When Black Friday Comes...now with Cyber Monday

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 11:34 am

Does anyone here participate in the madness? I am more interested in Cyber Monday, does Amazon lower their prices?

Mods please move to EBG.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 11:54 am

I'm seeing lots of sales already on Amazon. In fact I just cancelled an order for my wife's new blender, that is today $28 cheaper than it was 2 days ago when I thought THAT was the BF price.

Pro shopping tip, esp. on Amazon: This time of year, unless you absolutely need it in 2 days, select the slow shipping, since you can cancel with no penalty before it ships, and prices are so volatile (case in point above), that you could miss some serious savings if you pull the trigger too soon.

If I had selected my normal 2-day shipping on that blender, instead of just checking a box next to the item on my order I wanted to cancel, I would have had to get on chat with Amazon CS, and get them to do a price adjustment (and not guaranteed they would, depending on what the item is). Much easier/faster the first way.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:24 pm

Just FYI, I'm going to take one last smattering of markdowns this afternoon. I still plan to close Curio City on Friday 12/21, although I might keep it going through 12/31 if sales hold up. So you have 3-4 more weeks to buy stuff at cost or below.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:36 pm

I ordered a couple of Kindle Fire 7" for $30 each for the kids, my daughter broke the charging port on hers, and my son hasn't seen his in months (I think my wife got mad at him and threw it away). Also ordered one kiddie case (hope they didn't change the form-factor again and my daughter's case still works) and some extra USB charging cables. I have Prime, if you select super-slow shipping, they give you $1 credit per item towards digital content.

As far as venturing into any retail stores today, hell no. I'm at work anyway. There's about a dozen cars in the parking lot - one is mine, one is the security guard, and some, presumably, belong to employees of a different company that occupies the second floor (it's a 5 story office building with typically 600-700 people here on most days).

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:36 pm

Kraken wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:24 pm Just FYI, I'm going to take one last smattering of markdowns this afternoon. I still plan to close Curio City on Friday 12/21, although I might keep it going through 12/31 if sales hold up. So you have 3-4 more weeks to buy stuff at cost or below.

I am sorely tempted to buy my in-laws the Darwin Christmas Ornament.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 1:50 pm

Is it possible to win Black Friday sales? Because I think Cards Against Humanity did.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 1:58 pm

coopasonic wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:36 pm
Kraken wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:24 pm Just FYI, I'm going to take one last smattering of markdowns this afternoon. I still plan to close Curio City on Friday 12/21, although I might keep it going through 12/31 if sales hold up. So you have 3-4 more weeks to buy stuff at cost or below.
I am sorely tempted to buy my in-laws the Darwin Christmas Ornament.

I think I have 2 of those left. You know you want one.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 2:08 pm

coopasonic wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:36 pm
Kraken wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:24 pm Just FYI, I'm going to take one last smattering of markdowns this afternoon. I still plan to close Curio City on Friday 12/21, although I might keep it going through 12/31 if sales hold up. So you have 3-4 more weeks to buy stuff at cost or below.
I am sorely tempted to buy my in-laws the Darwin Christmas Ornament.

OMG that is hilarious. Looks just like Santy! Tempted to get one for my crazy flat-earther uncle, though it might send him to his grave early. My Dad could use one as well.

Alt. marketing text:

Inspire and educate the Deplorables in your life against their will! This weaponized culture-war ornament is brilliant in a Trojan Horse kind of way. Make sure to unwrap it and give sans box so the unwitting victim will assume it's old white man Santa, then spring the trap days or even weeks later after it's been 'contaminating' their Christian Christmas tree. Then sit back and watch the secular fireworks as your loved one openly wrangles with the inner conflict of science and logic vs. years of baked-in religion and Bible-reading.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 2:26 pm

Kraken wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 1:58 pm
coopasonic wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:36 pm
Kraken wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:24 pm Just FYI, I'm going to take one last smattering of markdowns this afternoon. I still plan to close Curio City on Friday 12/21, although I might keep it going through 12/31 if sales hold up. So you have 3-4 more weeks to buy stuff at cost or below.
I am sorely tempted to buy my in-laws the Darwin Christmas Ornament.
I think I have 2 of those left. You know you want one.

Nabbed one plus a Cthulhu - my kids will love these.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 3:25 pm

Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 2:08 pm
OMG that is hilarious. Looks just like Santy! Tempted to get one for my crazy flat-earther uncle, though it might send him to his grave early. My Dad could use one as well.

Alt. marketing text:

Inspire and educate the Deplorables in your life against their will! This weaponized culture-war ornament is brilliant in a Trojan Horse kind of way. Make sure to unwrap it and give sans box so the unwitting victim will assume it's old white man Santa, then spring the trap days or even weeks later after it's been 'contaminating' their Christian Christmas tree. Then sit back and watch the secular fireworks as your loved one openly wrangles with the inner conflict of science and logic vs. years of baked-in religion and Bible-reading.

