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This year, retailers have opened up shopping earlier than ever, with several stores offering Pre-Black Friday deals online as early as Monday. The local mall is also opening at an unprecedented time, unbolting the doors at 4 AM to get customers in! With every retailer opening at a different time and offering online deals at all hours of the night you almost need an air traffic controller to keep it straight. Thankfully, WalletPop bunkered down and found out when you need to battle off your tryptophan-induced daze to score your Black Friday Deals!



Without further ado, your Black Friday store and online sale times! All times are EST.

In Store and Online:

• Sears - In Store: 5 AM; Online: 12:01 AM Thursday
• KB Toys - In Store: 12:01 AM at 270 locations; Online: 1 AM*
• Best Buy - In Store: 5 AM; Online: 2 AM
  
• WalMart - In Store: 5 AM; Online: 4:30 AM*
• Toys R Us - In Store: 5 AM; Online: 5 AM
• Circuit City - In Store: 5 AM; Online: 7 AM*
• Office Depot - In Store: 6 AM; Online: 7 AM*
• Kmart - In Store: 6 AM; Online: 8 AM*
• Kohls - In Store: 4 AM; Online: 1 AM
• Meijer - In Store: 5 AM; Online: None
  
• Target - In Store: 6 AM; Online: Not yet known
  
• Staples - In Store: 6 AM; Online: Not yet known
• Costco - In Store: 9 AM; Online Not Yet Known
• Sam's Club - In Store: 5 AM; Online Not Yet Known
• Old Navy - In Store: 5 AM; Online Not Yet Known

Online Only:

• Newegg.com - 11:30 PM Wednesday*
• Overstock.com - 9 PM Wednesday*
  
• TigerDirect.com - 2 AM Thursday*
  
• Amazon.com - Ongoing all week

Times designated with an * indicate the time that online sales started for Black Friday 2007, courtesy Dan de Grandpre of Dealnews.com, who suggests ordering online before you go to bed, or as soon as you wake up in the morning for the best chance of scoring a good deal.

This year we have seen retailers breaking many of the traditional Black Friday rules, so be sure to check back as retailers may move up their online offerings in an attempt to beat other stores offering Pre-Black Friday deals. Also stay tuned for updates later this week for Black Friday and Cyber Monday; the day retailers go all out for online sales!

About $219.1 billion worth of merchandise is expected to be returned this year according to the National Retail Federation. Of that, $47.1 billion worth of stuff will come back to stores during the holiday season. With seasonal sales expected to be the worst in decades, 11% of retailers say they are going to loosen their return policies, more than triple the number from a year earlier. Making it easier to bring back unwanted goods could make companies more vulnerable to fraudulent returns, but that's a risk the companies are willing to take given their declining sales.

"Even though many chains intend to be less restrictive in enforcing return policies to the letter, don't expect them to start posting signs to trumpet any change in policy," writes Tod Marks, a blogger for Consumer Reports. "Retailers aren't about to relinquish their right to review on a case-by-case-basis any return that clashes with the store's written policy."

Not all return policies are created equal. Some companies are far more flexible than others which important to for shoppers to remember. Rules about specific types of merchandise are available on the Web site of most retailers. A valid receipt is needed for a full refund.

The turkey hasn't even been cooked, but retailers are already lowering prices for Black Friday online. BlackFriday.info tracked down 16 stores that are already offering deals of Black Friday proportion. The tracker will be constantly updated as we move through the rest of the week and should prove to be an excellent resource for those of us who loath waiting in lines.

So far the following stores are offering up online deals:

• Amazon.com
• BestBuy
• Buckle.com
• Dell Home
• Home Depot
• J&R
• KB Toys
• Kmart Thanksgiving
• Kohls
• Lowe's
• OfficeMax
• Pacific Sunwear
• Radio Shack
• Sears
• Staples
• Walmart

To see the deals each store has to offer and get direct links to the items, visit the BlackFriday.info online deal tracker.

After doing a round of holiday cleaning at our apartment, I discovered a treasure trove of gadgets which still worked, but no longer met my needs. Thankfully I also found Gazelle.com, a company that buys old electronics for resale or recycle.

I tested out Gazelle.com with three items I had on hand; an old camera without a power adapter, a Dell PDA with all original wires and manuals, and a digital video camera with power cord. For my collection of slightly used gadgets I am being paid $124, more than I could likely get on eBay due to the lack of accessories.

Selling your stuff to Gazelle is simple:

1. Look up your item on the Gazelle site.
2. Answer a few questions about the quality and accessories.
3. Click "calculate" and see what Gazelle will offer you.
4. Send your items back to Gazelle with free shipping label.
   
