Shopping Hack: Finding The Best Black Friday Deals 

Even before holiday bazaars for the Christmas season in December rolls in, America’s Thanksgiving Day ushers in one of the biggest shopping days every end of November – Black Friday! It is a day marked by almost every shopaholic due to the ridiculous discounts retailers in the US offer to the public.

This is basically an annual occasion in the US only, which is comparable to a holiday shopping bazaar, or even better. Tough luck for us Pinoys, right? Well, not really!

Today, despite Thanksgiving barely even getting celebrated in other parts of the world such as the Philippines, many merchants slowly adapt to the thought of Black Friday Sale. In turn, this become a great precedent for us to shop in advance for Christmas or simply to shop and save on some items which you have been eyeing on!

Typically in the US, Black Friday sale falls on the last Friday of November – this year it would be on November 24, 2017. However, if you are shopping on a local site, on top of Black Friday, these sites also have a month-long sale from November 11 to December 12, 2017.

What time does Black Friday start in the Philippines?

It can be a little tricky due to international time zones. Philippine stores will likely start their sales at the beginning of the day on the last Friday of November. If you’re looking to purchase from an international retailer, you might have to pay attention to the different time zone in their country since it’s likely that’s when the sale will start too.

Shop and ship from the US

Shopping in US-based e-commerce sites used to be impossible for people living outside the US, as shipping are mostly limited domestically. There were some merchants that would ship to the Philippines, but they were pretty limited, and you might end up settling for the next best thing rather than what you were actually intending to buy.

Back then, although shopping directly in the US was a lot cheaper, as the prices had not been subjected to transfer pricing, you might find yourself spending more on shipping and even customs taxes.

Fortunately, with Globalshopaholics.com & MyUS postal service, your shopping experience this upcoming Black Friday will no longer be bound to those limitation. This package consolidation company based in the US can provide you a US postal address to ship items to, and have them delivered to you in the Philippines. Customs duty will also be lesser as your item will be consolidated with their other packages prior to getting shipped to you.

Where to find Black Friday deals

Black Friday is still a relatively new shopping phenomenon in the Philippines. That’s why you may not be able to find great discounts associated to Black Friday in retail stores or in shopping malls.

Although not many offline merchants have joined this bandwagon yet, many overseas-based and e-commerce sites in the Philippines have already join in the trend. While your option may be limited to online shopping, you may just find the items that you are looking for at great discounts!

Lazada

This is the country’s most visited e-commerce site. Lazada is an online shopping destination that’s almost like Amazon.com of Southeast Asia. It sells products from a wide range of categories, from fashion, electronics, to home appliances.

Other than having the products shipped to you, they also offer Cash-On-Delivery (COD) option. Being the country’s biggest e-commerce site, it is not surprising for them to hop on any shopping-related occasion.

Zalora

Zalora, an e-commerce site popular in this region, offers clothing and apparels from different brands for men and women.

According to their website, their Black Friday sale is called Pinoy Cyber Sale, which will offer exclusive discounts to mobile app users. Their sale will run from November 25 to 28, 2017.

iPrice

This is a price comparison company that aggregates the products of all shopping sites in the Philippines for shoppers to easily compare and save as they shop. iPrice also has a coupons section where you can find discount vouchers for their partner stores.

This website is also a partner of many e-commerce giants in the Philippines such as Lazada and Zalora, thus they also have many exclusive discount coupons from their partner merchants. When there’s a sale or promotion on their partner merchants’ sites, you can get exclusive discounts if you shop through their portal and use their vouchers.

US-based merchants

Admit it, nothing beats actual Black Friday sale in the US (not even Lazada). So, if you are planning to go straight to the source of Black Friday sale, here are some pretty good options for pinoys to have their online shopping spree on.  

Amazon

Unlike Philippine-based shopping, Amazon has already kicked off their Black Friday deals as early as November 1, as part of their countdown to the actual Black Friday which is on November 24. However, the deals are limited to a few customers only on a daily basis.

According to their website, their Black Friday sale will cover electronics DVDs, kitchen appliances and accessories, toys, and gadgets.

Ebay

This is an online auction site, where you can find unique items being sold by individual sellers. Unlike Amazon, not everything on Ebay is brand new. If you’re looking to stretch your money further, perhaps this is the best place online to do that.

On this popular shopping day, you can also find great deals on clothing, toys, accessories, shoes, and kitchen gear such as appliances, cookware, and gadgets on Ebay as they are widely known to throw in bizarre discounts on those items on Black Friday. You’ll find a mixed bunch of brand new and secondhand items.

