How Amazon Does Black Friday: 2011

As someone who does the majority of her holiday shopping with Amazon, I wanted to pass this along to those of you who also shop at Amazon!

 

Amazon doesn't release a Black Friday ad early like most other stores, but you can bet the deals will be hot. They certainly were last year. Curious about what Amazon will do for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and beyond? Read on: Though they've been promoting their "Black Friday Countdown" for about two weeks now, Amazon starts its holiday promotion in earnest on November 21. You'll find deal announcements and other info at Amazon's Black Friday page. Bookmark it for easy reference. You'll also find all the toy deals listed on the Toy Department page come November 21. Some of last year's hottest toy deals showed up as limited-time steals at Amazon, so keep an eye out for Amazon's Gold Box and Lightning Deals. Gold Box Deals are Amazon's Daily Deals. Amazon cuts the price of a limited quantity of an item for 24 hours or until the item is sold out. Expect discounts of 25% off or more. Lightning Deals run for a few hours at discounts similar to Gold Box deals or a bit better. Quantities are limited, though, so you you have to act fast to get in on the most popular deals. Last holiday season's Lightning Toy deals were advertised at 35% to 75% off list price, with 50% off or more being pretty common. Tip: Follow @amazondeals on Twitter to get the scoop on Lightning Deals, Deals of the Day, etc. I'll be giving you the scoop here on BC as well. Make sure you've Liked BC on Facebook to be notified of posts as soon as they go up and to catch lots of deals that you won't even find on the blog. The bottom line? Amazon tries to match or beats prices at other stores, especially Walmart and Target, and Black Friday is no exception. Look for Amazon to try to match or beat the toy deals you're seeing on the Black Friday ads. You can also expect Amazon's toy deals to get better and better as standard shipping deadlines approach (about a week before Christmas). I expect toy deals to peak around mid-December. Need toy-shopping inspiration? Find out which toys have stood the test of time with hundreds of readers' kids. Check out Baby Cheapskate's Toys That Get Played With lists. Thanks, Baby Cheapskate™!