Black Friday Deals [Master Post w/ regular updates this week]

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Black Friday is here and many great deals are now on. This post will serve as a Black Friday Master List of deals that may be of interest. Since many of the hottest deals will not last long, some of the Quick Deals today and this weekend will be very light on details in order to facilitate getting them out to readers as fast as possible. As we post them, we will link back to this post and add them to the top of the list (so you won’t have to scroll far to find newly-added deals if you’ve bookmarked this post). We will constantly add to this post in coming days, so check back for newly-added deals.

a cartoon of a boy holding a megaphone

There are three types of deals we intend to post here this week:

  1. Deals that would appeal to travelers. This might be hotel or flight related or travel-related products like noise-canceling headphones or luggage. We may also include discounted gift cards for restaurants, etc.
  2. Deals that may be good for resale. Some readers generate points through the purchase and resale of products, so we’ll include some deals that may not seem directly relevant to readers but could be good ways to generate points if you have resale avenues. Keep in mind stacking opportunities like discounted gift cards, portal rewards, etc.
  3. Deals that are so strong they can’t be ignored for one reason or another. Speaks for itself.

We’ll try to divide those up until categories below by Gift CardsMerchandise, and Travel and let you decide for yourself whether they are things you want/need or want to resell. Note that there will likely be some cross-pollination in terms of deals that aren’t strictly Black Friday deals but will work in tandem with sales. For instance, if eBay lists a gift card sale for Lowe’s, we’ll include it here this week since you can likely stack that with Lowe’s Black Friday deals.

As always, keep in mind some basic shopping best practices:

  • Shop in one browser, buy in another. When using shopping portals and coupon sites, it’s pretty easy to inadvertently click in the wrong place and have your click “stolen” by a portal you didn’t intend to use (i.e. you clicked through an airline portal to Macy’s, but then you clicked a button to reveal a coupon code from some other site that also led to Macy’s and it caused the airline portal to lose the tracking cookie). For this reason, I do my shopping around and coupon testing in one browser (for example, Firefox). When it’s time to buy, I open a brand new window in a different browser (Chrome) to make my purchase. I start at my chosen portal, click through to the site from which I’m buying, fill my cart, apply any coupons, and check out in one fluid sequence.
  • Use the right credit card. We’ll always try to make a suggestion when one seems relevant — for example, we’ll probably mention the Chase Ink Cash card if the deal is at an office supply store. Still, it’s worth keeping in mind what you have in your wallet and which of those cards would be most advantageous for you from a points-earning perspective. See our Best Category Bonuses page for a reminder as to the best cards to use.
  • Keep credit card purchase benefits in mind. This is truly part of using the right card. Keep in mind that many rewards credit cards have purchase benefits like extended warranty. Some offer purchase protections against damage, theft, or guaranteeing a minimum return period (that may be longer than the store would accept). Price protection has taken a hit on many cards (See: Price protection overview by issuer), but still exists on a number as well. While paying with discounted gift cards might yield more savings, you would forgo protections like these – so consider each when making those decisions.
  • Buy first, think later? A popular mantra on deal sites like Slickdeals is “Buy first, think later”. That is to say that the hottest deals will be gone so quickly that you don’t really have time to consider them. Thanks to return policies, 24 hour free cancellation periods, etc, it can be pretty easy to live by that mantra in many cases. But be sure to check the fine print — is there a restocking fee? Does this travel agency charge a fee for refunds (saw this recently)? Do I really want/need this and/or am I going to take the effort to sell it? It might be a great deal, but that doesn’t make it great for you.

Finally, don’t forget any current shopping portal bonuses that can add to the deal.

With all that out of the way, here are some currently-available deals that might be of interest as per my reasons outlined above. As noted at the outset, I will add to this post throughout the rest of this week and into Cyber Monday, with the most recently-added deals to be added at the top of the list.

Gift Cards

Merchandise

Travel

Announced and coming soon

Expired deals previously posted

Bottom line

Remember that a deal is only a deal if it saves you money — if it causes you to spend money you ordinarily wouldn’t, it’s not a win. Keep checking back over the coming days as new deals will be added throughout the day each day.

Also be sure you’re using one of the Best credit cards for Black Friday deals.

Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
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