Heh. I wish I could've taken a more personal stand in my product text, but I could never afford to alienate half of my customers. I actually don't add the Atheist Stocking to the Featured list because it was making people rage-quit. But now that I'm running out of everything, I haven't got as much to lose.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 2:26 pm
Kraken wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 1:58 pm
coopasonic wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:36 pm
Kraken wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:24 pm Just FYI, I'm going to take one last smattering of markdowns this afternoon. I still plan to close Curio City on Friday 12/21, although I might keep it going through 12/31 if sales hold up. So you have 3-4 more weeks to buy stuff at cost or below.
I am sorely tempted to buy my in-laws the Darwin Christmas Ornament.
I think I have 2 of those left. You know you want one.
Nabbed one plus a Cthulhu - my kids will love these.

You got the last one of each. I'll send them on their way by Monday.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 3:35 pm

Normally we sit BF out. There just isn't anything that we really need. However, we've been toying with the idea of getting a snow blower. As I've gotten older, I've found that shoveling really jacks me up. I'm sore for days. Plus, now that I work from home, I don't feel motivated to shovel. But gilraen doesn't want to have to do all the shoveling either. And since I do want to stay married...

So on a whim last night I decided to look at the deals.

Just finished setting up our new Troy-Bilt 2 stage gas snow blower.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 3:47 pm

When we bought our house, I was dead set on not having a snow blower. The driveway is good-sized, but not massive. I figured it would be good exercise. My wife was pushing me to get one, but I refused.

The first snow of the year was 6" of heavy, wet garbage snow. About a quarter of the way through, I decided I was wrong, and I definitely wanted a snow blower. Three seasons later, I haven't regretted it.

I'm always thankful that neither my wife nor I like going out shopping at the best of times, so going out on black friday has never even been a discussion. I worked retail for years, so I've had my fill of it. We usually grab some stuff online, but that's it. This year, I seem to be finding less that interests me than previous years. Probably because I've basically switched from blu rays to digital for movies and shows, and I'm pretty committed to playing the two or three games I have in progress, and the sales on the other games I might be interested in haven't been amazing. And I think I convinced my wife to get me a PSVR, so I'd rather save game budget for games for that.

One of my college buddies has a wife who loves going out for doorbuster sales, and she drags him. I just don't understand at all.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 3:59 pm

Chaz wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 3:47 pm
The first snow of the year was 6" of heavy, wet garbage snow. About a quarter of the way through, I decided I was wrong, and I definitely wanted a snow blower. Three seasons later, I haven't regretted it.

Last year on a similar-type snowfall, I was shoveling our moderate-to-large driveway and sidewalk - at the same time my neighbor across the house did his with a snow blower. We finished at about the same time. Sure, my back felt a little tweaked when I was done, but at least I felt I accomplished something.

Besides, Chicago hasn't been a hot bed of global warming in recent years, and I don't want to invite fate to change that. My kids like playing in snow, they will never forgive daddy for buying a snow-warding device. Think I'm kidding? When I was young, I bought one for my dad. It sat in the garage for three full years -- it was that long until we saw another significant snow. By the time it was needed, it didn't even work.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 4:20 pm

Kraken wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 3:25 pm Heh. I wish I could've taken a more personal stand in my product text, but I could never afford to alienate half of my customers. I actually don't add the Atheist Stocking to the Featured list because it was making people rage-quit. But now that I'm running out of everything, I haven't got as much to lose.

Holy crap that Atheist stocking... I don't think my wife would let me put it up... but I wants it!

(now somebody please buy all of those and save me the trouble)

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 4:38 pm

Chaz wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 3:47 pm When we bought our house, I was dead set on not having a snow blower. The driveway is good-sized, but not massive. I figured it would be good exercise. My wife was pushing me to get one, but I refused.

The first snow of the year was 6" of heavy, wet garbage snow. About a quarter of the way through, I decided I was wrong, and I definitely wanted a snow blower. Three seasons later, I haven't regretted it.

Same. I was in my 30's. I'm no longer in my 30's. I now have some health issues, some of which are self-inflicted but not all of them, and I absolutely dread shoveling. My 14yo son helps now, but he's...not athletic. So it's a challenge.

I "borrowed" a family gas snow blower last year and only used it 3 times, but it saved my ass those 3 times. My son and I have shoveled everything this year, but the blower is there waiting for when it gets really bad.

