Traditionalists might balk, but the holiday shopping season is already underway. Skeptical? Head to your local department store and you'll be inundated by Christmas trees and ornaments. Bargain hunters, though, know that the real deals are more than a month away.
Black Friday, traditionally, is when retailers truly slash prices. Early birds can save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars off of their holiday bills. Switched.com checked with a few elves, who gave a sneak peek at what you can expect deal-wise this year.
Blu-ray Players and Movies: Blu-ray is shaping up to be the biggest door buster of this year's Black Friday. de Grandpre expects at least one retailer will offer a Blu-ray player for just $49. Look for bargains on Blu-ray films as well, with last year's hit titles (such as "Iron Man") to fall as low as $5.
Laptops: With the proliferation of Netbooks this year, it's never been easier to find affordable portable computing, but Dan de Grandpre, CEO of DealNews.com says it will get even cheaper on Black Friday. Look for well-equipped Netbooks to sell for $199 – and basic 15" laptops to go for as little as $249.
HDTVs (Pretty big): The holidays are typically the best time to buy a new TV – and Black Friday is the time to do it. If you're looking for a normal sized set, you're in luck. Piper Jaffrey analyst Mitch Kaiser says he expects to see 32-inch LCD sets for as low as $299. GottaDeal.com is estimating 37-inch plasma and LCD sets will fall to $399 or less.
HDTVs (Really big): Need something bigger? How about a 46-47 inch LCD set for $599 – a 25 percent savings? Or a 52-inch LCD for $999? Dealnews says you can expect both. Plasma deals will be a little harder to come by, but a 50-inch set should run roughly $899.
HD Camcorders: You've wanted to shoot your child's school play in HD for a while, but haven't been able to spring for the pricey camcorder. This might be the year. Low-end, flash-based 720p models could drop as low as $60 (though you won't be able to zoom with those). Expect a high quality 1080p HD camcorder for $349.
GPS: While navigation systems have dramatically expanded their reach this year – even making it onto the iPhone – there's still a market for car-based systems. Dealnews predicts you'll be able to find a no-name entry-level system for $49, while a Garmin or Tom-Tom brand will be as low as $69.
Digital Picture Frames: Showcasing your digital pictures consistently gets cheaper. This year, skip the 7-inch screens and focus on the 8- or 9-inch ones, which should be available on Black Friday for as little as $30.
Monitors: Computer monitors might not be the sexiest of gifts, but they're usually welcomed with open arms – and they'll be cheap this year. Name brand 22-inch LCD models may go for as low as $99, while 24-inch models will drop below $150.
Memory: Don't know anyone who needs a monitor? External hard drives are always popular, since they're an easy way to back-up data. Dealnews expects a 1TB drive to fall as low as $49 this year. Gottadeal is looking for 8GB flash drives to hit $15.
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Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
Susan said 3:15PM on 11-13-2007
OMG, I have a learning disorder and knew this was a sam the minute I seen it on others pages. It took almost a yr. before I got it on my page. I immediately delete all comments like that. Write to the person to let them know they have been phished usually by email outside of myspace. But again, all but the music one. I have contact with outside of myspace regularly. I don't add just anyone to my page.
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Raj said 10:39AM on 11-13-2007
joelm84, it's a poor marriage of latin and english.
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Angela Stephens said 10:43AM on 11-13-2007
This exact thing just happened to me. I'm not sure how it did because I didn't click on anything. I started getting emails that I had received a comment from myself. When I would sign into my account, there was the Macy's card thing. I just deleted it through Myspace's delete options. Then I started getting messages from my friends saying that they were getting phishing comments and messages from me that I wasn't sending. I saw the Macy's card and what appeared to be a video of a woman in a green bikini top with a seatbelt across her chest. I changed my password and alerted my friends and haven't had anymore trouble. It has been about a week so hopefully everything is ok. I'm wondering since I didn't click on anything but my account was hacked, was any personal info stolen? Can that hacking go beyond Myspace since it was only on my Myspace page and steal more info that just Myspace info?
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Amy said 10:47AM on 11-13-2007
joelm84....why don't YOU check a damn DICTIONARY???? CUM is a REAL word and NO the definition has nothing to do with SEX.....you ever heard of graduating "CUM LAUDE"???? Why don;t you look stuff up BEFORE posting so you don't look like a total loser????
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Crystal said 5:36PM on 11-13-2007
Come on people wake up! Some of you sound as though you are surprised this could happen to you. It's got nothing to do with My Space, AOL, Hotmail or any other sites. It's what You allow Yourself to fall victim to. By now everyone has been approached by at least one scam, so at this point, only an idiot would ALLOW himself to be had by the scammer. Oh, it also makes me feel a little better when I reply to every single scam letter that I receive with a few choice words. I simply reply, " Please feel free to shove this scam letter all up in your ----" Not very lady like I know, but it sure makes me feel better.
