7 Black Friday Shopping Tips to Reduce the Stress, Lighten the Load and Save you from Going Crazy!
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Do Your Homework.
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Be Prepared.
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Check your Credit Card’s Special Offers.
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Pack your Smart Phone.
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Be Aware of the Accessories Trap.
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Stay at Home.
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Make PhotographyTalk your First Stop.
Black Friday is upon us; and whether you’re plunging into the mobs at the malls and superstores or shopping from the quiet of your home online, the following 7 tips should help you find the best prices and save your sanity.
The best method to focus your Black Friday shopping on the exact items to buy is to prepare a detailed list of the people who will be receiving gifts from you this holiday season. Include the primary gift you’d like to give as well as a few alternatives in case the first gift on the list is hard to find or simply too expensive.
Schedule some time in advance of Black Friday to help you decide which stores have the best prices for the items on your gift-giving list. Although you must be flexible during your shopping expedition, by matching gifts to prices to stores, you’ll save plenty of shoe leather and escape the madness quicker.
If you’re planning to join the crowds, then make sure you have a good pair of walking shoes and the proper clothing for the weather, in case you must spend some time waiting for the doors to open. It wouldn’t hurt to have a snack bar or two, and even a small bottle of water.
Typically, the credit card companies offer the best deals at this time of the year: doubling points, adding extras, etc. It will only take a small amount of time to visit your credit card companies’ Websites, so you use the cards that will benefit you the most. It’s also a good time to remind yourself of your various cards’ interest rates, so you use those with the lowest rates first…and only, if possible.
With your smart phone and immediate access to the Internet, you have an instant resource to check other stores’ deals and prices. Many stores may add items and lower prices during the day, so you want to know immediately to change your shopping journey. In addition, you can show salesclerks the competitors’ prices and ask that they match those prices if they want your business.
You might find great deals on electronics and other items, but many retailers will increase the prices on accessories to entice you to buy them at the same time. It’s a strategy they use to recoup some of revenue they didn’t receive on your initial purchases. It’s best to wait until later in the holiday shopping season, or especially during January clearance sales, to find the lowest accessory prices.
Some people love the shopping experience…the excitement and the hustle and bustle. If you’re not one of them, however, the digital age makes it easy to stay at home and do all your shopping online. It costs much less for online retailers to operate their digital storefronts, so they can lower prices and offer free shipping. To remain competitive, more and more of the brick-and-mortar retailers will also ship your online orders for free. Why drive to the stores and carry heavy bundles all day, when the stores will deliver them to you.
Whether you’re shopping in the stores or online, start with a visit to PhotographyTalk.com. We have a selection of Black Friday deals that we’ve compiled just for members and visitors, which you’ll find when you CLICK HERE
PhotographyTalk is also your best resource to search our extensive Equipment Review Section to learn more about new cameras, lenses, etc. and closely match them to every photographer on your holiday gift list. Visit the Articles Section for our best gift recommendations, making your Black Friday shopping even easier and less stressful.
It may be impossible to avoid Black Friday, but you can make it just another shopping day with the tips in this PhotographyTalk article and a visit to our community.
Image credit: welcomia / 123RF Stock Photo
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