Busting Black Friday Myths

With Black Friday becoming "Black Friday Weekend,” millions of people will hit stores in search of the best deals.  But it doesn't mean you're always guaranteed to get them. 

Most people think they have to wait until Friday or at least Thanksgiving night for the deals.  But the truth is many retailers have already launched their Black Friday sales. 

For example, Amazon.com started offering deals Monday and is running them all week long.

You may think you have to camp out to get the best deals and that can be true if you want the doorbuster item, which is probably in limited supply.   But you don't need to camp out because more and Black Friday deals are available online, as well as in-stores.

According to dealnews.com, 70 percent of in-store Black Friday deals were also available online for the same price or in some cases, even less.

This may be the biggest Black Friday myth of all: that all the deals are the lowest price of the year.  According the dealnews, that's not true for toys; they actually drop to the lowest price right before Christmas.

You can buy a new HD-TV cheaper between December and February.  And winter clothing is discounted more after Christmas.

You may think once a store lists its sales, that's all they're offering.  But that's not the case either. 

On Thanksgiving Day, retailers like Walmart and Best Buy have been known to offer Black Friday deals that weren't in their print ads. These "secret" deals are only found online. 

Plus, if one of their competitors slashes the price on an item, big box stores are likely to follow suit.  You'll want to check KELOLAND shops regularly for Black Friday sale updates.

And according to one research group, the rising star in this shopping frenzy is Cyber Monday.  A record-setting $1.5 billion is expected to be spent this year alone.  That jump of 21 percent in revenue in five years is due to consumers wanting to avoid the crowds and feeling more comfortable shopping online.