BlackFriday posts

Zhu Zhu Pets have been this year's Beanie Babies: toys that are so ridiculous in concept, so cheap and simple in execution that you knew they were going to cause long lines and incredible prices on the Black Friday back-alley aftermarket. This year being as it was, retailers were accused of under-ordering the furry robotic hamsters to either reduce inventory expense and financial exposure to slack demand, or to artificially create a consumer frenzy, depending on how jaded the retail analyst. WalletPop interviews with buyers and analysts tended to agree that the Chinese-manufactured toy was simply a surprise hit, and demand was high for no other reason than lots of kids wanted them under their trees.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I swiped my debit card to get on the light rail and was billed for a bus ticket the machine wouldn't give me. I had to pay $1.50 again to get my oldest son onto our next connection. I know! Frustrating.

As someone who's always living on the very edge of black in her checking account, I know too well the dangers of unexpected transactions, and for me they come in $29 overdraft increments. Customers at Toys R Us this weekend, shopping before regular store opening hours during Black Friday, experienced a similar and far more account-balance-deadly problem: double billing.

Keith Bossey, a marketing and strategy consultant in New York City, may not be at the edge of his bank account, but he just found out today he was double-billed for his purchase.

So you missed the doorbusters. No worries. Who wants to cram into a store at dawn or set the alarm for 2 a.m. to get a virtual doorbuster? The best thing about Black Friday is you can go later in the day and still use many of the coupons retailers are sharing. Here are some of the best coupons out there.

Get 25% off your purchase at Michael's before noon local time or get fixed dollars off your purchase, depending on the total. Coupons here.

Spend $60 at Victoria's Secret and get a free runway bag. Print the coupon here. Online use code VSFRIDAY. If you're buying jammies, get a pair of free slippers with code PJGIFT. If you buy a sweater get a free scarf with code SCARF09. Some caveats.

This is the home of our Black Friday LiveBlog, where our correspondents from across the country will be reporting in on the action, the mayhem and the bargaineering. For the latest news up until the doors open, check out these links, and then watch our new video report from Toys R Us on the scene of Black Friday to get yourself in the mood:



Black Friday Deals Scorecard

Black Friday breaking news

Download our Black Friday toolbar

Holiday spending poll results

Forget about getting a deal on Black Friday. There's tons of free stuff to be had! Here are the top freebies I found for Friday, Nov. 27.

Get a coupon card (a plastic version of the Entertainment Book with thousands of 2-for-1 offers) for free from MyParentRewards.com when you are one of the first 1,000 people to sign up starting at 11:59 p.m. EST Thursday, Nov. 26. The card normally sells for $20.

If you are doing any Black Friday shopping at Target, make sure to print this coupon for a free medium soda from the Target cafe. Good Friday Nov. 27 to Saturday Nov. 28. One coupon per customer.

Get a free gift card at REI -- in $5, $25 or $100 denominations - for being one of the first 300 customers on Black Friday. Check when your local store is opening and call to make sure they are participating.

Make sure to hit up your local Westfield Mall for a free gift from Real Simple. The first 500 shoppers will receive one in Westfield's 50 malls across the country. The actual gift will vary from mall to mall. Click here to find your local mall, then click on "12 Days of Shopping" and scroll down to events for Nov. 27 to see if the giveaway is listed.

At GGP malls you can get a free "Mistle Tote" bag starting when the mall opens, according to The Freebie Blogger. Limited number available.

Walgreens has a handful of products that are free on Black Friday after coupons and register rewards (dollars-off coupons you can apply to future purchases). Check them out here.

Rite Aid also has some great freebies, like Sally Hansen Lip Color and Tampax, when you fill out their online single check rebate forms (which means you submit all your rebates for the month at once). See them here.

Not to be outdone, CVS has 14 freebies on Black Friday. Holy cow! Check 'em out here.

Black Friday may be the start of the shopping season, but for some people, it's a painful reminder of what they don't have. For those people, it's almost become an anti-holiday.

"On Friday, I'm planning on tackling a number of things off my honey-do list," says Robert Zonis, a product development chemist in Shelbyville, Tenn. who recently learned that his job will be terminated at the end of the year. "At least that's the plan. I know I'm deliberately staying away from television, radio, newspapers and leaving the house in general."

The down side of saving a big chunk of change on Black Friday is that you usually have to spend a lot of money to realize those savings. That's why we at Walletpop were happy to see a Black Friday deal that is literally just about the savings.

On Black Friday, online bank ING Direct will announce special interest rates for opening a CD or the brand's signature Electric Orange checking account (they're keeping mum on the details of those rates until Friday but have added a teaser page to their Web site).