5. Get paid via check, Paypal or Amazon gift card.
   

Currently Gazelle buys goods from 11 categories including; video games and consoles, GPS units, phones, movies, digital cameras, laptops and more. If the item you want to sell isn't already in the catalog you can request a customized quote, which is calculated within 24 hours.

The winner of the first Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition this year, Bill Loehfelm, received a contract for his novel Fresh Kills and a $25,000 advance. The book was printed by G.P. Putnam's Sons and has been widely praised. Now you, the budding novelist, have a chance to vie for similar success. Amazon has announced that it will repeat the contest, beginning in early February of 2009.

The route from finished manuscript to book on the shelf has become more difficult as the printing industry faces the same economic pressures as other businesses, and the Amazon contest, while a long, long shot, is worth a try. It costs nothing to enter. Authors upload their work (up to 10,000 will be accepted), from which the Amazon slush readers will choose 2,000 for the second round. From this group, expert recruiters from Amazon will pick the best 500.

Reviewers from Publisher's Weekly, the go-to magazine of the book industry, will cull this to 100, from which representatives of the company that will publish the winning manuscript, Penguin, will chose three finalists. Amazon customers, armed with reviews of the three novels by noted writers and editors, will vote for the Grand Prize Winner, who will receive 25 grand and a book contract.

Yes, this means your book has a 1-in-10,000 shot to win. But billions of dollars are spent every week by Americans on lottery tickets, where the odds are much longer. If you've tried to find an agent for your treasure, you might eventually get the idea that the odds on that route to publication aren't much better.

Also read: Build your own anthology

Kindle leading the move to electronic publishing

Earlier this year I posted what I thought was an excellent Christmas gift idea; take that jar of loose change you've been accumulating to the nearest Coinstar coin machine and convert your change into gift certificates. While Coinstar charges up to 8.9% for change-to-folding-money exchanges, you get full value on gift certificates for a variety of popular companies, which make excellent gifts for the holidays.

Now Coinstar and Amazon have sweetened the deal even further. Turn in at least $40 in coins, take the total in an Amazon gift certificate, and you'll receive another free $10 gift certificate (by mail, in six weeks) for your trouble. That's a 25% return on your money. Try to get that from the market.

The offer is limited to one per household, so this isn't a bonanza. Still, every penny counts, and here's a way to get 1,000 of them, free. Ka-ching!

Thanks, My Money Blog

Every year around this time, our thoughts turn to holiday shopping as deals for Black Friday start to get leaked out to the press. The economy has made the discounting start earlier and earlier every year, and the Internet has made it possible for the scoops to come out instantaneously. So if you want to fill your shopping cart with the lowest priced items possible, you better start making your lists early, and we're here to help.

You can keep up to date throughout the Black Friday shopping season for deals with our handy scorecard. Just keep checking back for updates and new deals, and click through for all the latest information.

For more Black Friday deals, see our Black Friday 2008 Scorecard feature, and keep up with all the latest updates at our Black Friday section.

Looking to add some songs to your iPod at no cost? Amazon.com is offering $10 off SONY BMG music downloads with the coupon code 9F8BJLTG. Click here to browse Amazon's MP3 selection.

There is no minimum order and with most songs available at 99 cents a pop, you should be able to get an album's worth for free.

Use the coupon code AUGMKDWN at the Amazon.com grocery section and you can save 40% on your order. The offer is good through Sept. 12, and also can be combined with free shipping on orders over $25. There are over 2,000 items on the clearance list, so you can stock up and save on a number of items, from salad dressing to chips to gourmet items.

For instance, a 4-pack of Frosted Flakes, the 17-ounce size, is $17.87 on the site, but with the discount and free shipping (presuming you'd buy something else), you would save $7.15, which makes each box $2.68, which is pretty good compared to super market prices. And you wouldn't even have to leave home!

Prices are rising fast on everything, but you can still get a lot of stuff for $1, from fast food to greeting cards to shoes. Shoes? Yes, shoes. We've found deals on just about everything, including shoes, in local stores, national chains and on the Internet, and all without setting foot in a dollar store.

• Fast Food: You better run fast to get the last $1 deals on McDonald's menu:The company is floating raising the price to $1.29 to off-set higher costs. But you can still find 99-cent items at most other fast-food chains, like Burger King, Wendy's, KFC and Taco Bell, which even has items as low as 49 cents.

• Kids Meals: Remember when kids used to eat free at many restaurants? And then there used to be plenty of places where they could eat for 99 cents? Not so much anymore. Even kids meals at fast-food restaurants are much more expensive these days (and loaded with calories, says a new study). But there are still some 99-cent deals around, like IKEA's 99-cent mac n' cheese, which also comes with a drink. Some chains also have seasonal deals, such as Denny's offering free kids meals, and local restaurants in your area may still have this throw-back price.

