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Last year, I kicked off a thread with some tips for Black Friday that seemed quite popular. So I thought I would revise and update it for this year's big sales day.
NOTE: Black Friday is on Friday 25th November this year, but some retailers will be running weekend or even long weekend sales (if the pattern from last year holds, a lot of them may kick off their sales the day before to get a jump on the competition and in the hope of grabbing a few headlines). And Amazon are going to have a full 12 days of Black Friday deals, starting this coming Monday 14th November.
Here's a link to the Amazon information page (which itself has links to other Black Friday pages that should go live when their sale kicks off)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Friday-Deals/b/ref=as_li_ss_tl?node=161428031
A WORD ABOUT PAYMENT
A bargain is less of a bargain if you can't really afford it. So if you're going to be putting the purchase on a credit card, consider whether you will be able to pay off the balance in full because the usual high APR on a credit card will quickly eat up any saving. If your credit history is good, you might be eligible for one of the 0% credit cards listed at MoneySavingExpert, some of which give you up to 30 months to pay off the balance interest-free: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/best-0-credit-cards
Equally, you may also be able to mitigate your current credit card balance by transferring it to a new credit card with a 0% rate (note that there's always a one-time penalty for doing the transfer, but it can still work out cheaper) Here is the MoneySavingExpert list of top balance transfer credit cards: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/balance-transfer-credit-cards
AMAZON-SPECIFIC TIPS
1. If you've got your eye on an Amazon bargain, use Camel Camel Camel to check if the price is really a long-term bargain, or if it's just a lower-than-recent price. Camel Camel Camel will give you the price history of most items (though not Kindle ebooks)
http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/
2. Again, for Amazon (which is, after all, by far the largest retailer) don't assume they always have the best price - shop around!
3. If you're an Amazon Prime member, make sure you're logged in when you're browsing as you'll be able to access some lightning deals before they're opened up to all-comers
GENERAL
1. If you're not yet a member, join Top Cashback.
http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/gk001 (my referral link - thanks in advance if you do decide to use it!)
http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ (direct link)
They have over 4,000 merchant-partners that they offer cashback on, and the amounts can be substantial (the offers vary over time). For example, Laterooms and Lastminute frequently offer 10%+ cashback.
What this means is that as long as you start your shopping from the relevant Top Cashback merchant via the "Get Cashback" link, and don't leave the etailer, your purchase should get tracked and you'll earn cashback on it.
This costs you nothing at all. Basically, Top Cashback are acting like a super affiliate - they kick back some of the commish they would otherwise have made on the sale.
You can get cash back on just about everything, from physical goods (Currys/PC World, AO.com, Very, Next etc.) through to services (even new domain registrations, and hosting packages) and stuff like utilities, broadband, insurance etc.
When it comes to being paid (which can take several months) you can either get paid through BACS or in some cases as Amazon vouchers, or vouchers for other retailers (there's often a small bonus on vouchers vs cash payouts)
Since I joined TopCashback a couple of years ago, I've acumulated over £500 by shopping just as I always have - but always starting the shopping sessions over on their site.
To ensure that cashback tracks properly, use different browsers for browsing and shopping (and make sure the "shopping browser" doesn't have any Adblocker running - in other words, it has to accept all cookies)
That way, you will be sure that the "last click" of any shopping session gets recorded as originating from the cashback site rather than say from a search engine or from your browser address bar.
I use Firefox for browsing, IE for shopping. Doesn't matter which pair of browsers you choose as long as you consistently use one only for actual shopping transactions. Do ALL your product comparison searches, price checks etc. in a completely different browser first!
2. Once you've joined Top Cashback, join Quidco
http://www.quidco.com/
They've got a very similar setup, and a few merchants offer better cashback deals via Quidco than Top Cashback (though most are the same or lower)
3. Keep a very close eye on HotUkDeals for some of the best bargains. Black Friday deals go "hot" on the site very quickly, and the best offers have hotness levels in the 1,000+ range. It's a double-edged sword, because once the deals make it onto HotUkDeals and other similar sites the stock can be exhausted in minutes.
http://www.hotukdeals.com/
4. Keep an eye on MoneySavingExpert and their Black Friday Deals section
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/black-friday-and-cyber-monday-alert-service
5. Watch John Lewis's website like a hawk. They price match a lot of retailers (there are some exceptions for online-only retailers) so when a great deal comes up somewhere like Currys then John Lewis should price match it, and then you'll usually be able to buy the same item but with a free extended warranty. This is particularly good for electronics, computers and TVs, and that kind of thing. You can also proactively request a price match from them here https://www.johnlewis.com/never-knowingly-undersold - and in some cases you can even get them to refund the difference up to 28 days after you bought the item, as long as you have the necessary proof.
