16 Best Tips for Black Friday Shopping & Stress-Free Savings

Need some Black Friday shopping tips? Don’t we all. With Black Friday fast approaching, you’re going to need to bring your A-game if you want to be able to find the best deals.

While shopping on Black Friday on November 29 can be incredibly fun, it is also a stressful minefield. Not every deal you encounter is a good deal, and tons of promotional codes are restricted to customer loyalty programs and other sources. If that’s not tricky enough, you also need to keep hackers at bay.

Below, we discuss some of the top Black Friday tips and tricks for 2024. These can help you find the best deals, avoid being ripped off, and protect your data from scammers.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. 16 Best Tips for Black Friday Shopping
3. Digging Deeper: Our Black Friday Shopping Strategies
4. How Scammers Use Social Media & Black Friday to Target Shoppers
5. The Bottom Line
6. FAQs
7. References

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. 16 Best Tips for Black Friday Shopping
3. Digging Deeper: Our Black Friday Shopping Strategies
Show Full Guide
4. How Scammers Use Social Media & Black Friday to Target Shoppers
5. The Bottom Line
6. FAQs
7. References

16 Best Tips for Black Friday Shopping

We’ve put together a brief cheat sheet of Black Friday shopping tips for 2024.

Here are some basic steps to ensure you have a positive shopping experience during the event:

1. Create a budget and stick to it: Decide on a budget that you can afford to spend so that you won’t end up spending more than you intend to.
2. Draw up a shopping list: Keep a list of products that you are on the lookout for and record their prices so you will know good listing prices when you see them.
3. Use a credit card with cashback: Aim to use a credit card that offers cash rewards and other incentives to get even better value for money.
4. Track prices: Monitor the prices of key products with services like Google Shopping, PriceGrabber, or Shopzilla to spot competitive discounts in advance.
5. Avoid shopping in-store: Shop online to avoid queues and increase the number of retailers you have access to.
6. Follow retailers on social media: Start following your favorite retailers on social media sites like Facebook and X sooner rather than later to gain access to selected promotions.
7. Stick to well-known websites: Always shop with trusted sites and avoid unknown vendors, no matter how good their prices are.
8. Don’t stop at the sale price: Use coupon codes on sale items to get an even better price.
9. Join your favorite brand’s loyalty programs: Sign up for a retailer’s loyalty program to gain access to unique promotions.
10. Sign up for email newsletters: Some retailers send promotional codes via email newsletters, so signing up is a great way to get better prices.
11. Remember Cyber Monday: Not all promotions will be available on Black Friday, so don’t be afraid to wait until Cyber Monday for extra promotions.
12. Double-check return policies: Try to purchase goods from retailers that have generous return policies of 14-30 days so that you can easily return them if you’re unhappy with your purchase.
13. Don’t click on links in emails – Scammers may send you phishing emails with “sales” on popular products, so try not to click on any links or attachments — or at least exercise caution — to avoid putting your data at risk.
14. Never shop on public Wi-Fi – Shopping on public Wi-Fi is dangerous, as hackers can steal your credit card details.
15. Use payment options with buyer protection – Credit cards often offer the best buyer protection, so if you fall victim to fraud, you can get your money back.
16. Have fun! – Getting a bargain isn’t worth stressing about, and you’re more likely to find better deals if you’re enjoying yourself.

Digging Deeper: Our Black Friday Shopping Strategies

Now that you have a quick rundown of how to shop on Black Friday, we’ll explore some of our top tips in more detail.

This includes a more detailed breakdown of some of the strategies you can use to get the best discounts and deals with minimal hassle.

Why Sticking to a Black Friday Budget Matters

One of the most important tips for shopping online on Black Friday is to set a budget and stick to it.

Doing this not only helps to avoid overspending and financial difficulties but also gives you an idea of how much spending you can allocate across different types of products without breaking the bank — and can help prevent too many ‘impulse buys’ on the day.

Shopping Lists Help You Prepare

If you want to know just how to get ready for Black Friday, then you need to draw up a shopping list. It is a simple way to help you focus on finding deals on products that you’ll actually use.

It’s also useful for helping you divide up your budget and prioritize how you’ll spend your money.

Andrea Woroch, a consumer savings and shopping expert and contributor for shows like Today and Good Morning America, told Techopedia:

“The most important thing you can do before Black Friday is to write out a shopping list including gifts for loved ones and items you may be wanting to purchase for yourself. The ultimate goal is to avoid impulse purchases.

“Take note of the day and time that a specific deal will launch so you don’t miss it.”

Preparing in advance can take a lot of stress out of the equation. We are already seeing signs of the Walmart Black Friday deals and Amazon Black Friday deals out there.

Knowledge is power!

Avoiding the Black Friday Queues By Shopping Online

If you want to maximize your chances to find deals, then we recommend shopping online rather than in-store. At the very least, you will avoid long queues.

