Posted October 11, 2019 (I apologize if this is in the wrong topic) It's my first time planning going to a Black Friday event. I won't be staying overnight outside the store, though I do want to know if I'll be able to find something good. Any tips, tricks, and suggestions? Should I be looking at something else if I don't find what I wanted in the first place? What are the best times when it's not really crowded? Are Cyber Mondays better than Black Fridays? Should I not go and wait for Cyber Monday instead? What's your experience with this? "Perfection is not the end, it's the beginning." [First Build] [About Me] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 11, 2019 They're mostly a con, if you do your research you'll find out that the 'sale' price isn't really a sale price... it will have been priced at that or lower before. Prices get increased in the weeks before hand, so that they can be marketed as a reduction. Then there's the overstock, stuff that hasn't been selling and they're desperate to get rid of... there's usually a reason it's not been selling. Lower quality, missing features and so forth. You might actually save a little bit but you often end up regretting the purchase. If you are checking prices for a site like Amazon, take a look at camelcamelcamel.com and see exactly how the prices fluctuate. I'd put money on the price being lower at some point before the so called 'sale' price. It's always a good idea to set up some alerts on items you are considering, and grabbing it when the price 'actually' drops rather than the fake sales. System 1: Gigabyte Aorus B450 Pro, Ryzen 5 2600X, 32GB Corsair Vengeance 3200mhz, Sapphire 5700XT, 250GB NVME WD Black, 2x Crucial MX5001TB, 2x Seagate 3TB, H115i AIO, Sharkoon BW9000 case with corsair ML fans, EVGA G2 Gold 650W Modular PSU, liteon bluray/dvd/rw.. NO RGB aside from MB and AIO pump. Triple 27" Monitor setup (1x 144hz, 2x 75hz, all freesync/freesync 2) System 2: Asus M5 MB, AMD FX8350, 16GB DDR3, Sapphire RX580, 30TB of storage, 250GB SSD, Silverstone HTPC chassis, Corsair 550W Modular PSU, Noctua cooler, liteon bluray/dvd/rw, 4K HDR display (Samsung TV) System 3 & 4: nVidia shield TV (2017 & 2019) Pro with extra 128GB samsung flash drives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 11, 2019 14 minutes ago, Anomnomnomaly said: They're mostly a con, if you do your research you'll find out that the 'sale' price isn't really a sale price... it will have been priced at that or lower before. Prices get increased in the weeks before hand, so that they can be marketed as a reduction. That's far from the case across the board - only some stores do that. Most stores will have legit Black Friday/Cyber Monday discounts. 14 minutes ago, Anomnomnomaly said: Then there's the overstock, stuff that hasn't been selling and they're desperate to get rid of... there's usually a reason it's not been selling. Lower quality, missing features and so forth. You might actually save a little bit but you often end up regretting the purchase. Highly depends - could be true, but not necessarily so. 14 minutes ago, Anomnomnomaly said: If you are checking prices for a site like Amazon, take a look at camelcamelcamel.com and see exactly how the prices fluctuate. I'd put money on the price being lower at some point before the so called 'sale' price. It's always a good idea to set up some alerts on items you are considering, and grabbing it when the price 'actually' drops rather than the fake sales. Amazon's pricing does fluctuate like crazy, so that's good advice. For Sale: Meraki Bundle iPhone Xr 128 GB Product Red - HP Spectre x360 13" (i5 - 8 GB RAM - 256 GB SSD) - HP ZBook 15v G5 15" (i7-8850H - 16 GB RAM - 512 GB SSD - NVIDIA Quadro P600) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 11, 2019 27 minutes ago, Mr.Muffins said: (I apologize if this is in the wrong topic) It's my first time planning going to a Black Friday event. I won't be staying overnight outside the store, though I do want to know if I'll be able to find something good. Any tips, tricks, and suggestions? Should I be looking at something else if I don't find what I wanted in the first place? What are the best times when it's not really crowded? Are Cyber Mondays better than Black Fridays? Should I not go and wait for Cyber Monday instead? What's your experience with this? My advice is look in advance for the flyers of the stores you are interested in (Eg: Best Buy, Walmart, Target, etc, will have their flyers out at least a week in advance). Find out if there's anything of interest in the flyer. Find out if the item of interest is a regular sale, or a "door crasher" (door crashers are frequently limited qty, but in theory heavily discounted). Find out if the items are also one or two