• Amazon.com: You're filling your shopping cart and need just a few more pennies worth of stuff to qualify for free shipping. What do you usually do? Amazon has long counted on people adding another item and spending much more than the $25 minimum. But there's another way to do with a web tool at Slickdeals.com. The tool lists over 1,000 items that you can choose from to add just a few dollars or cents to your order. Not all the items are very exciting – need a door knob or wooden dowel? – but you should be able to find something you need if you really want that free shipping.

SlickDeals.net reports:

Amazon offers $10 off your next order when you sign up for a Free one month trial of Amazon Prime. This offer is good through July 28 and is for new members only. You will be charged $79 at the end of your first month unless you cancel your membership. [Amazon Prime FAQ's].

A word of warning: if you're a book junkie, Amazon Prime will put you in the poorhouse. The allure of free two-day shipping will have you ordering books at all hours of the night. Be sure to cancel your membership at the end of your first month.

Amazon or many other online stores now routinely allow you not only to rate the products, but also the reviews of the products. "Was this review helpful to you?" Amazon asks. You give the review a thumbs up or down, then they tally the votes.

Have you looked at those tallies lately? The people who write the most concise, detailed and informative reviews--but are saying something negative--routinely get panned by the audience. How is that possible? Those are precisely the reviews I'm looking for, ones that warn me off a product that I'd been tempted to swoon for online. Positive reviews are nice, but they just reinforce my already positive view of a product I'm thinking of buying.

Here's an example. I'm considering buying a Freestyle MP3 player. One guy notes that the music subscription service doesn't work; another guy says you have to use your fingernail to control the volume. I'd say that's pretty helpful, right? Yet the sole reviewer of the first guy voted him unhelpful and half the people rating the second said he was not helpful. Now not all negative reviews are panned. But it sure seems like they get hit harder. Look at the reviews for this camera: Derek Tang's incredibly long-winded but positive review is endorsed by 120 of 122 readers. Only two readers out of 153 disfavor the next five glowing reviews. Then we get to the critical guys and the love disappears. C Field "roughedge" has the clever title "Video quality reminiscent of a 1980s VHS" and suddenly only 14 of 17 readers approve.

The only people I can think of that wouldn't find negative reviews helpful are the people trying to sell these products. I have no idea if Freestyle or any other company would bother dissing their negative reviewers. Maybe we really of are a nation of cheerleaders, unhappy when anyone criticizes a good effort.

Late on rent? Loan shark breathing down your neck? Can't fill your car with gas to get to work on Monday? Assuming all available funds and traditional sources of credit are 9tapped out, here are 25 (legal) ways to raise cash in a few days. We list them in order from least to most desperate.

The Internet is a great place to make some extra cash, or at least that's what all the pop ups I got last night said! Thankfully Amazon offers a legit method of raising some extra coin online for completing mundane tasks. To start you just need to sign up with Amazon's Mechanical Turk program, , where companies post tasks that machines cannot easily do, but that are relatively simple for humans. You can choose an assignment, and, on completion, are credited with payment to your Amazon account. This money can be withdrawn once you accumulate $10.

However, these payout amounts are much lower than the many online ad programs or survey sites which greatly increases the chance that you'll eventually see the fruits of your labor. As I check out the current HITs which I qualify for I find over a hundred of them, ranging from free up to $7, but most seem to measure in cents.

If you have a lot of time or you feel comfortable "turking" on your employer's dime then this program could be a good way to make enough money to bankroll your entertainment needs or cover groceries for a week. While this is a relatively easy way to earn money, the time and effort needed to reach a reasonable amount holds this back from being an amazing opportunity. In my opinion this is a good deal if you aren't easily bored and you have the ability to quickly handle simple tasks. But for most people, you'll start off full of gusto and end up with 28 cents in your account just like me.

All 25 ways to raise quick cash.

If you shop on Amazon.com frequently but aren't quite ready to buy an Amazon Prime membership, then you know this situation: Your order comes to $23.82, and you need another $1.18 to qualify for free shipping to avoid paying $3.99 for regular shipping.

Oh the humanity! I just found an awesome site finding a little knickknack to bring your order up to par. SlickFillers features links to an endless array of very cheap items that count toward the free shipping threshold: an 80 cent hose clamp, a book of Thanksgiving stencils, and a book of Biblical answers to common questions, just to name a few of the 1,250 items listed.

Of course, a better alternative is always to use your local library for books, but sometimes you just can't find what you need or don't want to wait 11 weeks for a hot new bestseller.