9 Insanely Smart Shopping Hacks To Help You Win Black Friday

Pro tip: Snapchat discounts are very, very real.

1. According to Rather-Be-Shopping.com, these are historically the best (read: CHEAPEST) days to buy items from each of the following categories:

Rather-Be-Shopping / Via rather-be-shopping.com

These dates are based on 10 years worth of coupon deals the site has received. Basically, don't be fooled by Black Friday.

2. Watch your favorite brands' Snapchat stories to catch extra deals.

Asos / Via digital-examples.blogspot.com

Brands like ASOSFashion and Birchbox have started posting special discount codes for their Snapchat followers, and other brands are bound to follow suit for Black Friday. Before you buy anything, check a brand's Snapchat story!

3. Fill up and abandon your virtual shopping cart the week before Black Friday.

Kate Spade

By filling up a cart and then logging out of your account, many sites will automatically send you a discount (typically 15—20%) as an incentive to complete your purchase.

Here's a list of 17 online retailers that have been known to send coupon incentives.

4. Shop ahead of time with Discover, Citi, or Mastercard and use their price protection programs to get price adjustments after Black Friday.

Touchstone Pictures

"Just use your card to buy the item you know will be on sale, keep your receipt, and save a copy of the ad. Once Black Friday has come and gone, 'submit the original receipt, your credit card statement showing the purchase, and a dated ad or a note from the manager on store stationery to prove the lower price' and wait for your refund." — Ben Schleider, Quora

Check this list of which credit cards offer price protection to see if your card company participates.

5. Filter your shopping through Ebates to get up to 26% cash back rebates.

@trinascoupons / Via instagram.com

You'll have to create a free profile, but going through Ebates.com or the Ebates app will automatically give you cash rebates. Plus, the rebates are even higher during the holiday season.

Download the app for iOS here and for Android here.

6. Ask the operators behind Live Chat for a coupon code.

Wavebreakmedia Ltd / Getty Images

If the e-tailer you're shopping has a Live Chat function, use it to ask for a coupon code. Rather-Be-Shopping has a list of which retailers have operators who hand out free coupon codes here.

7. Check CamelCamelCamel so you won't be tricked by a "deal" on Amazon that may just be a regular price.

CamelCamelCamel / Via camelcamelcamel.com

Drop the URL to an Amazon product into CamelCamelCamel and you'll get a full pricing history on the item. That way, you won't be fooled by ~faux~ deals. — Andrew Hamada, Quora

8. Turn on push notifications on all of your shopping apps to know about every sale instantly.

Wondershop / Via blog.apps-builder.com

Use the apps for your favorite stores like Amazon and Target, then get a few shopping apps that are built for holiday shopping. Here are some of the top-rated apps for shopping:

- Clutch: Store all your coupons while the app searches for even more available deals every day. Available for iOs.

- Pounce: Take a picture of a product you want to buy and Pounce allows you to buy it in two clicks. Available for iOS and Android.

- RedLaser: Scan the barcode of an item when you're shopping and PriceGrabber will tell you which, if any, retailers offer a lower price. Available for iOS and Android.

- RetailMeNot: The app collects coupon codes from a ton of retailers. Just show your phone IRL to use the coupon in stores. Available for iOS and Android.

9. And download the Black Friday app to have deals sent directly to your phone.

iTunes

As soon as a new sale ad is released, you'll get it to your phone. Grab the iOs version here and the Android version here.

Now go buy all the things!

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