day only sales (Some "hot" items will only be on sale on the Friday or the Saturday, for example, instead of all week). Then, just plan ahead. If you want a door crasher, you'll need to be there lined up as they open. If it's something you want with a particularly good discount, arrive early, don't wait. The other strategy is to avoid retail stores completely. Use Amazon, Newegg, etc, instead - use Best Buy e-store instead of physical store, etc. Either way - be smart. Don't buy something just because it's cheap. Buy it because: 1. You want/need it, 2. You feel like it's a good value. Some people get too caught up in "finding deals" that they forget about value completely, and simply attribute something being on sale as "good value". Some things are good value at regular price. Some things are still bad value even while discounted. Use your brain and use common sense and you'll be alright. For Sale: Meraki Bundle iPhone Xr 128 GB Product Red - HP Spectre x360 13" (i5 - 8 GB RAM - 256 GB SSD) - HP ZBook 15v G5 15" (i7-8850H - 16 GB RAM - 512 GB SSD - NVIDIA Quadro P600) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 11, 2019 Wait at the service desk/returns desk for Go Backs. Too often people will have too much stuff and not be able to pay for it all. There has not been a single year that one of every single Black Friday item ended up at Service Desk/Returns Desk. Source: 2 years experience as a Walmart Employee + Several years of abusing this. PLEASE QUOTE ME IF YOU ARE REPLYING TO ME Desktop Build: Ryzen 7 2700X @ 4.0GHz, AsRock Fatal1ty X370 Professional Gaming, 48GB Corsair DDR4 @ 3000MHz, RX5700 XT 8GB Sapphire Nitro+, Benq XL2730 1440p 144Hz FS Retro Build: Intel Pentium III @ 500 MHz, Dell Optiplex G1 Full AT Tower, 768MB SDRAM @ 133MHz, Integrated Graphics, Generic 1024x768 60Hz Monitor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 15, 2019 Author Thanks for the feedback! Didn't know about those returns. I guess people just buy things because it's cheap, not because they need it. "Perfection is not the end, it's the beginning." [First Build] [About Me] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 15, 2019 Is there something specific you're looking to buy on BF/CM? Go in with a plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 15, 2019 Author Yeah, any slim laptop with an RTX 2060. If not, then a 1660 Ti should work fine for my needs. $1100 after taxes will be my limit. "Perfection is not the end, it's the beginning." [First Build] [About Me] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 17, 2019 Don't go into Black Friday sales with a set item in mind. For example, if you're after a 1660Ti, don't have a specific model you want...as it might not go on sale, but several other models of 1660Ti might, or perhaps even 2060 Supers being as cheap as a 1660Ti. Chances are you'll save money. Every build I've put together on Black Friday has saved that person at least $400 off of their original build amount, and gotten them substantially better hardware. On 10/11/2019 at 8:06 AM, Anomnomnomaly said: They're mostly a con, if you do your research you'll find out that the 'sale' price isn't really a sale price... it will have been priced at that or lower before. Prices get increased in the weeks before hand, so that they can be marketed as a reduction. Then there's the overstock, stuff that hasn't been selling and they're desperate to get rid of... there's usually a reason it's not been selling. Lower quality, missing features and so forth. You might actually save a little bit but you often end up regretting the purchase. If you are checking prices for a site like Amazon, take a look at camelcamelcamel.com and see exactly how the prices fluctuate. I'd put money on the price being lower at some point before the so called 'sale' price. It's always a good idea to set up some alerts on items you are considering, and grabbing it when the price 'actually' drops rather than the fake sales. They're not a con at all, and prices don't get increased. At least not at any of the stores I was a manager in. Most of the Black Friday stuff was bulk ordered. It wasn't overstock. CPU: Ryzen 9 5900 Cooler: EVGA CLC280 Motherboard: Gigabyte B550i Pro AX RAM: Kingston Hyper X 32GB 3200mhz Storage: WD 750 SE 500GB, WD 730 SE 1TB GPU: EVGA RTX 3070 Ti PSU: Corsair SF750 Case: Streacom DA2 Monitor: LG 27GL83B Mouse: Razer Basilisk V2 Keyboard: G.Skill KM780 Cherry MX Red Speakers: Mackie CR5BT MiniPC - Sold for $100 Profit Spoiler CPU: Intel i3 4160 Cooler: Integrated Motherboard: Integrated RAM: G.Skill RipJaws 16GB DDR3 Storage: Transcend MSA370 128GB GPU: Intel 4400 Graphics PSU: Integrated Case: Shuttle XPC Slim Monitor: LG 29WK500 Mouse: G.Skill MX780 Keyboard: G.Skill KM780 Cherry MX Red Budget