Lines and more lines

It's like Disneyland, the lines for Black Friday, people lining up for hours trying to get their hands on the next toy. I did some quick research on two stores today. Walmart's "one-hour in stock GUARANTEE" is missing a little something. It's not exactly a guarantee. They will be passing out tickets Thursday night, and they do have a LIMITED quantity of tickets. The guarantee says that if you don't get an item that night, you will get a ticket to purchase the item before Christmas for the Black Friday price. Sorry folks, you will have to line up for these tickets...no waiting till 6:45 to grab those doorbusters.

Speaking of which, Target takes Doorbusters to a whole new level. They will be opening up at 8 this year, Target will not be passing out tickets for doorbuster items. I called three stores and was told this. (Tickets may be handed out for PS4s and Xbox ONEs) From personal experience, they usher everyone in, about 30 at a time, but as soon as you BUST through the DOORS it is mayhem! You just run to get your items... One of my least favorite experiences.

Best Buy........ if you're not currently camped out reading this right now. You probably won't be able to get the hot doorbuster items from them. (Which I still can't figure what their hot doorbuster items are.)

So there you have it. Black Friday Away!

The Days of Black Friday are Back...with iPads.

*blows dust off the blog*

Well, it's been a while hasn't it? A year you say? Apologies for my absence, it's probably because I've been trying to watch Breaking Bad...mmmmm Breaking Bad. But we're here to talk about another obsession. Black Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of my favorite times of year (although we won't talk about how ridiculous the 6PM start times are....yet) Gauging the Facebook friends, it sounds like iPads are going to be a popular buy this year. Check out the comparisons between Best Buy, Walmart and Target.

So Best Buy is offering the iPad 2 (16GB). That's the iPad from a couple years ago, it does not have the Retina display and is obviously a little behind the times. Personally though, I had an iPad 2 before my iPad w/ Retina display. I LOVE the Retina Display.... but for $299.99 the iPad 2 would take care of all my tablet needs. Savings: $100. Compared to iPad w/ Retina 16GB: $449.99

Walmart is offering the older iPad Mini, last year's model, for regular price $299. They will also give you $100 Walmart gift card in the process. So you kind of save $100. (You still have to pay sales tax on the $299 price and I don't believe you can use the gift card on the actual purchase.) If you're doing other Black Friday shopping at Walmart you can but the iPad first and use the gift card on the rest of your purchases. Savings: $100 Gift Card to Walmart. Compared to 16GB iPad Mini w/ Retina Display: $399.99 and no Gift Card.

The iPad Mini is part of Walmart's "guaranteed in stock for 1 hour" promotion. Some doorbusters are guaranteed to be in stock for an hour, if you don't get an actual product, Walmart will sell you a claim ticket you can use to purchase the item later. The ticket will guarantee you the iPad Mini before Christmas and at the Black Friday price. The Caveat is you can just show up at 6:50. You will have to be in line as they do have a cut off of when they stop giving out tickets. Sneaky sneaky.

Target has an impressive ad this year. They're offering the older iPad Mini as well, but only with a $75 Gift Card offer. (25 less than Wally World.) But the most surprising iPad offer is Target offering the newest iPad Air for $479, $20 off the regular price? But Target is offering $100 Gift Card too....um...yes please. That's a great deal, almost too good to be true deal. But according to the leaked ad, that's the deal. Savings: $20 and a $100 Gift Card. Compared to iPad Air 16GB on Best Buy's site: $499.

Personally, I love the iPad Air deal. The iPad Mini deals are nice, although no Retina display is a huge turnoff. The iPad 2 is a good basic tablet compared to everything else, but it's only $299. If you don't get an iPad now and can wait 6 months, my guess is you'll get similar pricing on these tablets.

Follow me on Twitter. @TopTenHUU for Black Friday ads, news and opinions. I also tweet out techie stuff if you're into electronics.
Give the blog a follow, it'll make me feel better.

If you want to follow my personal twitter it is @HuuTranSuperman... I won't snapchat you nudes though.

Ways to make the some extra cash

Remember your first Lemonade stand? You grabbed your sugar, your lemons, and you sat outside your block with your sign that said "Lemonade .25 cents" (or .20 cents in my case. Had to undercut the competition, also i wrote swithed the "n" and the "m" in lemonade. Cuteness branded). Your first adventure into the business world all begin with that sign.

Some of us go into the creative marketing to make extra money. I've thought countless times that I should just sell my body for sex. It's a win-win. They get sex, and I get a bowling team. But that's a different story. I met a young entrepeneur whose sign caught my eye.

