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Black Friday Anti-Deals: What Not To Buy
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bobkoure
11/25/09

In reply to Black Friday Anti-Deals: What Not To Buy
What? No mention of avoiding buying additional warantes?
And at BestBuy, at least, you're probably going to a get high pressure sales pitch to get one - unless the salesperson is too flat-out busy to keep harassing you, which might be the only bright spot of a BB BF.
Stay safe out there!
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Win7autoCrash
11/24/09

In reply to Black Friday Anti-Deals: What Not To Buy
Target has $3 sandwich makers.

A $3 grilled cheese maker is worth a 12 hour wait in line...

Giz needs to devote a whole week of gadgets on this product alone. the best kitchen gadget ever, well that and the pizzazz (those two products kept me fed during college).
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Odin
11/25/09

@Win7autoCrash:
Yeah I can't count the number of times I borrowed my friends sandwich toaster at university. I love throwing extra fillings in with the cheese on those things. Salsa is a favourite but other stuff such as chopped cherry tomatoes, (cooked) bits of bacon, worcester sauce, pickle, and just about anything that works with cheese.

Caution though, it's better to let the sandwich cool a little longer than you normally might. Some extra fillings get very very hot.
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N@tedog
11/25/09

@Odin: This is Gizmodo. Cookmodo is over there.
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Edited by N@tedog at 11/25/09 8:50 AM N@tedog was starred N@tedog was unstarred

Odin
11/25/09

@N@tedog:

You've obviously forgotten about Gizs weeklong food special!
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crackel
11/24/09

In reply to Black Friday Anti-Deals: What Not To Buy
If people fall into that mob mentality and spend more than they should have for an item, it's their fault. They should do their research before they show up at the store. At least there's shoppers and black friday deal pages (and supposed "leaks") to give us some heads up time to do research, like Giz has so nicely done.

With the economy how it is, consumer spending creeping up so slowly, and GDP growth under where we wanted it to be, nobody should be surprised that retailers are trying to get people to buy things, no matter what.

I hate to say this, but a successful Black Friday with and lots of irresponsible spending is what the economy needs. On the other hand, gadget spending is not as great for us since most of the manufacturers are off-shore.
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Edited by crackel at 11/24/09 10:35 PM crackel was starred crackel was unstarred

(Starman) Starman
11/24/09

In reply to Black Friday Anti-Deals: What Not To Buy
Dang, every time I go to Fry's, it seems like it's always a Black Friday over there. Every thing in the electronics department is MUCH cheaper than in the other stores.

<3 you, Fremont Fry's.
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soggy_cheerio
11/24/09

@(Starman) Starman: Fry's is insane ON Black Friday. I swear the first year I decided to venture out to Fry's on Black Friday, it took 2.5hrs+ to check out. They had 70 checkouts open. :O And, right around half of the people in line had a TV.

(As with any other retailer, you do have to do your homework as to the quality of the deal.)
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EBone
11/24/09

In reply to Black Friday Anti-Deals: What Not To Buy
Nobody who reads Giz shops at brick-and-mortar black friday sales, right? We all know how to get the best deals online without frakking with that mess, right? Right?
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Kerfudle has free , and ...
11/24/09

In reply to Black Friday Anti-Deals: What Not To Buy
Nice anti-inflation pic. Hope more follow,
sincerely,
Monster Cable
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omgwtflolbbqbye promoted this comment

JohnnyStekino
11/24/09

In reply to Black Friday Anti-Deals: What Not To Buy
Great, Best Buy is overpriced most of the time, I'll skip it, thanks!
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Shamoononon: I shave my legs. promoted this comment JohnnyStekino was starred JohnnyStekino was unstarred

whootowl
11/24/09

@JohnnyStekino: Circuit City is gone, so in many locales there's just no brick-and-mortar competition anymore.

#tips
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(Starman) Starman
11/24/09

@whootowl: Thank god for Fry's. :D
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JohnnyStekino
11/24/09

@whootowl: I know the feeling, but do as I do since competition evolved too: Look things over at Best Buy and how expensive they are, and buy them online like @ Amazon. This is how I bough my TV and saved $480 out of $1699 (can I hear a PS3?)
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Monty
11/24/09

In reply to Black Friday Anti-Deals: What Not To Buy
Sean, send me your snail mail address and we will mail you some adult egg nog to put you in the holiday spirit. You deserve it. Such quality work, but I am concerned that you may be visited by three ghosts shortly, and I want to make certain you are drinking from the happy juice of life as we head into the holiday season.

Thanks for the article -- great information, and will keep all of us from saying "bah humbug" as we get trampled at Walmart on Friday.
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Ioncloud9
11/24/09

In reply to Black Friday Anti-Deals: What Not To Buy
This article made me hate the trend of pricing something a cent or a dollar below a round number to make it look cheaper. $199.99 is not closer to $100.. its well over $200 with tax and everyone knows it... /rant
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Hiphopopotamus promoted this comment Ioncloud9 was starred Ioncloud9 was unstarred

Hiphopopotamus
11/24/09

@Ioncloud9: Now that most online price aggregators sort by lowest price, you will soon yearn for the days of $199... Welcome to the world of $99.98 plus tax $99.99 priority handling and shipping w/ free-trial BuyCo Prized Member Club registration.
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infmom
11/24/09

In reply to Black Friday Anti-Deals: What Not To Buy
If you use Firefox, get the Invisible Hand add-on. It'll let you know if a product you're looking at is available elsewhere for less.
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GitEmSteveDave_HatesFriday
11/24/09