Nordstrom

This is pretty much a western counterpart of Zalora,  where you can find fashion brands for clothing and apparels. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch a doorbuster deal from some of the famous luxury brands in the US!

Best bought on Black Friday

While almost everything will be on sale on Black Friday or during the sale (especially if you’re shopping directly from the US), not everything is worth buying.

Here are some items that can see a significant savings if you shop on Black Friday:

1) LED TV

A LED TV is perhaps the most iconic item during a Black Friday sale. While it’s true that TV sets that are on sale on Black Friday aren’t recent models, they aren’t terribly outdated.  According to the Black Friday price prediction of a US-based shopping guide website, a 40” 4K LED TV which is normally priced at US$240 will only be sold for US$170 (₱ 8840). That alone is already a “doorbuster” worth waiting for.

2) Smartphones

According to DealNews.com, there has already been more discounts on smartphones and tablets this year, thus big discounts on various smartphone brands in this year’s Black Friday sale isn’t far from happening. They predict that the iPad Mini 4 could see the best deals this year for as low as US$300 (₱15,500) at some retailers which is normally priced between ₱ 24,000 and ₱ 27,000 here in the Philippines.

We can expect deals on Google’s Nexus 9, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 and the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2, with prices starting as low as US$200 (₱10,000) to US$500 (₱25,000). However, don’t expect to see these deals on the manufacturers’ websites. Most of these money saving deals will be found on their licensed retailers such as Amazon.

Keywords here are “premium brands,” which means you may have to think twice when you see tablets from unknown brands being on sale.

3) Toys

Since Black Friday is a precedent to Christmas, shopping for gifts couldn’t be timelier. Even though toys usually get a mark down a few weeks before Christmas in almost all stores, their prices go back up a week before Christmas, and discounts during Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) are usually better than in any other days of the year.

4) Luxury apparels

According to a market expert, luxury brands such as Prada, Ray-Ban, The Sak, Oakley, Christian Dior, Tumi, Ferragamo, and a lot more rarely hold clearance sales on other days of the year. However, on Black Friday, many of these labels mark down their prices to 30% to 35% less and they can be found directly from these brand’s official stores or website. These items are a great bargain if you’ve been saving up for them or if you plan on giving it as a gift this Christmas season.

Tips and tricks for Filipinos for Black Friday shopping

Before getting carried away by the Black Friday fever, it pays to be cautious before you go ahead and jump the gun on your wallets.

1) Do your research

There are many retailers that publish their Black Friday deals even before November 24. This will give you the time to consider your options and fully ponder on the items that you want to purchase. Check the prices on other sites to make sure you’re really paying for a marked down item.
You can use websites like iprice.ph to compare and find out the average price of the item. If you are lucky, you may even find a better deal on their website as you shop for a cheaper price.

2) Check if the retailer ships to the Philippines

If you decide to shop around from US-based e-commerce merchants such as Amazon, some of their sellers may not ship to the Philippines. To work around that, you can sign up for MyUS.com postal service or Globalshopaholics.com and get a temporary shipping address in the US. MyUS or Globalshopaholics.com will receive your parcel, and then they’ll ship it to you in the Philippines. To manage the cost, add up the door-to-door shipping fees and ensure the total cost is still worth your money, despite the discount.

3) 40% off rule on clothing and accessories

When shopping for clothes online on Black Friday, strictly adhere to a 40% rule when it comes to discounts. If it’s less than that, that isn’t a good Black Friday deal for this category according to an expert.

4) Unknown electronic brands – proceed with caution

Stay away from gadgets and electronic products that are not from a reputable brand name. You might come across a tablet that’s just a fraction of a price of well-known brands, but many of them may have poor specs or short life-span. Before even considering these products, scrutinize their performance first and see if they’re worth your money.  

5) Consider out-of-pocket expenses

Shipping expenses and customs duties are just some of the extra spending that you should expect when shopping online, especially from overseas. Will it make sense to buy an item that’s on sale and pay for its shipping? Or will you save more if you just buy from an online local site like Lazada or Zalora? Weigh your overall expenses before hitting that “pay” button on your shopping cart.

6.) Check your warranty

This is mostly applicable to electronics and gadgets. Before purchasing an item online, make sure that after sales support is available in your area, or at least in the Philippines. That’s why you’re better off shopping for reputable brands as many of them provides global warranty.

Without a doubt, Black Friday is definitely a timely occasion to do your Christmas shopping while saving a few hundred or thousands of pesos. However, it isn’t an excuse to spend beyond your budget and splurge on things that you don’t really need. Black Friday or not, it pays to be cautious with your spending and see to it that you don’t end up paying more than what you could afford or buying something that you will only end up hoarding instead of using. Spend wisely!

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