I think they could sell "Sports" if they wanted to as well.

(Yeah... didn't feel like editing out my mistakes either)

How many of us here has thought about doing that? Probably a good amount. I thought this was a good idea that took some moxy. You can't really just sit there with a sign, you have to market the sign. I've bet we have all wondered if this would work. I know I have. (Video 2 below)

Friends playing together, and working together!

(If only I was a little more articulate)

So a little work, and patience, good planning, and you can make a little extra cash. Of course, pulling the whole "poor college student" card didn't hurt.

Nothing like making some extra cash $$$$$

It was quite an experience talking with these girls. A nice idea, but more importantly a fun way to spend Black Friday. Something I like about Black Friday is tradition. This could become a tradition for these friends to get together after Thanksgiving every year and grab a spot in line with a sign.

Yes, they ended up selling all four of their spots. (How did 3 girls get 4 spots?.... I don't ask those type of questions.) They didn't just sit around, every time a car drove by, the sign was being featured. They walked up and down the line talking to people, that's marketing. I did hear from one of the customers saying it was money well spent as they got the 50" TV they wanted. So the girls got to bed early and got to experience Black Friday in a new way. Black Friday can be fun!

Quick funny story: As I was getting their info so I could redirect them here, one of the girls asked me if I had Facebook. Joking around with them I pretended I didn't know what Facebook was (But that I had my own blog). One of her friends says "He doesn't have an accent, I'm sure he is from here." ...... Good to see I still have that effect on people.

I will soon be moving all my "bargain hunting" based blogs from Blog-ahol and into a new Black Friday Diva section. So look for that soon. Give me a follow here on Blog-ahol and hit me up on twitter @blackfridaydiva!

Black Friday Live

UPDATE: 1:41 PM
Amazon still has some good deals. No 40" Toshiba deals, but some other items on your list. Go to check out their Black Friday Deals all week!

Walmart has a couple things left, no big TVs.... but maybe your item from 5am is still there

Speaking of WalMart's 5AM sale.... I MISSED IT. Fell asleep....stupid sleep. But I hear the 5am sale was very mild. Very possibly if retailers continue 5 am, 6 am, or 8 am sales.... could be MUCH easier to grab a big ticket item.

UPDATE: 2:46AM MST
Home from Best Buy... MISSED on the Black Friday big ticket items....but still found a haul. Including things for myself! Pics to be soon, I leave you tonight with a fun story from tonight.

Target much milder this year at their open.

Pics from some young Black Friday girls.

2012 Deal Tracker

Updated: Thanksgiving 9:30 AM MST

Some other deals, a little more than Black Friday prices, but you won't have to wait in line:
39" tv: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Insignia%22+-+39%22+Class+-+LED+-+1080p+-+60Hz+-+HDTV/6733418.p?id=1218786215383&skuId=6733418

iPod touch with gift card: http://www.target.com/p/apple-ipod-touch-16gb-4th-generation-with-touch-screen-wi-fi-black-me178ll-a/-/A-14000297?ref=tgt_adv_xasd0001&AFID=Performics_BFAds_0004cf17f2716e370a2a5489bb006eb1&LNM=Primary%20Banner

PS3 deal: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Sony---PlayStation-3-%28250GB%29-inFAMOUS-Collection-Limited-Edition-Bundle/6898698.p?skuId=6898698&productCategoryId=abcat0703001&id=1218811918130&AID=10474050&PID=2187655&SID=ebs4d6d557979550ae52c4c7533736370404540599631sbe&URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bestbuy.com%2Fsite%2FSony---PlayStation-3-%2528250GB%2529-inFAMOUS-Collection-Limited-Edition-Bundle%2F6898698.p%3FskuId%3D6898698%26productCategoryId%3Dabcat0703001%26id%3D1218811918130&ref=39&CJPID=2187655&loc=01

50" TV: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sceptre-50-Class-LCD-1080p-60Hz-HDTV-X505BV-FHD/19793654?wmlspartner=jDfRMawUPt8&sourceid=08790323540024768548&veh=aff



Looking for the Xbox deal, but don't want to fight the Black Friday crowds?

Two Thanksgiving online deals
Ebay Bundle: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Microsoft-XBOX-360-Holiday-Bundle-w-Skyrim-Forza-4-250-GB-Hard-Drive-/380520589658
189.99

Target Kinect Bundle: http://www.target.com/p/xbox-360-4gb-kinect-holiday-bundle-w-kinect-adventures-disneyland-xbox-360/-/A-14282516?ref=tgt_adv_xasd0001&AFID=Performics_BFAds_0004cf1234abc9ed0a2a6dcf5700436c&LNM=Primary%20Banner
199.99

Walmart Bundle: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Xbox-360-Skylanders-Family-Fun-Value-Bundle-110-Value/21978359
199.99

Check back with the blog to see deals that you might miss! Give me a follow while you are here!

