2008 Black Friday Sales Overview

The 2008 Scrapbook Update Black Friday Sales Guide is live…here’s an overview of what you can expect to find on sale this year and some tips of what to look for on Black Friday.

(It’s too early early yet to talk about the craft store sales since most of those ads aren’t available, so those sales are not included in this discussion.)

First, let’s look at cameras. As predicted, there aren’t many deals to be had in the DSLR category. Circuit City is selling the Nikon D40 in today’s ad for the same price that other stores will have it on Black Friday ($449). All of those prices are higher than the everyday price of $446.95 at Amazon. Best Buy is advertising the Nikon D60 today for the same price that Circuit City is advertising it for Black Friday ($574.99), but again both prices are higher than the regular price of $571.95 at Amazon. The same is true of basically every single other advertised DSLR price for Black Friday – Amazon’s regular prices are lower. The sole exception may be Sear’s doorbuster for the D40 kit with the extra bonus lens.

There are some deals to be had on point-and-shoots depending on the model, but you have to do your research and shop carefully. At the same store where one camera model is a great deal, another one won’t be, so shop carefully. The camera sales guide includes links to the Amazon prices when they are lower than the advertised price for a model, so it can be used as a guide. (I use Amazon as my reference for camera deals because in my experience their prices for cameras are usually the lowest available. I’ve personally bought my last several cameras from them.)

Whether or not you are in the market for a new camera, Black Friday is definitely the day to stock up on memory cards for the one that you have! Lots of stores use memory cards as doorbuster loss leaders on black friday. I try to avoid buying memory cards any day but Black Friday because of this. I stock up even if I don’t really think I need any new ones, just in case, because they are so cheap! At a lot of stores you will have to get there early to get them before they run out (and there are limits on how many you can buy), but at a savings of often $30-40 per card, it is well worth it.

The same is also true of external hard drives and USB thumb drives on black friday – there are great deals that are unmatched the rest of the year. If you even think you might need one of those items, go out early and buy it on Friday! But you’ll need to go early (usually right at store opening) since those items are usually in limited quantities (and often doorbusters) and often sell out immediately.

There are also traditionally great deals on digital media like CD-R and DVD-R’s on black friday, and this year the office supply stores like Staples, OfficeMax and Office Depot are continuing to offer those deals along with Circuit City.

There aren’t a lot of software deals, unless you’ve been considering buying Microsoft Office Home & Student. It’s being sold for a heavily discounted $69.99 at a wide range of stores on black friday, and for $59.99 after rebate at Staples. If you’re looking for computer peripherals, the office and electronics stores have a wide range of keyboard and mouse accessories on offer.

Digital picture frames are an item that is also heavily discounted on black friday this year, just like the past few years. Depending on the size, brand and features (frames are available now with calendars, clocks and even radios), there are a huge range of options on black friday priced from $30-$230.

If you are looking for a printer or supplies, Staples is trying to be the place to be on black friday. They are the only store besides Costco offering printer supplies (paper) on sale, and are offering the widest range of printers on sale it appears. There are a wide range of printers being heavily discounted on black friday at a variety of stores – make sure you do your research before you shop to get one that will work best for your needs. Most of the printers being offered are “all-in-one” models, but a few photo printers and laser printers are being discounted as well.

There are tons of options for computer shopping on black friday. Quite a few laptops and desktops will be on sale, and there are a few monitors too. Most of the sale machines are either HP or Dells (with a few Toshibas). Everything from very basic machines up to high-powered machines are available. The best deals are doorbusters at places like Walmart, Best Buy and Circuit City. Plan on camping out to be first in line if you want to  get one of those.

But there are other good prices besides doorbusters being offered on computers if you shop around. It looks like Dell will be offering the best deals on their own products direct from their own website. For HP and other brands, know what specifications you want and then compare prices across stores for similar machines to find the best deal. Alternatively, you could shop by price point and pick the machine that gets you the most at that price point but you may end up sorely disappointed in what the machine can do for you if you don’t have a minimum specification set for what you need.

Happy shopping and watch for postings as updates are made to the listings throughout the week!

Visit The Listings:

Black Friday Welcome Page
Printers & Print Supplies
Laptops & Desktops & Monitors
Digital Media/Misc. Computer/Software
Digital Cameras
Digital SLR’s
Memory Cards
Picture Frames
Scrapbooking Supplies & Equipment
External Hard Drives & USB Flash Drives