This blog has details of two other promotions, though: a $683 discount off an ING mortgage (the amount is the average dollar cost Americans spend on holiday gifts annually, according to the National Retail Federation) as well as a Cyber Monday 20% discount on trades through ShareBuilder, its trading subsidiary.

The ramp up to Black Friday has been more energetic this year than any I can remember. There's a near insatiable thirst for discounts and door busters and retailers are more than willing to do whatever it takes to satisfy that thirst.

I've been covering national big box retailers for nearly 15 years now, and the volume of discounts this Black Friday is simply astonishing. All the national retailers like Best Buy, Target, Toys R Us and Walmart are rolling out new deals so fast it's difficult to keep track (although WalletPop does, check out our Black Friday listing). But there's more to retailing than national chains, and it's important to remember that mom and pop shops need to ring their registers too. This year, more than ever.

Seasoned Black Friday shoppers know that the best way to save during this all-important shopping day is to plot out a course of action ahead of time. That means knowing what you want and where to get it -- at the lowest possible price, of course.

Such planning entails scouring the Black Friday ads and comparing prices and selection. To help ease the load, WalletPop has done some of the legwork for you. We've combed through the ads that have been released so far and dug up the best deals on everything from high-definition TVs and Blu-ray players to tools and sweaters.

Black Friday is only a few days away, and in addition to the numerous pre-sales and Thanksgiving Day discounts going on, many smaller or niche stores are sharing their Black Friday deals with us; before they hit your Wednesday newspaper.

Of note today are deals from Bare Necessities, Victoria's Secret, T-Mobile, Amazon, and Pet Supplies Plus.

Lingerie:
Bare Necessities is currently running pre-Black Friday deals including, bra sales on Tuesday and steals starting at $9.99 on Wednesday. On Black Friday you'll be able to find discounts on Nautica flannel drawstring pants, slips, bras and panties starting at just $9.

The ads are in! While this info is gathered in a lot of places, we thought you might like a handy list of where you can find the actual circulars from your favorite stores. So peruse away!

Black Friday deals are already appealing, with plenty of Black Friday laptop deals and clothing deals and plenty more. But what would you say if you could get an extra; 5%, 10%, 20%, or even 35% off of your purchase in the form of cash back just by starting your holiday shopping on Bing.com?

For a limited time on Black Friday, November 27th, Bing will offer bigger cash-back rewards as part of their Bing Goldrush promotion. This will include cash-back amounts from 5 to 35 percent from retailers such as Macy's, Sears, The Gap, AT&T, Walmart, eBay, HP and many more.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are being announced or leaked at such a rapid rate its getting difficult to keep track. Of all the retailers, Toys R Us may well be the most aggressive with the deals and now it is expanding online discounts for the big day, with free shipping, bonuses with purchase, and some special payment plans.

There's even an online layaway program called Bill Me Later. Through Saturday, November 28, new Bill Me Later customers will receive $10 off purchases of $30 or more, with no payments for up to 90 days. In addition, all customers who opt to use Google Checkout will receive $10 off purchases of $60 or more.

Time for Friday Freebies - my top five free things I've come across this week!

Snag a free issue of Get Married magazine, a new monthly for savvy brides. Expect tips on wedding trends, planning tools, and giveaways.

Get 50 free photos when you join CVS Photo, which is separate from its normal retail site. Signing up requires you to share your name, email and create a password for the site.

Black Friday freebie! Pick up a free reusable tote bag at Target starting a 4 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 27, 2009. Each store will only have 500 bags so they will run out quickly. You can also get a $10 gift card if you spend $100 or more on Black Friday, the mega shopping day that follows Thanksgiving and marks the traditional start of the holiday shopping season.

Download a free 24-page road trip activity booklet from RadRoadTrips.com to keep the kids entertained while you drive to Thanksgiving. Especially useful if your minivan does not have a DVD player the kids can zone out in front of.

Lastly, head over to Nordstrom and get a free sample of Lancome's Absolue Precious Cells SPF 15, courtesy of Vogue. Yes, please!

If you are spending less on shopping this Black Friday you're not alone. A recent survey performed by Dealnews.com found that a quarter of shoppers are planning to spend less on Black Friday.

The survey further found that fewer people will be shopping on Black Friday as a whole and that women shop for other people on Black Friday, whereas men shop for themselves.

It's no shocker that men do more shopping on themselves on Black Friday, since I know few fellows who would brave a Black Friday crowded for anyone other than themselves.