GREENSBORO, N.C. — 2 Wants To Know is here to help you score big deals and save even more money this Black Friday. The first thing to know is that this year the deals start now. In an effort to keep crowds down many stores have already started their sales online. That includes all the biggies like Amazon, who has been dropping discounts a little more each day. Walmart will open up its online Black Friday deals at 7 pm Wednesday. And Target is already sold out of some online doorbusters like a Ninja blender that was half off.
Retail experts say stores are offering bigger price cuts than in years past because the demand for gifts isn't as high. A new survey finds consumers plan to spend an average of $691 on gifts. That's done 7% from last year.
Here's how to make sure you get the best bang for your buck:
Know The Best/Worst Stores For Deep Discounts
With so many ads in the newspaper and online, it can be tough to know where to find the best deals. Luckily WalletHub crunched the numbers for us.
The average discount on Black Friday this year is 32 percent. But at JCPenney you get the biggest savings of 57 percent. 56 percent at Macy's. And 52 percent at Kohl's. Compared to the lowest discount of 9 percent at Ace Hardware.
Earn cash back for FREE!!!! (READ THIS!)
This is our best Black Friday trick to get you extra discounts! It's called Rakuten and we use it every time we shop. It offers you extra cash back on your purchases. All you have to do is to register for free with their site. Then look for the discount you want, click to open the store, and then go shopping just like normal.
After the shopping's done, you'll rack up cash back in your pay pal account or they can mail you a check. Over a couple of months 2 Wants To Know's Ben Briscoe earned $107.
Coupons for Tanger Outlets
One of my favorite holiday traditions is going to Tanger Outlets overnight. I normally fight the crowds and get all my shopping done in one day! But with massive crowds, there's no way that can happen this year. So instead of the overnight shopping spree, Tanger plans to open at 6 am Friday and the deals will be stretched out a few days.
You can see on their website right now what all the sales are like Banana Republic is 60 percent off the whole store and that runs through December 1.
While you're on the Tanger website, also sign up for the Tanger Club. It's free and you get extra coupons!
Get extra credit card deals!
Retail experts say you should skip your debit card and instead use your credit card. That way if your card number gets stolen, and crooks run up a huge tab, you're not out all the money in your bank account while you wait for the fraud investigation to be done.
And before you get ready to swipe that credit card make sure you're not missing out on any extra deals. Check out your credit card's app for extra cashback. For example, my Chase card is offering 10 percent cash back at Big Lots and up to $10 back at Walmart. The catch is that you have to link the offer to your card before going shopping. Again that's all pretty easy to do in the credit card app meaning a small amount of effort now could save you big this week.
Make Sure You’re Getting A Good Deal
Before you go shopping, type what you want into Google. Then click on the shopping tab. This is the absolute best place to comparison shop because it pulls prices from all over the internet and gives you reviews of every product. What’s even cooler is if you’re out at the store and what to check prices on an impulse buy, the Google App has a great feature to help. On the search bar click the square with a dot in the middle. Then click the shopping cart. It lets you scan barcodes to make sure you’re getting the best price.
Don’t Miss A Sale
It used to be you'd find out about all the sales looking at the ads in the paper.
But now you'll find the best sale through apps on your phone. To make sure you don't miss the discounts, you'll want to turn your notifications for the apps on.
For iPhone:
Go to settings
Then notifications.
Slide them all to on.
For Android:
Go to settings
Apps & Notifications
Look under Recently Sent
Click on an app
Click on type of notification
Turn it on
But make sure to set an alarm on your phone on Tuesday to turn them all back off.
Ditch The Cart
When you're shopping on Black Friday with all those people around you, the last thing you want is to be trying to zip around with a huge shopping cart. Skip it and bring an Ikea bag or another large reusable shopping bag instead. You also want to ditch the cart online. Wednesday or Thursday select a bunch of stuff you want to buy and add it to your cart. Then close the browser.
Stores don't like losing your business. So sometimes, if they see you walk away mid purchase, they'll send you a discount in an e-mail. Coupons which you can often use on top of other deals like Black Friday.
RatherBeShopping.com found at least 17 popular online retailers will send you those extra deals this way.
Skip The Crowds
Camping out for hours in the cold and fighting all the other folks in the crowd sounds likes a blast! There's a way you can skip all that and still get the best deals.
For this trick, you'll need that trusty stack of ads in the newspaper. Look through and see what you want. Then go online before Black Friday buy the same items at full price.
But only buy them with your credit cards that have price protection on them. Once they go on sale Friday, you submit a quick form to the credit card company. They will refund you the difference.
Here's the catch: you want to look through your credit card fine print first to make sure the item is covered. And you've got to buy the item before the sale.
Also, hold on to your receipt and the hard copy of the Black Friday ad. Some credit cards won't take deals advertised on the internet.
If it sounds like a lot of work, there's apps to help. Paribus will scan your receipts and automatically submit claims for you.