6. If you have a specific retailer in mind, sign up for their newsletter a few days in advance of Black Friday, and watch their Twitter/Facebook feeds intently. Some retailers post coupons that "stack" on top of the already large discounts, so that you can save even more. They tend to pump them out a few days in advance of Black Friday itself to drive more interest in their upcoming sale.
7. If possible, Google NOW to establish the baseline price of the product if you have a specific make/model of something in mind. Retailers may jack up the price just before Black Friday, only to drop it again on B.F. itself.
BONUS TIP #1 - Money is money is money - don't be mesmerised by the % discount
What I mean by that is that you should be thinking about your savings in terms of how many actual £ stay in your wallet. So if one product costs £100 and is discounted 40% then you're saving £40 by buying it on Black Friday. If another product costs £1,500 and is discounted 15% then you're saving £225 on it! So as long as you need/want a number of products, consider what you'll actually be saving by buying during the discount period.
Similarly, you might be willing to drive across town to save 30% on a coat but not to save 10% on a large 4K TV. But that's because you're being tricked by the psychology of the discount - the actual £ amount you'll save on the TV might be much, much more than the £ amount you'll save on the coat!
BONUS TIP #2 - Free up more cash
This isn't directly Black Friday related, but one way to be ready for the bargain bonanza is to free up more cashflow. There are a few very easy things you can do:
A) Check you're not overpaying for utilities by joining the MoneySavingExpert Cheap Energy Club - as long as you have information about your past consumption to hand, you can instantly calculate the potential saving. We saved £400+ a year by switching electricity/gas providers. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub
If you do change, then make sure you claim back any unspent balance at your old utility provider (if you pay by Direct Debit then there may be quite a positive balance since we're just coming off the warmer months). You should be able to do that within a few weeks of the switch to the new provider being complete.
B) Consider haggling with providers for a better deal, especially if you've been with them for a long time. For example, I dropped our Virgin Media from £83 a month to £59.90 just by giving them a call, and we shaved £12/month off my wife's mobile phone bill in a similar fashion. Don't believe that companies reward loyalty - that's almost never true these days, in fact the opposite applies: they'll happily gouge you year after year so long as you don't make a fuss.
If you are going to try for a better deal, it helps to prepare a bit of ammo first. For example, find out what a similar mobile phone package would cost at a different network - if there's a big difference, well there's your lever.
C) The above applies to insurance products (car, house, life etc.) as well - you very rarely get the best deal from renewing year after year with the same company. Yes, you have an easy life (less hassle) but 99% of the time you'll be paying (often a lot) for that convenience.
Hope this helps!
NOTE: Black Friday is on Friday 25th November this year, but some retailers will be running weekend or even long weekend sales (if the pattern from last year holds, a lot of them may kick off their sales the day before to get a jump on the competition and in the hope of grabbing a few headlines). And Amazon are going to have a full 12 days of Black Friday deals, starting this coming Monday 14th November.
Here's a link to the Amazon information page (which itself has links to other Black Friday pages that should go live when their sale kicks off)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Friday-Deals/b/ref=as_li_ss_tl?node=161428031
A WORD ABOUT PAYMENT
A bargain is less of a bargain if you can't really afford it. So if you're going to be putting the purchase on a credit card, consider whether you will be able to pay off the balance in full because the usual high APR on a credit card will quickly eat up any saving. If your credit history is good, you might be eligible for one of the 0% credit cards listed at MoneySavingExpert, some of which give you up to 30 months to pay off the balance interest-free: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/best-0-credit-cards
Equally, you may also be able to mitigate your current credit card balance by transferring it to a new credit card with a 0% rate (note that there's always a one-time penalty for doing the transfer, but it can still work out cheaper) Here is the MoneySavingExpert list of top balance transfer credit cards: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/balance-transfer-credit-cards
AMAZON-SPECIFIC TIPS
1. If you've got your eye on an Amazon bargain, use Camel Camel Camel to check if the price is really a long-term bargain, or if it's just a lower-than-recent price. Camel Camel Camel will give you the price history of most items (though not Kindle ebooks)
http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/
2. Again, for Amazon (which is, after all, by far the largest retailer) don't assume they always have the best price - shop around!
3. If you're an Amazon Prime member, make sure you're logged in when you're browsing as you'll be able to access some lightning deals before they're opened up to all-comers
GENERAL
1. If you're not yet a member, join Top Cashback.
http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/gk001 (my referral link - thanks in advance if you do decide to use it!)
http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ (direct link)
They have over 4,000 merchant-partners that they offer cashback on, and the amounts can be substantial (the offers vary over time). For example, Laterooms and Lastminute frequently offer 10%+ cashback.
What this means is that as long as you start your shopping from the relevant Top Cashback merchant via the "Get Cashback" link, and don't leave the etailer, your purchase should get tracked and you'll earn cashback on it.
This costs you nothing at all. Basically, Top Cashback are acting like a super affiliate - they kick back some of the commish they would otherwise have made on the sale.