Rig 1 - Sold For $750 Profit Spoiler CPU: Intel i5 7600k Cooler: CryOrig H7 Motherboard: MSI Z270 M5 RAM: Crucial LPX 16GB DDR4 Storage: Intel S3510 800GB GPU: Nvidia GTX 980 PSU: Corsair CX650M Case: EVGA DG73 Monitor: LG 29WK500 Mouse: G.Skill MX780 Keyboard: G.Skill KM780 Cherry MX Red OG Gaming Rig - Gone Spoiler CPU: Intel i5 4690k Cooler: Corsair H100i V2 Motherboard: MSI Z97i AC ITX RAM: Crucial Ballistix 16GB DDR3 Storage: Kingston Fury 240GB GPU: Asus Strix GTX 970 PSU: Thermaltake TR2 Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ITX Monitor: Dell P2214H x2 Mouse: Logitech MX Master Keyboard: G.Skill KM780 Cherry MX Red Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 17, 2019 27 minutes ago, dizmo said: Don't go into Black Friday sales with a set item in mind. For example, if you're after a 1660Ti, don't have a specific model you want...as it might not go on sale, but several other models of 1660Ti might, or perhaps even 2060 Supers being as cheap as a 1660Ti. Chances are you'll save money. Every build I've put together on Black Friday has saved that person at least $400 off of their original build amount, and gotten them substantially better hardware. They're not a con at all, and prices don't get increased. At least not at any of the stores I was a manager in. Most of the Black Friday stuff was bulk ordered. It wasn't overstock. I've worked in retail, I have friends who still do and here in the UK... most sales are pretty fake. Prices can be found cheaper at other times during the year... Sale items are predominantly items that haven't sold very well and/or are coming to end of line to make way for newer models. There are very few exceptions to that... but the better quality stores will price match other stores even during sales. Then there are the dodgy advertisements... were you get a ridiculous price on some high end piece of kit... usually a TV... but they never have any of them in stock or if they do... it's just the one and it's sold before the doors even open. The last few years, stores have tried to cash in on the black friday madness over here... and it's just highlighted how fake these sales really are... But technically, they're not breaking any laws. The laws state that prices must not have been offered cheaper in the previous 6-8 weeks... So those prices get raised 6-8 weeks before the sale starts so they can.. normally back up to RRP when they've been selling it all year for 10% less... and then the sale price of 10% off gets advertised. The same thing happens with supermarkets here... they have loyalty cards and you earn points which equals money of vouchers... In the weeks leading up to those vouchers being sent out to customers... the prices of goods in store rises... by just enough to make those vouchers worthless. It's all a con and only serves as a data collection mechanism for the store. Then there are places that 'always' have some kind of a sale going on... usually furniture/carpet/bed stores.... the sale runs for 6 weeks, then ends for a couple of weeks... and then a new sale starts with the exact same reductions... and all the time they're pressuring customers into buying now because the sale ends next week. The only genuine sales I see anymore are going out of business sales... and we've seen a lot of those in recent years as retailers struggle to remain competitive against online shopping. I think you can tell that I have a very low opinion of sales in general and those kinds of insidious pressure selling tactics... which have actually been made illegal here in the UK... But still go on. It never used to be like that... sales used to be genuine things, with proper bargains to be had. They never used to start until Jan 2nd though... the day after new years day. The Xmas week was a time for people to relax... even retail staff who had several days off and didn't have to be forced back to work on boxing day because of some fake sale starting. I'd love to see that kind of thing come back... it's time we legislated that stores/sales shouldn't start on or around public holidays... give people 2-3 days off FFS... let them enjoy time with their families. I've had jobs where I was forced to work on xmas day... I swore that it would never happen again. So in Jan I booked the following xmas off, until my shitty boss removed those dates from my form and resubmitted it. When I found out I was fuming... was one of the reasons I quit that job... shitty managers make people quit.. not the job... But I did shag his mistress before I left. System 1: Gigabyte Aorus B450 Pro, Ryzen 5 2600X, 32GB Corsair Vengeance 3200mhz, Sapphire 5700XT, 250GB NVME WD Black, 2x Crucial MX5001TB, 2x Seagate 3TB, H115i AIO, Sharkoon BW9000 case with corsair ML fans, EVGA G2 Gold 650W Modular