One of my favourite adult me shoveling memories is the year I was working out in front of the TV. Pushups, situps, tricep dips, back arches, planks. I was doing it every day and increasing the reps regularly. That winter no driveway could defeat me. I barely noticed I had shoveled when I came in. One particularly heavy snowfall, I did our driveway and then went over and helped our neighbor (they were both older, and he was a dick. I never was in return) and his wife shovel theirs as well. I could have shoveled several more driveways after that.

Today, I'm actually mildly afraid when I have to shovel. Back then, I was unstoppable. I don't just mean I was younger, I mean I was stronger than I had been in a decade. Shoveling was light exercise. Today, I'm incapacitated for days.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 4:45 pm

I also prefer Cyber Monday. The only thing Black Friday is good for is to get online and watch the fights and craziness. We went one time. Stood in the rain....found nothing.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 7:11 pm

I finally tipped from "I'm getting too old to shovel" to "I AM too old" about five years ago. Like JeffV, I figured it would never snow again after I got my machine, and that was mostly true the first year. And then came 2014-15, the snowiest winter in local history. I would not have survived it without my snowblower. We have a really long, narrow driveway, and it's cut my snow-removal time in half or better. Still have to hand-shovel the porch and steps, of course. Mine's very similar to the TroyBuilt that TheMix bought, the smallest self-propelled two-stage that I could find.

Business Insider says that this could be the last truly cheap Black Friday until Trump is gone. Unless one side blinks, the tariffs will start to hit consumer goods in the spring.

As for shopping, we declare the nearby mall a no-go zone from Black Friday through New Years. Not that I ever go to the mall anyway, but there are a few restaurants in the vicinity that we shun due to mall traffic. I honestly don't understand what possesses people to form that horde.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 9:49 pm

Had some things in my Amazon save for later list. They were cheap today, so I added them to my cart and bought them. Pair of trousers for me and a Zelda book for the kiddo. I live on the edge.

Ralph-Wiggum · Post by **Ralph-Wiggum** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 11:49 pm

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 1:50 pm Is it possible to win Black Friday sales? Because I think Cards Against Humanity did.

This was the best. I tried to get a few of the items and actually got to the billing stage for the fist sized emerald and the guitar signed by Jimmy Carter. I would have had a better shot at getting the 8' Anubis statue if my dad didn't vary on the four different ways to spell the name of Nefiriti's husband!*

*After clicking the "buy now" button, their "I am not a robot" test was a trivia question related to the item. You had to get it correct to get to the part where you entered your CC info. The question for the emerald was "What does adding an emerald to a socket in Diablo imbue in your weapon?". The one for the guitar was "On becoming president, Carter had to sell his _______ farm".

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Sat Nov 24, 2018 12:57 am

Critical damage.
Peanut.

Do I win anything?

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sat Nov 24, 2018 1:22 am

TheMix wrote: ↑Sat Nov 24, 2018 12:57 am Critical damage.
Peanut.

Do I win anything?

My first thought was f*cking farm.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Sat Nov 24, 2018 2:51 am

It's kind of crazy, but even though Canada doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving in November, in the last 5 years or so, stores have adopted Black Friday sales. This year has been especially prominent, starting with presales happening a week earlier.

Our Epson All-In-One unit started malfunctioning a week right before the sales, imagine that. So, last Friday we picked up a new one that was on sale, a $200 unit on sale for $70.

Ralph-Wiggum · Post by **Ralph-Wiggum** » Sat Nov 24, 2018 8:58 am

TheMix wrote:Critical damage.
Peanut.

Do I win anything?

The answer to the Diablo question was “poison”, so you win nothing!

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Sat Nov 24, 2018 1:05 pm

Was this the first Diablo? Because in D3 it most definitely is not poison. "Critical Hit Damage increased by xx.x%"

Ralph-Wiggum · Post by **Ralph-Wiggum** » Sat Nov 24, 2018 1:50 pm

I think the question just said “Diablo”. Don’t remember for sure, though.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Sat Nov 24, 2018 2:11 pm

gilraen said she got the question also. And it was Diablo 2. Which makes sense I guess.... I don't remember gems in D1.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Nov 24, 2018 3:51 pm

No gems in D1. In D2 its poison. D3 its crit hit damage.

http://diablo.wikia.com/wiki/Emerald

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Sat Nov 24, 2018 3:52 pm

In D3 it's not extra gold. It's bonus crit damage.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Nov 24, 2018 3:55 pm

Ya caught that and went to edit my post but your's was below me and I thought mine was the last post so I kept clicking your's trying to edit mine..doh.