You can get cash back on just about everything, from physical goods (Currys/PC World, AO.com, Very, Next etc.) through to services (even new domain registrations, and hosting packages) and stuff like utilities, broadband, insurance etc.
When it comes to being paid (which can take several months) you can either get paid through BACS or in some cases as Amazon vouchers, or vouchers for other retailers (there's often a small bonus on vouchers vs cash payouts)
Since I joined TopCashback a couple of years ago, I've acumulated over £500 by shopping just as I always have - but always starting the shopping sessions over on their site.
To ensure that cashback tracks properly, use different browsers for browsing and shopping (and make sure the "shopping browser" doesn't have any Adblocker running - in other words, it has to accept all cookies)
That way, you will be sure that the "last click" of any shopping session gets recorded as originating from the cashback site rather than say from a search engine or from your browser address bar.
I use Firefox for browsing, IE for shopping. Doesn't matter which pair of browsers you choose as long as you consistently use one only for actual shopping transactions. Do ALL your product comparison searches, price checks etc. in a completely different browser first!
2. Once you've joined Top Cashback, join Quidco
http://www.quidco.com/
They've got a very similar setup, and a few merchants offer better cashback deals via Quidco than Top Cashback (though most are the same or lower)
3. Keep a very close eye on HotUkDeals for some of the best bargains. Black Friday deals go "hot" on the site very quickly, and the best offers have hotness levels in the 1,000+ range. It's a double-edged sword, because once the deals make it onto HotUkDeals and other similar sites the stock can be exhausted in minutes.
http://www.hotukdeals.com/
4. Keep an eye on MoneySavingExpert and their Black Friday Deals section
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/black-friday-and-cyber-monday-alert-service
5. Watch John Lewis's website like a hawk. They price match a lot of retailers (there are some exceptions for online-only retailers) so when a great deal comes up somewhere like Currys then John Lewis should price match it, and then you'll usually be able to buy the same item but with a free extended warranty. This is particularly good for electronics, computers and TVs, and that kind of thing. You can also proactively request a price match from them here https://www.johnlewis.com/never-knowingly-undersold - and in some cases you can even get them to refund the difference up to 28 days after you bought the item, as long as you have the necessary proof.
6. If you have a specific retailer in mind, sign up for their newsletter a few days in advance of Black Friday, and watch their Twitter/Facebook feeds intently. Some retailers post coupons that "stack" on top of the already large discounts, so that you can save even more. They tend to pump them out a few days in advance of Black Friday itself to drive more interest in their upcoming sale.
7. If possible, Google NOW to establish the baseline price of the product if you have a specific make/model of something in mind. Retailers may jack up the price just before Black Friday, only to drop it again on B.F. itself.
BONUS TIP #1 - Money is money is money - don't be mesmerised by the % discount
What I mean by that is that you should be thinking about your savings in terms of how many actual £ stay in your wallet. So if one product costs £100 and is discounted 40% then you're saving £40 by buying it on Black Friday. If another product costs £1,500 and is discounted 15% then you're saving £225 on it! So as long as you need/want a number of products, consider what you'll actually be saving by buying during the discount period.
Similarly, you might be willing to drive across town to save 30% on a coat but not to save 10% on a large 4K TV. But that's because you're being tricked by the psychology of the discount - the actual £ amount you'll save on the TV might be much, much more than the £ amount you'll save on the coat!
BONUS TIP #2 - Free up more cash
This isn't directly Black Friday related, but one way to be ready for the bargain bonanza is to free up more cashflow. There are a few very easy things you can do:
A) Check you're not overpaying for utilities by joining the MoneySavingExpert Cheap Energy Club - as long as you have information about your past consumption to hand, you can instantly calculate the potential saving. We saved £400+ a year by switching electricity/gas providers. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub
If you do change, then make sure you claim back any unspent balance at your old utility provider (if you pay by Direct Debit then there may be quite a positive balance since we're just coming off the warmer months). You should be able to do that within a few weeks of the switch to the new provider being complete.
B) Consider haggling with providers for a better deal, especially if you've been with them for a long time. For example, I dropped our Virgin Media from £83 a month to £59.90 just by giving them a call, and we shaved £12/month off my wife's mobile phone bill in a similar fashion. Don't believe that companies reward loyalty - that's almost never true these days, in fact the opposite applies: they'll happily gouge you year after year so long as you don't make a fuss.
If you are going to try for a better deal, it helps to prepare a bit of ammo first. For example, find out what a similar mobile phone package would cost at a different network - if there's a big difference, well there's your lever.
C) The above applies to insurance products (car, house, life etc.) as well - you very rarely get the best deal from renewing year after year with the same company. Yes, you have an easy life (less hassle) but 99% of the time you'll be paying (often a lot) for that convenience.
Hope this helps!
