14 Black Friday shopping tips + win a £250 Amazon voucher

Recently I wrote a little post about HotUKDeals, a website with a community of deal seekers, who help each other find the best bargains, on and offline. If you didn’t read it, go and have a look at how I saved £527 on my Christmas shopping.

HotUKDeals is the UK’s biggest deal-sharing community where millions of consumers find, rate and share deals so that you don’t have to do the leg work, trawling the internet for bargains. The voting system on HotUKDeals makes it ideal for Black Friday deals, as you can see at a glance if something is worth investigating – the hotter the deal, the better the offer. You can also set keyword alerts via the website and free app, so all the deals relating to matching items, such as Xbox or LEGO, come straight to your phone or email.

Today though, with the infamous Black Friday fast approaching, HotUKDeals members have put together some tips for us, to help you grab some great deals. Some of them are pretty extreme – I’m not sure I’ll be staying up all night in the name of a discount – but if you want to be top of the bargain tree then these tips should help.

ALSO…

HotUKDeals has very kindly given me a whopping £250 Amazon voucher to give away! HOW COOL? Have a read of the post and then I’ll tell you how you can enter for a chance to win an Amazon shopping spree.

Black Friday tips

So first up, here are 14 tips from HotUKDeals members to help you get the best Black Friday deals:

Before Black Friday

Do your research and be prepared – make a list of what you want to buy so you can find out in advance which retailers will have deals on those products. Stick to your list to avoid going over budget – don’t be tempted by those 20 boxes of salt and vinegar crisps.

Sign up and save – Sign up to newsletters and emails from your favourite retailers to get early access to offers and VIP slots. Some members of HotUKDeals suggest taking out a 30-day Amazon Prime trial to get access to their early discounts – just remember to cancel if you don’t want the trial to continue. You can also sign up to free WhatsApp messages from HotUKDeals.

Prepare your online payments in advance – Check your online payment details and delivery address that you have stored for your favourite retailers to speed up the check-out process.

Buy discounted gift cards – To make extra savings, purchase discounted gift cards for your favourite retailers to buy what you need during the sales event. Costco is a good place to find discounts on gift cards or try Zeek. (I use this a lot – check out my review post here for a free £3 to spend.)

Get social – Follow retailer social media pages as well as the HotUKDeals Facebook page, where consumers can get access to the new Black Friday page, which is updated with all the latest offers as they’re spotted.

Be a basket bandit – Add items you plan on buying during Black Friday to your online basket in advance, so when they day comes all you need to do is check the discount and check out.

On the day:

Shop online – If you’re shopping via a computer make sure it’s updated before you power up on Black Friday. If there are deals to be found in-store, members recommend taking a fully charged mobile along to compare against online prices.

Use multiple devices – One member sets up a laptop, two tablets and a smartphone to get access to deals on their wish list in case there is a virtual queue. If you’re using one device, have multiple tabs open on your browser, so you’re ready to shop as the deals go live at each retailer.

Shop at the right time – It’s hard to know when to shop for the best deals, especially with some retailers starting their offers before Black Friday itself. Some members recommend staying up all night or taking the day off work, so not to miss any offers. Others suggest shopping from 6pm the night before when some deals are revealed or from midnight.

Let the deals come to you: Set keyword alerts via the free HotUKDeals app for iOS and Android and via the website for the items you’re looking to buy, so all the deals for that product come straight to your smartphone or inbox.

Make sure you’re getting the best price – Just because an item is cheap, it doesn’t mean it isn’t cheaper elsewhere,” advised one member of HotUKDeals, so always check to see if you’re getting the best price. Members advise checking the price history of a product and comparing prices to ensure the discount is worthwhile as some retailers “hike the price up to discount before Black Friday, so it looks like you’re getting a better deal than you are”. Consumers using HotUKDeals will know if a deal is good or not if it’s voted hot by its members.