Zitterbacke · Post by **Zitterbacke** » Sun Nov 25, 2018 11:24 am

So everything on my wishlist is cheaper. Some items even considerably. Nope, still no buy. The industry doesn't even hate me anymore, they just ignore me by now.

mori · Post by **mori** » Sun Nov 25, 2018 1:04 pm

Been spending money on Amazon for stuff I did not know I needed. But I did learn something today. What the heck is Ghee.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Sun Nov 25, 2018 2:32 pm

I usually don't take advantage of Black Friday sales because many times they're only worth it for big ticket items. And I rarely buy big ticket items.

This year, however, was an anomaly. I picked up two cheap laptops for the kiddos for school, and got my mom a great deal on an iPad. Also picked up an Insta-Pot for my wife for a pretty good price.

I REALLY want a 4K TV but the good news with those is that if you miss Black Friday you'll have another opportunity to pick them up cheap when Super Bowl time rolls around. Perhaps even better deals since that's when they'll do their crazy financing offers.

disarm · Post by **disarm** » Sun Nov 25, 2018 4:00 pm

I feel like we made out pretty good with Black Friday sales this year...

65" Samsung Q6 QLED $1200 (reg $2100)
Instant Pot Ultra 6qt $85 (reg $150)
Lenovo 2-in-1 Chromebook $180 (reg $280)

Those are the biggest ticket items, but we also got some smaller stuff. We actually bought two of the Chromebooks because they're going to our 10yo twins who are using similar devices a lot at school. They actually told us that's what they would like for Christmas, and now they'll be able to do their homework without touching my computer

The Instant Pot is something we've been considering for a while, and that price for the Ultra is in line with the best I've ever seen for the lower model. Now to see if it lives up to the hype...

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Sun Nov 25, 2018 4:51 pm

disarm wrote: ↑Sun Nov 25, 2018 4:00 pmThe Instant Pot is something we've been considering for a while, and that price for the Ultra is in line with the best I've ever seen for the lower model. Now to see if it lives up to the hype...

It will not.

killbot737 · Post by **killbot737** » Sun Nov 25, 2018 5:02 pm

I don't really need to save for, or spend a lot on consumer "stuff" anymore. My 'growth and 'growth and income' mutual and ETF funds (yes, redundancy) thank the rest of you.

disarm · Post by **disarm** » Sun Nov 25, 2018 6:37 pm

Carpet_pissr wrote:
disarm wrote: ↑Sun Nov 25, 2018 4:00 pmThe Instant Pot is something we've been considering for a while, and that price for the Ultra is in line with the best I've ever seen for the lower model. Now to see if it lives up to the hype...
It will not.

As a family with three kids and two parents working full time jobs, anything that helps to cook more varied dinners in less time will be a win

mori · Post by **mori** » Sun Nov 25, 2018 6:39 pm

Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Sun Nov 25, 2018 4:51 pm
disarm wrote: ↑Sun Nov 25, 2018 4:00 pmThe Instant Pot is something we've been considering for a while, and that price for the Ultra is in line with the best I've ever seen for the lower model. Now to see if it lives up to the hype...
It will not.

+1

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Sun Nov 25, 2018 8:34 pm

disarm wrote:
Carpet_pissr wrote:
disarm wrote: ↑Sun Nov 25, 2018 4:00 pmThe Instant Pot is something we've been considering for a while, and that price for the Ultra is in line with the best I've ever seen for the lower model. Now to see if it lives up to the hype...
It will not.
As a family with three kids and two parents working full time jobs, anything that helps to cook more varied dinners in less time will be a win

Hey, more power to ya’ man. If the whole “in less time” part turns out to be true, let me know! I seriously wondered if maybe I didn’t ‘get’ something about it since the whole internet was a gaga with it for a while.

I will say this - if you’re making something with some kind of large frozen protein (chunk o’ beef, chicken breasts, etc) it’s very nice to be able to throw that in there with whatever else you are cooking with it, and cook all pretty quickly.

Outside of that use case, the time savings just is not there for the things I’ve tried (Mac and cheese, mashed pots, several others I can’t remember - shrimp something).

Again, probably just have not tried enough of the things that it excels at to impress me.

mori · Post by **mori** » Sun Nov 25, 2018 11:32 pm

I just don't trust the fucking thing. It will stop working randomly and I cannot let my eye off the thing. And it requires some cooking skill to pull off something worth eating. Consider it only a high tech slow cooker. I doubt most consumers use any other function of this device.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Mon Nov 26, 2018 12:00 am

Every year my wife gets some crazy kitchen gadget that is all the rage. One year it was a food dehydrator (used once). Another year it was an air fryer (used twice). Another year it was a pasta maker (used once). This year it's the Insta-Pot. That one she got talked into because a friend of hers uses it religiously.

I hope she uses it, but her track record isn't promising.

But it's what she wants. Lord knows I can't talk. I can't count the number of board games I've received for Christmas that only got to the table once or twice.