One of the biggest challenges we all face as consumers is making sure that the deals being offered to us are what they're cracked up to be.
This is the time of year when the deals come flooding.
For the big stores, it's all about Black Friday.
Nine On Your Side's Jim Niedelman has some ways to sift through all of the offers.
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Black Friday is nine days away, but it might as well be tomorrow.
Stores are already trying to hook customers and you don't have to look hard to see it.
It's a sight we see every year.
Black Friday resonates with people.
"I'm kind of the anti-prototypical guy in that I enjoy that whole thing," said shopper John Franklin.
"Stay away from it," said shopper Johnnie Farmer.
"If we have a big ticket item, it's worth it," said shopper David Erwin.
"I try not to get out in it,” said shopper Jennifer Parker. “Don't like the rush."
Love it or hate it, the shopping mission is the same.
"Looking for deals,” Parker said. “I love deals."
"Where you find most of the sales," said shopper Angela Hyman.
That's what all the big stores you know bank on every year.
These days, more consumer-driven websites group all these deals together.
Do a search for Black Friday and there they are.
Sites like blackfriday.info can connect you directly to the big offers.
The website's founder says there were only two or three worthwhile ads last year.
He says stores got smarter this time around and five or six offer valuable discounts.
"Now that we've gone through a full year of pain, unemployment's at 10%, retailers realize people don't have that much money to spend,” said blackfriday.com founder Jon Vincent. “So, they need to really put these good deals out there so people actually go to the store."
This site also helps you check if a deal offered on Black Friday is really a good deal by comparing prices with other stores.
For example this Blu-ray DVD player offered as a Black Friday special for $280 can be bought right now somewhere else for $264.
People we spoke with didn't know about these websites.
They have their own shopping strategy.
"I shop consignment shops and I even shop at Goodwill to save money," Parker said.
"Shop all during the summer," Hyman said.
"Way ahead of time, online,” Erwin said. “Last minute, right here."
"I haven't found the secret,” Farmer said. “I just shop for what I'm looking for."
If only we had the secret.
There’s one thing to note about these grouped websites.
We wanted to know if they're paid by the big stores to post all the Black Friday deals.
Blackfriday.info does not.
Jon Vincent says his site makes money from the Google ads and gets paid two cents for every hit to his website.
However, posting the deals is what he hopes draws people to his site.
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