Be patient – One member advised that it took them two hours and numerous attempts to land a discounted laptop they were waiting on during Black Friday, so be patient if you’re waiting on something you really want.   

Stack discounts and make extra savings – One member recommends checking for discount codes the night before Black Friday to try alongside the deals to see if they’ll stack to make extra savings.

Prioritise products with low stock levels – One HotUKDeals member advises that to increase your chances of getting the products you want at discounted prices you should “check stock levels the night before and prioritise items low in stock first”. You can do this via websites such as Stock Informer.

Enter now to win a £250 Amazon voucher

Okay, so no you’re in a shopping mood, do you fancy winning £250 to spend in the run up to Christmas? To enter, just do as many of the options as you can in the widget below. The more you do, the more chance you have of winning. (You just know that the HotUKDeals members are going to be doing ALL of them don’t you? Those guys know what’s good for them.)

The competition will close at 11.59pm on November 22nd, just in time for Black Friday shopping, and a winner will be notified by email on the 23rd. Full T&Cs apply.

Good luck!

HotUKDeals

Massive thanks to HotUKDeals for donating this prize.

Follow:

20 Comments

  1. claire sen
    16 November, 2017 / 3:05 pm

    Well this would certainly help me tick off a load of stuff on my christmas shopping list! Thanks for the tips aswell. Much needed this time of year :D

    • 18 November, 2017 / 11:08 pm

      This would make our Christmas extra magical would love to win for family thanks for a amazing chance ☃️☃️☃️

  2. Michael Tutt
    16 November, 2017 / 8:47 pm

    HELLO

  3. Jo
    16 November, 2017 / 11:53 pm

    Ive had the HotUkDeals app since last year and I too saved lots of money last Christmas on the toys we wanted – even posted a few deals of my own on there. Great for bargains all year round – only thing is I find that I spend more because I buy stuff I wasn’t planning to- some deals are too good to miss out on lol. Awesome site and thank you and HotUkDeals for the chance to win this cool prize, its going to give someone a Merrier Christmas x

  4. Lynda Graham
    17 November, 2017 / 11:56 am

    Great read – some good tips .
    Shop the night before – I like that !!!

  5. Kayleigh Watkins
    17 November, 2017 / 12:52 pm

    I have been a hukd member for two years, I love the bargains and deals, I don’t have the app, il be downloading it now xxx

  6. 17 November, 2017 / 7:35 pm

    Brilliant! Thanks for this post I’m seriously behind with christmas shopping so I’m onto it!

  7. 18 November, 2017 / 10:12 am

    I put everything into an amazon wish list then it lets you know when you log in and look at it if the price has dropped! x

  8. DANIELLE VEDMORE
    18 November, 2017 / 5:34 pm

    I didnt know there was an app! Have only used it on the web. I will definitely be using it with Black Friday (even though some shops seem to have already started early this year!)

  9. Rebecca Hadfield
    19 November, 2017 / 5:22 pm

    Fab read, some great tips!

  10. Nicola-Jane Phipps
    21 November, 2017 / 2:19 am

    Thank you for this post! Some great tips – for a beginner! I usually buy Xmas presents throughout the year, but friends of ours last year told me to wait until Black Friday – I’m learning something new all the time!
    Thanks for a great giveaway! This would be super handy! Xx

  11. Louise Burgess
    21 November, 2017 / 10:39 am

    Great blog post such useful information :)

  12. Sharon Boyd
    21 November, 2017 / 12:29 pm

    Absolutely fantastic this would help me get the things in my basket

  13. Siobhan
    21 November, 2017 / 9:55 pm

    Awesome!

  14. Jane Gorton
    21 November, 2017 / 11:12 pm

    Great post. Fantastic prize, thank you x

  15. Zoe Tudor
    22 November, 2017 / 10:31 am

    fab competition Love your page :)

  16. Chevaune Stanley
    22 November, 2017 / 10:08 pm

    Love that kettle!!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.