PSU, liteon bluray/dvd/rw.. NO RGB aside from MB and AIO pump. Triple 27" Monitor setup (1x 144hz, 2x 75hz, all freesync/freesync 2) System 2: Asus M5 MB, AMD FX8350, 16GB DDR3, Sapphire RX580, 30TB of storage, 250GB SSD, Silverstone HTPC chassis, Corsair 550W Modular PSU, Noctua cooler, liteon bluray/dvd/rw, 4K HDR display (Samsung TV) System 3 & 4: nVidia shield TV (2017 & 2019) Pro with extra 128GB samsung flash drives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 17, 2019 1 hour ago, Anomnomnomaly said: But I did shag his mistress before I left. Nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 17, 2019 1 hour ago, Anomnomnomaly said: I've worked in retail, I have friends who still do and here in the UK... most sales are pretty fake. Prices can be found cheaper at other times during the year... Sale items are predominantly items that haven't sold very well and/or are coming to end of line to make way for newer models. There are very few exceptions to that... but the better quality stores will price match other stores even during sales. -snip- Might be where you are, but that doesn't mean that's how it is everywhere. I think most people know they're clearing out older models. That doesn't negate the fact that you're saving quite a bit of money. 10% off is hardly a Black Friday level sale... Carpet/furniture stores have nothing to do with the topic. I think it makes way more sense to have the sales before the new year. That's when people have much more disposable income. I'm surprised stores are even open Christmas Day there. Regardless of all that, you're still getting the most sales during Black Friday (at least over here), and the prices are still very good. CPU: Ryzen 9 5900 Cooler: EVGA CLC280 Motherboard: Gigabyte B550i Pro AX RAM: Kingston Hyper X 32GB 3200mhz Storage: WD 750 SE 500GB, WD 730 SE 1TB GPU: EVGA RTX 3070 Ti PSU: Corsair SF750 Case: Streacom DA2 Monitor: LG 27GL83B Mouse: Razer Basilisk V2 Keyboard: G.Skill KM780 Cherry MX Red Speakers: Mackie CR5BT MiniPC - Sold for $100 Profit Spoiler CPU: Intel i3 4160 Cooler: Integrated Motherboard: Integrated RAM: G.Skill RipJaws 16GB DDR3 Storage: Transcend MSA370 128GB GPU: Intel 4400 Graphics PSU: Integrated Case: Shuttle XPC Slim Monitor: LG 29WK500 Mouse: G.Skill MX780 Keyboard: G.Skill KM780 Cherry MX Red Budget Rig 1 - Sold For $750 Profit Spoiler CPU: Intel i5 7600k Cooler: CryOrig H7 Motherboard: MSI Z270 M5 RAM: Crucial LPX 16GB DDR4 Storage: Intel S3510 800GB GPU: Nvidia GTX 980 PSU: Corsair CX650M Case: EVGA DG73 Monitor: LG 29WK500 Mouse: G.Skill MX780 Keyboard: G.Skill KM780 Cherry MX Red OG Gaming Rig - Gone Spoiler CPU: Intel i5 4690k Cooler: Corsair H100i V2 Motherboard: MSI Z97i AC ITX RAM: Crucial Ballistix 16GB DDR3 Storage: Kingston Fury 240GB GPU: Asus Strix GTX 970 PSU: Thermaltake TR2 Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ITX Monitor: Dell P2214H x2 Mouse: Logitech MX Master Keyboard: G.Skill KM780 Cherry MX Red Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 17, 2019 Why don't you guys just try shopping online, I mean it depends on what you wanna get, but black frisay deals are often online to and all you need to really do it be quick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 17, 2019 On 10/11/2019 at 9:54 AM, Mr.Muffins said: (I apologize if this is in the wrong topic) It's my first time planning going to a Black Friday event. I won't be staying overnight outside the store, though I do want to know if I'll be able to find something good. Any tips, tricks, and suggestions? Should I be looking at something else if I don't find what I wanted in the first place? What are the best times when it's not really crowded? Are Cyber Mondays better than Black Fridays? Should I not go and wait for Cyber Monday instead? What's your experience with this? The fun starts on Thanksgiving, because Fuck those people that want to be home with their familes. Merica. Look at it like this. The big ticket shit, its probably going to be gone by the time you get there. Unless you go to somewhere like Sams Club, as they open at 7AM Thursday generally. But you can still find stuff that a good deal. It just comes down to looking. Like stated above, stores may increase the price of the goods before this day. OR when I worked at Sams Club, they would have SPECIAL products brought in for Black Friday. I remember a customer nutting up on me because the Black Friday Vizio was gone but the one who had nomrally had the same specs, but it was a diffrent model number and they wanted it for the price of the one on sale. Mangment told them to pound sand. The last time I went black friday shopping I almost wanted to murder someone. Cyber Monday might be better on the blood pressure. I just want to sit back and watch