Finding Christmas Bargains - How to Save Money in Christmas Sales

Everybody knows that Christmas is about giving and what a particular gift costs should be irrelevant, but unfortunately most of us don’t enjoy unlimited cash and in these tough economic times, must reduce our spending so as not to wind up with a large debt once Christmas has come and gone. The good news is there are some great money saving bargains and Christmas sales to be discovered during the Christmas season shopping period. You can save you a great deal of money if you play it smart and don’t rush into purchasing gifts like everyone else is doing.

When it comes down to it, finding bargains at Christmas time is actually not that hard. Finding an item that is NOT a bargain can even be quite a challenge. Most stores are aware that Christmas shoppers will be out en-mass and know that they have to offer the sweetest deals possible to get the biggest slice of the retail pie in their part of town.

When looking for good deals it can be beneficial to spend time browsing before the Christmas period, rather than waitin snapping up the first good looking deal that you see when Christmas is in full swing. Window shopping gives you an idea about how much an item costs which you can use to determine how much you’ll be saving in a sale. If you’re keeping an eye on a particular item well before Christmas has begun, you can take advantage when a sale opportunity comes along.

Ensure you take note of return policies offered on the items you are intending to buy. If you change your mind after buying an item you might end up stuck with it if there’s a no return policy on the item and the recipient of your gift will have no option but to hold onto a gift that they don’t want if it turns out they are not as keen as you thought they would be.

Something you should be particularly aware of is the fact that just because a sales item has been drastically reduced, does not mean that you are missing out if you don’t buy the said item. If it is an item you really have no use for, you are not SAVING money by purchasing it, in fact you are WASTING money. Many shoppers get wrapped up in snapping up bargains that do not match any of the recipients on their Christmas lists. It might be one of the best Christmas sales you have seen, but if there is nothing that is of any use to you, you are wasting money. Simple as that.

For more shopping advice and Christmas sales tips, visit our website. Best Christmas Toys Online

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kathryn_Holland

To drum up early sales this season and get a head start on their competition, retailers from Sears to Walmart to Kohl’s started marketing pre-Black Friday sales earlier this month.

Walmart tacks a $40 gift card on to gaming packages that include a Wii and Guitar Hero. Best Buy offers 32-inch LCD televisions for $300. Amazon.com offers Star Trek DVDs at more than 50 percent discount and free EA Sports games with the purchase of a PlayStation 3.

If you were shocked by the After Christmas sales at popular shopping spots like Saks and Bergdorf Goodman? Join the shopping club. This season, looks like everything will be discounted.

But some retailers have been waiting until after the holidays to offer sales. These stores’ owners feel thaitat their products are unique enough that there’s adequate demand for them before the holidays–and that loyal customers will scramble for the leftovers once the discounts do kick in, after the first of the year.

Among offers:

•Sears will offer up to 75% off on electronics and 50% off on Craftsman tool storage chests. Kmart will add 40% off to clearance items, already marked down 30%.

•Toys R Us circulars will bill the day after Christmas as the “biggest” after-holiday sale with deals including an $81.99 race car set for $19.99 and table games, originally $239.99, for $131.99.

•Crate & Barrel will have savings of up to 70%.

•J.C. Penney stores open at 5:30 a.m. with twice as many door-buster deals as last year. Among the 100 deals: 70% off jewelry.

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Ben’s Bargain’s - It’s a deal aggregator that scours the web for the best deals on electronics, appliances, and various other products. Many of the items that they feature are perfect gifts for the holiday season.

Passwird – It’s a lot like Ben’s Bargains and sometimes their deals overlap. However, Ben’s Bargains focuses a little more on electronics while Passwird looks for deals in genres of consumer goods.

Deal Catcher – Deal Catcher helps you locate the best deals on the web, printable and online coupons, and short-term promotions.

Deal Info – Deal Info is another good deals and coupon aggregating site to find sweet deals online.

Black Friday – Want a leg up on the Black Friday doorbuster deals? Check out this site for retailer black friday ads posted well before Thanksgiving day.

Amazon – With a daily deals page and a section for Black Friday deals, this massive site always has bargains to be found.

eBay – Don’t like having to wait for the whole auction process? eBay is changing it’s model to one of fixed pricing so you won’t have to hassle with bidding and waiting. You can still find some real bargains there, just use these tips for Christmas deals on eBay to take advantage of things like free shipping.

Retailers will likely be slashing prices to encourage sales in this weak economy so go online to find some great deals and avoid the traffic this holiday shopping season. Here are some tips on how to save money on shipping when purchasing online. Just make sure you don’t wait too long, or your item might not ship before Christmas.

source: moneysmartlife.com

Enjoy!