Shopping online not only allows you to avoid these queues but also enables you to browse for products across multiple stores faster than you would if you had to physically visit the stores. You can visit Target in person, or you can browse Target Black Friday deals from the comfort of your home.

But what’s the best time to go Black Friday shopping? Well, as the expression goes, the early bird gets the worm.

Tracking Prices Helps Calculate True Savings

Knowing how to find Black Friday deals is difficult because not every promotion is a bargain. Retailers may attempt to pass off regular prices as sale prices. Tracking prices enables you to catch retailers that are trying to mislead you about the true price of products.

Olivia Tapper, communication expert and co-founder of PetPortraits.com, said:

“My advice is to reflect on what you want or need to buy, make a list, note down current prices, and sign up for email marketing from companies selling those products.

“I’ve heard about companies raising prices before Black Friday, so I’d make a list now to be able to compare as Black Friday hits. It’s about getting a proper benchmark to know if it’s a good sale or not. Be data-driven and factual, not emotional.”

Social Media Helps You Find Black Friday Offers

Retailers often announce Black Friday promotions on their social media pages, so if you have a brand you’re going to check out on the day, make sure that you’re subscribed to their Facebook, Instagram, X, or TikTok pages. This way, you will be able to quickly find out about all relevant promotions.

You can also take this a step further by signing up to retailers’ newsletters. Many retailers will also offer promotions via newsletters and provide codes that you can’t find elsewhere. We are already looking out for early signs of Best Buy’s Black Friday deals.

Erika Castro, co-founder/CMO at Croia, told Techopedia:

“Follow your favorite brands and sign up for their newsletters. Normally, the best deals are sent to their loyal customers because they generate better customer lifetime value at the most affordable cost.

“Also, a lot of these brands will have different deals every day, so watch out for those emails.

“Don’t worry about waking up too early or too late. A lot of these brands will send the emails when their customers are most active, for instance, at midday or at 8pm after dinner.”

Maximizing Savings With Credit Cards

While making purchases with a debit card can help avoid unforeseen charges, using a credit card with cash back, reward points, and other incentives can help you get even better deals.

Typically, with a cashback credit card, every time you spend money, you get money back. Some providers may offer a cashback amount of about 2% on all purchases, giving you money back either directly to your account or in the form of credits or gift cards.

Combine Discounts with Coupon Codes Where Possible

When shopping, remember that you can often get sale prices even lower if you use coupon codes. Combining sales items with coupons is your ticket to getting even better prices.

Good Morning America’s Andrea Woroch said:

“Don’t stop at the sale price. You can often stack coupon codes to save more on Black Friday offers.

 

“Sign up for a retailer’s newsletter or text alerts to get new subscriber coupons worth up to 25% off your first purchase, or go to a deal aggregator to find promo codes by store name quickly.”

Stay Safe From Cybercriminals

Getting good deals is just part of the battle; you also need to stay safe online too. One of the best ways to protect your data is to only shop with trusted retailers.

Scammers will use Black Friday tricks to get you to visit unusual websites via phishing emails or buy from unknown vendors on social media — which can result in your personal information and credit card details being stolen.

Seth Geftic, vice president of product marketing at Huntress, told Techopedia:

“Stick to well-known, trusted websites when Black Friday shopping online. If a deal seems too good to be true, especially on a site you’ve never heard of, it’s better to avoid it.

“Scammers often create fake websites that look like real ones to steal your personal and financial information.

“You can also try to verify the deal by researching the offer online to see if people are talking about it. Also, look for reviews, complaints, or scam alerts online by searching the website’s name along with terms like “scam” or “fraud.”

How Scammers Use Social Media & Black Friday to Target Shoppers

While we warn “buyer beware” on social media due to the difficulty of verifying legitimate sellers, some shoppers will inevitably see products and offers that they want to purchase.

If you do decide to look for deals on social media, Erick Kron, a security awareness advocate at KnowBe4, has some essential tips for shopping online safely on Black Friday to help avoid being scammed.

“If you are making a purchase from a social media marketplace, look at other items the person has listed for sale.

“Scammers will often list the same item dozens of times in different cities and regions to lure more people into the incredibly cheap deal. They often use stolen accounts that have been active for a long time to post, making them look more authentic.

“When paying for deals, use payment methods that offer buyer protection. Credit cards tend to have better protection than debit cards, and online payment services may have multiple payment methods.

“Avoid using payment methods for “Friends and Family” or similar methods — instead, use “Goods and Services” type methods that offer protection.”

The Bottom Line

We hope that our Black Friday shopping guide will help you make the most of this year’s shopping craze. Although it’s easy to get carried away, the most important thing is to have fun.

Write up your shopping list and plan where to shop on Black Friday in advance, and you’ll get much more out of the event.

Remember that it’s not worth getting stressed out over an extra 20% off. And if you don’t find what you’re looking for, there’s always Cyber Monday.

FAQs