In reply to Black Friday Anti-Deals: What Not To Buy
Ahh "loss leaders". How often do you get suckers into the stores and make them fork over tons of cash while the smart consumers play the waiting game and shop JUST them.
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infmom
11/24/09

@GitEmSteveDave_ForgotNametag: Fry's Electronics has a policy of never providing ads in their stores in an attempt to keep customers from doing just that.
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dingus
11/24/09

@infmom: At least the Austin Fry's has a big plexiglass wall near the entrance with the current newspaper ads posted.
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EBone
11/24/09

@infmom: Both the Frys in San Diego County post their ads just inside the door so you can browse them as soon as you walk in.
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jesusio001
11/24/09

@infmom: Frys in Tempe, AZ has a bulletin board in the front of the store with all their ads. And the employee carry the weeks at around with them. You must have a sh*tty Frys.
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whootowl
11/24/09

@EBone: Right, but good luck finding any of the advertised kit, and it sure is fun to watch the salespeople run away when they sense you are about to ask them a question (like, where is the advertised... ? ).

#tips
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infmom promoted this comment whootowl was starred whootowl was unstarred

infmom
11/24/09

@dingus: @EBone: Yes, they have the ads posted behind plexiglass in the front of the store, but you can't just pick up an ad off a rack and carry it around with you. If you want to do that you have to bring in your own copy of the ad.

In the Burbank Fry's the ads are posted in the returns area, so getting at them is not exactly convenient if there's the usual mob of people trying to return stuff.
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infmom
11/24/09

@jesusio001: I worked at the Burbank Fry's for three years. What the employees carry around is a reduced size photocopy of their department's section of the ad, which you can look at if you ask about it and if your eyesight is up to the challenge (especially that of picking out the Fry's PLU numbers that will tell you which item is actually on sale). Fry's does not have copies of the full ad lying around for customers to pick up.
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infmom
11/24/09

@whootowl: Fry's homebrew inventory system sucks, so looking stuff up is always way more work than it needs to be. And if the system says the store has five or fewer of the item in stock chances are very good that one is the floor model and the rest are gone.
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dingus
11/24/09

@infmom: I know, right? I've gone in looking for things that I consider staple components (4.7uF radial caps, .1" pin headers, 1/4W resistors) and have gone bust every time. If I want 10base2 style tees and terminators, which nobody ever does, then I'm in luck.
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whootowl
11/24/09

In reply to Black Friday Anti-Deals: What Not To Buy
And then there's Staples.com, where you can score tremendous deals only to find days later that they cancelled the transaction for no reason and without providing notice.
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Sean Fallon promoted this comment whootowl was starred whootowl was unstarred

Babboa
11/24/09

@whootowl: word to the wise, Cabelas does this as well. I learned firsthand about it last week when I ordered a deal someone pointed out on slickdeals.
On a related note, do I have any recourse in this situation? They took my order, accepted it, even gave me an order confirmation page to print out. I know its a longshot and probably covered in their legalese fine print, but i figured it never hurt to ask.
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Hiphopopotamus
11/24/09

In reply to Black Friday Anti-Deals: What Not To Buy
Ok, two quick things...

1) Impressed and thank you for doing all of this monotonous research...

2) The Giz Gift Guide is sponsored by Windows Mobile, the Top Bar is sponsored by HTC, and this article appears to be sponsored by the Pixi... I'm just feeling a little scared and confused... hold me.
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Nathan Obbards
11/24/09

@Hiphopopotamus: ''I'm just feeling a little scared and confused... hold me.''

I'm sorry, there's not an app for that.
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Shamoononon: I shave my legs.
11/24/09

@Hiphopopotamus: You're going to need a hair cut first.
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Shamoononon: I shave my legs.
11/24/09

In reply to Black Friday Anti-Deals: What Not To Buy

HA HAHAHHA. I hate to be the second person posting a picture already, but you've got to see the cell-mate image.
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fdisk
11/24/09

@Shamoononon: I shave my legs.: I love a product that makes me think about prison rape and chivs with its name.
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Shamoononon: I shave my legs. promoted this comment fdisk was starred fdisk was unstarred

00000000
11/24/09

@Shamoononon: I shave my legs.: Yiiiikes. Really? My god. should be renamed Celibate Mate. you're gurantee'd to not get any for having your device attached to your head.
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Shamoononon: I shave my legs. promoted this comment 00000000 was starred 00000000 was unstarred

Gordonium
11/24/09

@00000000: Or Mate Free, or Mateless...
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Kaiser-Machead
11/24/09

In reply to Black Friday Anti-Deals: What Not To Buy
Now that I know that Best Buy hires grey people, I'm not going to shop there.
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rdopps
11/24/09

@Kaiser-Machead: "grey people" not sure what that means?
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Kaiser-Machead approved this comment rdopps was starred rdopps was unstarred

Kaiser-Machead
11/24/09

@rdopps: Can't you see a grey person when you see one? You're probably one of them aren't you? They're destroying our country, our way of life.
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jakemg
11/24/09

@Kaiser-Machead: It's just an Asian person. Didn't you know that Asians are gray? I mean if you're going to discriminate, at least know what color they are.
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Kaiser-Machead promoted this comment jakemg was starred jakemg was unstarred

Kaiser-Machead
11/24/09

@jakemg: You're lying. Stop your lies. I've seen Asian people. They range from fair/pale to darko like me, never grey. This is all Greyish propaganda.
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jakemg
11/25/09

@Kaiser-Machead: I don't know. I work near Chinatown in Chicago, and all those Asians are gray. Gray as a stormcloud.
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