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Robert said 12:29PM on 11-13-2007
RIGHT! Macy's is going to offer a free $500.00 gift card. IF you are stupid enough to fall for this or ANY other scam online you DESERVE to be taken advantage of. NOTHING in this stinking cesspool of a so-called world is FREE and NO ONE, without exception, can be trusted. Maintain THAT attitude and you will live life on YOUR terms, keep your money in YOUR pocket and not spend a moments time thinking about any of the crap going on around you.
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thezatorade said 11:01PM on 11-13-2007
if people would just think about these things, we wouldnt have these epidemics of pure stupidity resulting in mass chaos. honestly, we are getting easier to fool each year!
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Sharon said 3:23PM on 11-14-2007
Two (2)things to remember: 1- You can't cheat an honest man.
2- If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is!
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Bob said 3:37PM on 11-14-2007
Some people are just plain stupid and fall for these scams. It is hard to believe that the Nigerian type scams are still appearing. Some idiots must still fall them or else they would have stopped sending them. Yet I have never heard of one arrest being made.
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Lou said 4:28PM on 11-14-2007
Angela I am sorry to say that this happend when you "signed into" you're myspace. It was a fake site that looked like a legit myspace page. They had your user name and password and used that info to send out more phishing links. You fixed it when you changed your password. Also, not everthing on the internet is connected. The only info you have exposed to them is whatever is on your myspace page. If you used the same password for your e-mail/bank account/anything else you should change those as well. Esp. Since your the kind of person who when posting a comment actually puts their FULL NAME in the "Name" Box.
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Lou said 4:33PM on 11-14-2007
Oh.. I forgot to mention. Something new to the whole phishing arena is the ability to make the "Delete comment" link fake and send you to false myspace. Just right click the link and scroll down to properties. In that window it will tell you the address of the webpage. Its usually a jumble of numbers and letters if its false.
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cher said 5:14PM on 11-14-2007
If it sounds to good to be true, IT IS!!! Duhhh.... No one is giving away anything for free, EVER.
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love ..lol said 5:28PM on 11-14-2007
It's all a scam. Why can't people know this? Just like all the free gifts, if you order junk. That is not free when you have to subscribe to junk they are selling. Just like all those UK scams. Lottery winnings/death notices to get cash from the UK bank. All scams. I don't even think anything in life is FREE. lol report them to SPAM@UCE.GOV
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love ..lol said 5:34PM on 11-14-2007
How can people fall for those scams? They are all over the net, television, newspapers, and people still give out their personal information. Nothing is free .... when you receive those scams letters, especially from Nigeria and the UK, forward them to - SPAM@UCE.GOV
The goverment is finally checking into them.
SPAM@UCE.GOV
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kyle said 5:38PM on 11-14-2007
Free money, free computers, free gift cards, free trips. You won the lottery ...someone passed away and they want to give you their money they left in the bank ...What scams.
If you fall for them, I also have a "bridge" to sell you, really cheap. Give me all your personal data and I'll send you part of the bridge. lol
Be careful with those cons and scams. Report them - to - SPAM@UCE.GOV Don't get ripped off.
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me said 6:04PM on 11-14-2007
How are people still dumb enough to actually click on these? It's nothing new and it's common sense to NOT click on these things. If anyone is dumb enough to fall for this, they deserve to have it happen. It's not hard to avoid this stuff.
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Doug said 6:20PM on 11-14-2007
My bulk mail has 20 to 50 offers per day from gift cards to laptops. I made the mistake of filling out the coke rewards and I believe they sold that info to anyone and everyone. There ain't no free lunch.
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media wiz said 7:07PM on 11-14-2007
Anyone with half a brain should know that nothing is free. I've gotten those emails not just about free Macy's gift cards but also Walmart, Costco, JCPenney and Bloomingdales. Some of them say "You could receive a free giftcard from blah-blah if you complete this survey..."
Another to avoid is the "work from home" emails. They're mostly pyramid schemes.
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trepanier said 8:52PM on 11-14-2007
although most everybody has seen these, it's sometimes tough to warn the kids and get them to pay attention. it's necessary to have a good antivirus/spyware software. the best????????
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Ann said 4:22AM on 11-20-2007
when I was a newcomer to the Internet I filled out "surveys" in return for a promise of free, TV, cosmetics, etc.. I never, repeat NEVER got any of these free gifts for my "participation"... I just delete these offers now... phishing is something that happens fairly often to me especially in connection with ebay and paypal related stuff; I dutifully FORWARD these to their spoof - sites and NEVER open ANY LINKS but must say I'm surprised that this company seems so helpless in their efforts to put these criminals out of business; they always respond, promise make nice promises, but phishing emails appear fairly regularly and their authors are very "creative" to say the least and therefore very dangerous...
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