Black Friday deals available online?

November 16, 2006 7:04 AM

Black Friday question - Are any of these numerous deals I'm seeing all over the Internet available online?

Recently on digg and elsewhere I have been seeing a lot of online lists of deals to be had on Black Friday.
I know from watching news that people just go crazy and stampede into stores to get these deals, but can I clock in on any of them online?
(Im not American, so I don't really get this entire Black Friday thing).
Oh and the most comprehensive list Ive seen is here.

I did a search but couldn't come up with anything recent.

posted by anonymous to Shopping (14 answers total)

In general, no.

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving which is the official 'start' to the holiday shopping season. There are some great deals (as you've seen), but they are almost always in limited quantity so if you really want that $100 laptop computer, you better get in line in front of the store at 4am because there's only 2 in the store.

That's not to say that there might be deals online, but not to the degree that brick & mortar places have them. It's more of a gimmick to get you into the store to buy more than just the severely discounted product they're advertising.
posted by MarkLark at 7:26 AM on November 16, 2006

The most specatular deals are usually "limit of 50 per store" or "for the first 100 customers" and people line up for hours in advance. The stores are taking a loss on a few things to get people in the door.

In my experience, other than those types of deals, the prices on any specific product is not an unheard-of bargain. You will be able to find the same price another time -- though Black Friday is perhaps the day when you'll find the most deals at the same time.
posted by winston at 7:30 AM on November 16, 2006

Here's another site listing the deals: Black Friday.info.
posted by GaelFC at 9:36 AM on November 16, 2006

CompUSA usually does it online. It's not great because they artificially limit the quantities of the things that are on sale, and usually sell out quickly.

This is the link where the deals will be.
posted by smackfu at 9:42 AM on November 16, 2006

Also, Amazon has its own variety of the Black Friday sale. Four different loss leaders and the public votes on which one they want.
posted by smackfu at 9:55 AM on November 16, 2006

Black Friday is in-store only -- and some retailers are threatening legal action against people even publishing their ads online. Recently, though, retailers have been trying to push an online counterpart to Black Friday known as "Cyber Monday," with the deals focused on online shopping.
posted by camcgee at 12:27 PM on November 16, 2006

Considering how heated the rush to get the latest Big-Boy or Little-Girl swag can get, Black Friday should really fall on December 26.
posted by rob511 at 2:33 PM on November 16, 2006

The Black Friday deals are meant to be loss leaders whose sole purpose is to lure people into the stores (on the most frantic shopping day of the year) where they will buy other more profitable merchandice. Offering these deals online or through mail order would completely defeat the purpose, so they are in-person-only.
posted by Rhomboid at 3:04 PM on November 16, 2006

You have to go through the full Black Friday experience to get the big deals. Get up at 3 am (or, never go to bed), drive to store to stand in line for 2.5 hours in the rain in 2 C weather. Glare at the 200 people who are ahead of you in line. Ponder catching a cold.

Then, someone runs out to their car to get a spare umbrella for you. The store clerks come around with hot donuts and coffee for everyone. Tickets are handed out for the really good stuff, and while the thing you really wanted runs out before you, there is still some decent stuff available.

And, that is all before 6 am, when the stores start to open. After that, it's all downhill.

It just wouldn't be the same online. You wouldn't get the stories, too.
posted by QIbHom at 4:35 PM on November 16, 2006

Yes, they are supposed to be loss leaders for an impulsive shopping day. However, there are some exceptions, such as for Best Buy, which allows customers to buy products online for the same price as in-store, as long customers go in and pick them up in person. For the last couple of years, BB has turned on the BF prices at midnight on BF, so it was possible to buy the items online that night, sleep in on BF, and then head over to BB to pick up your stuff. This may or may not be the case this year.
posted by rxrfrx at 6:20 PM on November 16, 2006

Yeah, but in that case they still got you to physically come down to the store, and chances are you will buy something else while you're there, since during that time of the year people tend to be looking for gifts and such. So it still has served its purpose, which it would not if the deals were offered for mail-order overseas.
posted by Rhomboid at 6:47 PM on November 16, 2006

I interviewed a potential intern last week who currently works as a department manager at Walmart. Upon reading her resume I immediately asked her about the quantity of the super cheap Black Friday laptops and she said she's understands they're getting about a dozen. A dozen. Keep in mind, this is one of the largest Super Walmarts in the entire country. She doesn't work in electronics so hopefully she's wrong. She did claim that they are really strict about not letting employees snatch up the deals though (at least at her store).
posted by bda1972 at 8:06 PM on November 16, 2006

Oh yeah, that's the other strategy. Minimize the actual loss involved in loss leaders. You can legally advertise LAPTOP FOR ONLY $100! but only stock a couple of them, and require people to line up for them at 4am in the cold, enhancing their desire to buy something when they find out there are no more cheap laptops left.
posted by rxrfrx at 8:10 PM on November 16, 2006

BlackFriday@gottadeal dot com has a banner at the top that will take you to Black Friday deals online.
posted by SoftSummerBreeze at 8:20 AM on November 17, 2006