Preparation is the key to success.

One of my favorite Lion King songs is Scar's "Be Prepared."Scar has a plan, he is maticulously planning, and Black Friday shoppers can learn from this. I, usually have a plan of attack for Black Friday, and that should start right at the beginning of November. This year I felt a little rushed (hence the lack of blog posts) but I felt like I had a good handle of what I wanted to do this year.

"Even the best laid plans..."

It takes more than having a plan of attack, it takes fine attention to detail, research and follow through. The last part is where I came up short this year. But sometimes that happens, life gets in the way.

If I were to draft a Black Friday constitution, one of the amendments would be "Find your deals online first, saves hassle and stress on the actual Friday of Dark." Amazon releases a lot of great deals the WEEK of Black Friday. Some of the items that go on sale will even be close to or even AT Black Friday prices. You do have to be quick on the draw with some great deals though. Amazon gives you a chance to "preview" the items as to give you a chance to be by your browser. Get your clicking fingers ready!

Some retailers (Best Buy, Sears, Target) will release some items online before Black Friday. This year, Best Buy even threw some of the Black Friday deals online. The trick is to keep a watchful eye on the items you want. Then be aggressive, be be aggressive. I work under the assumption that if I buy it, and I don't like it... return it. (Also, check return policies.)

So to a personal story. Two TVs that I was interested in went on sale, I put them in my cart and kind of dilly dallied before buying them. The punch line? They sold out as soon as I put them in my cart. Why? Because the sale caught me by surprise. Didn't now it was happening when it did, so I was scrambling to find what I wanted. Now I have non-buyers remorse. I hope I can get them on Friday... then next year, I need to be more prepared. (For what? For the death of the king! Why is he sick?)

Black Friday: ..... I see two things wrong with that title.

If you recognize the title, yes, it's from the Simpsons. The boys get a fake ID and go see a rated R movie called "Naked Lunch" and leave saying "I see two things wrong with that title." Funny because it bucks what the viewer's expectations are. However, when you mess with real life expectations..... not as funny.

This year, Black Friday is starting on.... Thursday at 8 PM. Yup, Thanksgiving night. Why the change? Well, my theories are because the more shoppers you can have the more money you make. Sounds legit. Retailers found out last year that by opening earlier (Midnight as opposed to 5 AM) they could get more people in the door. Great for their bottom line because, well more money. But what about for consumers?

For the hardcore Black Friday shoppers, these early times are not good. It's like Peyton Manning having to play with a bunch of high school kids. (I was going to use Kobe Bryant....but decided against that analogy.) Sure, the pro should have the advantage, but even a blind squirrel will be right twice a day....or something like that. Point is, the more people you put in the shops, the less chance that you can get the item(s) you want. Part of the "appeal" of Black Friday was "We get the deals because we're out here at 5 AM." All of a sudden you get a bunch of newbies going out because it's at midnight or 8 PM.

Also, it's called Black FRIDAY right? Am I missing something by starting it on the THURSDAY before? Which, as I mentioned, is Thanksgiving. Look, my family is fairly new to Thanksgiving, we don't have many traditions but we do like to cook and eat dinner with family. With a new 8 PM start time, that means we have to be done with dinner at... Noon? And what about employees of retail stores. Wal-Mart employees used to get most of Thanksgiving off because they were closed all day. Sure employees had to start coming in later at night to get set up, but they probably had time to have dinner and spend time with family before they had to go to work. I would not be surprised if some employees will have to go in around 2, to start the Black Friday preparations.

But.... what can we do? If their 8 PM sales fall flat, then retailers will rethink these early opening times. However, I fear, we as retailers, will feed the beast. So 8 PM sales might be something we have to get used to. This year, however, I do not think I will be part of that crowd. I will enjoy the extra dinner and family time before I do the midnight lines. If you so choose to go to 8 PM sales, please contact me before hand. I would love to get your account so I can blog to all the faithful readers here about how it goes.

Keep an eye on my Blog-ahol for more Black Friday updates. Any questions, please let me know! I would love to research it for ya! If you're heading out, I would love to hear from you and you can correspond for Blog-ahol.

PS. I'm looking to start a blog strictly focusing on financing, as soon as I figure out a name for it, I will start that. But for now, I'm a Blog-aholic, I can't live without my Blog-ahol.