Stores Start Black Friday Tonight On Web

Web sites that track Black Friday report some big stores will put Black Friday items online tonight just after midnight.

At least eight stores have already put discount items online or will do so in the early hours of Thanksgiving morning.

There are confirmed early Black Friday deals online:

• Best Buy sale will start at around 1:00am EST - 2:00am EST (Thanksgiving morning).
• Newegg.com sale will start at 6:00 pm EST (Wednesday)
• OfficeMax Black Friday will start at 8:00 am EST (Thanksgiving)
• Sam's Club sale will start at 11:00 pm EST (Wednesday)
• Sears sale will start at 9:00pm EST (Wednesday)
• Toys R Us Black Friday will start at 12:01 am EST (Thanksgiving)
• Walmart Black Friday sale will start at 3:00 am EST (Black Friday)
• Walmart Thanksgiving Day Specials will start at 3:00 am EST (Thanksgiving)

Instead of getting up early to fight the Black Friday crowds you can always stay in your PJs and shop online! A new survey shows one out of every five shoppers will do the majority of their holiday shopping online this year and Cyber Monday is right around the corner! Knowing how to navigate the web can save you a lot of cash. Here are some of Consumer Reporter Michelle Buckman's favorite websites she says you should never go online shopping without.

www.zoolert.com
Zoolert is a free service that scours the web for hard-to-find items. When they find them, they let you know, alerting you where and when it's in stock. And yes, even the impossible-to-find zhu zhu pets and accessories are tracked here!

www.couponwinner.com
www.promotionalcodes.com
www.retailmenot.com
No matter what site you're shopping on, before you place your order, open another window and do a search to see if there's a coupon code available. Michelle makes a habit of doing this and save a ton of money! At couponwinner.com you'll find coupon and promotional codes from 7-thousand retailers, and be sure to check out promotionalcodes.com and retailmenot.com as well. There are lots of copy-cat sites but these three are the most well organized and you'll find feedback from other shoppers about whether or not the code worked for them.

www.priceplease.com
If there's a big ticket item you're after priceplease.com will track the price for you and let you know when it drops! There's a "refund alert" too so if an item goes on sale after you've paid full price, you can try to get a refund.

www.nethaggler.com
You can track prices on nethaggler too. Download their web tool and use in three ways either, "tag" an item and wait for a price drop. You can "nag" a merchant for a better price or "haggle" as a group for bargain deals. The tool pops up when you go to participating websites and there are some biggies like Macy's and Wal-Mart.

www.freeshippingday.com
Love online shopping but hate paying for shipping? You can always look for a free shipping code on the sites mentioned earlier. Plus, you're guaranteed to find a ton of freebie-shipping on cyber Monday. Then on December 17th, hundreds of retailers are banding together for a "free shipping day." They're hoping to make this a new tradition, hoping it will catch on the way cyber Monday did! So mark your calendar for the 17th and yes, they guarantee gifts will be delivered in time for Christmas. Freeshippingday.com will tell you which stores are participating.

www.sears.com
www.bestbuy.com
Here's a new concept that's becoming more popular - group gifts. Say dad wants a pricey new table saw - at Sears.com you can sign up for a "group gift" and encourage other family members to chip in until you have a enough for the big purchase. Best Buy has a similar program called the "pitch in card" where family and friend can contribute any amount toward big wish-list items.

www.regiftable.com
Finally, when all else fails, you can always regift! Check out regiftable.com. The site says it's completely acceptable and even offers etiquette tips on how to pull it off without getting caught!