday.bargainshare.com

No, you do not have to register to bargainshare.com to view our Black Friday section

We do however encourage that you register and actively participate in this years various Black Friday discussion topics and sales threads.

If you would like to register, please follow this link (here)

There are a number of useful threads in the FAQ's section of our forum. Bargainshare FAQ's

Here's a few of the more important threads:

Commonly Used Terms and Abbreviations
Rebate Tips!
Forum Rules

If you have any other questions, there are a number of places to post them:

Deal Discussion for questions or requests about deals
Black Friday Discussion for questions and requests about black friday related bargains.
Forum Issues for any forum related questions or problems.