Secrets to finding After-Christmas or Clearance home theater bargains
By Robert Silva, About.com

After-Christmas, Year-End, and Clearance sales are a great time get some good deals, but you can also end up with a purchase disaster. This is where the consumer needs to shop smart. Don’t just grab the newspaper AD and run down to your local consumer electronics retailer without arming yourself with useful knowledge and tools to get the most from your dollar.

This is the time of year when retailers try to do several things: Sell any overstock still taking up too much shelf space, sell items that are soon to be on the clearance list, turnaround gift returns/exchanges (both opened and unopened), sell through old display models, and sell old product that has been to service.

Overstock Items
This is where the consumer can get a good deal, depending on how desperate the store is to clear out shelf space. Overstock items are usually those loss leaders, such as those famous $30 DVD players, $199 27-inch Televisions, and $249 budget home theater packages that are still new and in sealed boxes. Here you know that they haven’t been opened, returned, or used.
These may not always be the best known name-brand models, but can be a good value, as long as they are available. These items are usually the first to go in an after-Christmas sale, so get to the store early the day after Christmas for the best chance of grabbing one of these products.

Soon-To-Be-Clearance Items
This is my favorite bargain-sale category. Here is the “scoop”. Every January, the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is held in Las Vegas in which all the consumer electronics manufacturers from around the World unveil their products for the coming year.

These products start to hit shelves in February and continue into the Spring and Summer. Needless to say, buyers from the big consumer electronics retail chains to small regional and home town independents flock to this show in order to place orders for new products.

However, in order to beat the competition in placing these products on store shelves, the retailers must clear out current products targeted for replacement from their warehouses and stores as quickly as possible.

This is where the consumer can benefit. If a retailer made the “mistake” of over-estimating the demand for a particular AV receiver, for instance, and has lots of stock left by February, it will be more difficult to move the older model as its competitors, who didn’t over order stock on the old model, sell the newer model when it arrives.

So, in order to “get rid” of the currently overstocked model, retailers will often place notice of a significant price drop on the older model.

However, many consumers don’t react well to the word “clearance”, which gives the connotation that the product may be, in some way, inferior to a newer model (that may or may not be the case in reality). Therefore, the promotion for the old model often carries an AD notice of a “Price Drop”, “Instant Discount”, or “Instant Rebate” or even “Special Purchase”. Also, an additional indicator of a clearance item is in the fine print; check for the phrases “While Supplies Last” and/or “No Rainchecks”.

If you are bargain hunting, this could end up being a great deal. The retailer gets rid of a product that will soon be discontinued and the consumer gets a great price.

If you don’t need the latest and greatest, and the “clearance” product has everything you really need, this could work out well. The key is to make sure the product meets your needs by checking out the features ahead of time on either the manufacturer’s or store’s website, if possible.

Retailers and E-tailers will be pulling out all the stops for the home stretch into the holiday season. When you shop online at the right store you can get even bigger discounts than the sale signs in store windows advertise.

The secret to saving money is knowing where to find deep discounts most people don’t even know exist.

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J.C. Penney announced today that it will open at 5:30 a.m. on the day after Christmas and offer 100 doorbuster specials, which is says is twice as many as last year.

I know, I know. You’re still trying to wrap up your Christmas shopping and haven’t even begun to contemplate after christmas sales.

But retailers are. And here’s why.

They want us to spend the gift cards we receive as holiday presents as soon as possible because the cards don’t count as sales until they are redeemed for merchandise.

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This year, though, things may be tough. Almost everything has already been on sale for more than 50% off. To lure me out on Dec. 26 for leftovers, stores would have to be giving stuff away.

Many of us are also opting to buy each other deeply discounted sweaters and jackets and toys instead of gift cards that never go on sale. According to the National Retail Federation, a Washington, D.C., retail trade organization, gift card sales are expected to fall about 6% this year and gift card buyers are expected to spend less on them $147.33 compared to $156.24 in 2007.

J.C. Penney is calling Dec. 26 the new Black Friday — the name given for the day after Thanksgiving shopping discount frenzy that is the traditional start of the holiday shopping season. Just like it did on Black Friday, it’s offering shoppers a free wake-up call so they don’t miss the Dec. 26 sale. If you want one, sign up at www.jcp.com starting Dec. 23.

Among the earlybird sales which go from 5:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.: 50-60% off lots of private label clothing for men and women and 75% off Christmas trim and decor.

source: http://www.freep.com/article/20081219/FEATURES13/81219095

I’m not sure about how you feel, but I have a great time shopping at Walmart. Every year especially around Christmas, I find some cool after Christmas deals at Walmart.

Over the years Walmart has really grown with the number of products you can buy in their stores and their prices have all remained very low! I don’t know about you, but I shop at Walmart and save a bundle. After Christmas Sales is no different story.

Walmart provides low prices at their stores and even offers Walmart.com discounts! If you are looking to score some of the best deals online, be sure to check their website and have fun shopping in their store.