the world burn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 17, 2019 just screenshot your prices right now on partpicker, then keep an eye out. lest you can get to a microcenter idk If I had one wish, I would ask for a big enough ass for the whole world to kiss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 18, 2019 Lot's of places will have Black Friday deals all through the month of November (and even after). Sounds like you have an idea of what you want so know the fair market price and if it's a good deal you will know to pull the trigger on it. Also consider open box items, I have gotten smoking deals that would beat Black Friday prices/crowds/chaos! Good Luck and Have Fun! Forgive me El Guapo. I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 22, 2019 Author On 10/16/2019 at 10:14 PM, Anomnomnomaly said: But I did shag his mistress before I left. Nice. On 10/17/2019 at 8:12 PM, Gix7Fifty said: Also consider open box items, I have gotten smoking deals that would beat Black Friday prices/crowds/chaos! This my friend, is gold. Yes, I've been looking actually. I'm trying to have patience here as I'm tempted to pull the trigger on a used MSI GS65 2060 right now. I feel like I'll get a better deal on BF/CM, but it's a risk. "Perfection is not the end, it's the beginning." [First Build] [About Me] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 23, 2019 If you are in the USA, this advice is for you. I have found over the years that the best deals are not black Friday/cyber Monday... I have always found the best deals during Labor Day sales. I do all my Christmas shopping during Labor Day weekend with the sales and I always get a better price than when Black Friday/Cyber Monday roll around, those days are more gimmick than anything now days. Unfortunately, its too late to take advantage of the Labor Day sales, but there is always next year. Junk Yard Dog Build I7 -10700K MSI Z490 MPG Gaming Plus Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32gb (4x8gb) DDR4 (3200 MHz) Gigabyte RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro Corsair H115i Platinum AIO EVGA 750 GQ In a Cyberpower PC X-Titan case Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 25, 2019 Author Aww man, thanks for the tip though @bondoao1 Went to my local Best Buy yesterday and asked when they start releasing their ads. He said the first week of November, but could be early as next week. (November starts next Friday) Also, does anyone know if Micro Center drop prices on laptops? Or do they just focus mostly on pc parts? "Perfection is not the end, it's the beginning." [First Build] [About Me] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 27, 2019 Author As for Cyber Monday, which sites should I be looking for? "Perfection is not the end, it's the beginning." [First Build] [About Me] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 27, 2019 Get Keepa for Amazon. It shows the history of the prices for every item on the page itself. https://keepa.com/#! Even allows you to put alert when a chosen item is a whatever price! Best extension ever. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8LqXcf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 27, 2019 On 10/11/2019 at 9:54 AM, Mr.Muffins said: Should I be looking at something else if I don't find what I wanted in the first place? Of course. On 10/11/2019 at 9:54 AM, Mr.Muffins said: What are the best times when it's not really crowded? Shop online. No crowd, just fast mouse clicks. On 10/11/2019 at 9:54 AM, Mr.Muffins said: Are Cyber Mondays better than Black Fridays? Always random. On 10/11/2019 at 9:54 AM, Mr.Muffins said: Should I not go and wait for Cyber Monday instead? You don't even have to leave the house when shopping online. On 10/11/2019 at 9:54 AM, Mr.Muffins said: What's your experience with this? That online deals have become more and more involved and in existence. On 10/11/2019 at 9:54 AM, Mr.Muffins said: Any tips, tricks, and suggestions? From now until mid January, check all your favorite places as well as places you might not have discovered yet on a daily basis. This makes finding deals much greater. Always, always, always do your research on price history before buying. Not all sales are great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted November 4, 2019 Author This is sooo sad, I was looking up the Lenovo y740 this last weekend. I found out that Lenovo's website had a Black Friday sneak peak and guess what, they jacked up the prices on some of them. (Which is a very stupid move.) Hopefully Best Buy offers better deals... "Perfection is not the end, it's the beginning." [First Build] [About Me] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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