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Black Friday is nearly here!
I have put together our biggest Black Friday tool deals guide ever – Best Black Friday Tool Deals for 2021. I also worked to better organize our other deals guides – such as my Home Depot Black Friday 2021 Tool Deals and Best Dewalt Black Friday 2021 Tool Deals pages.
While I suppose that my Black Friday tool deals posts can help to bring new readers to ToolGuyd (hello everyone! – here’s our newsletter signup and Instagram page if you’re interested), that’s not the goal.
My goal has been to help you save money and make better-informed purchasing decisions. As many readers are already aware, the help you make better-informed purchasing decisions part is a core tenet here at ToolGuyd.
As for the help you save money part, that requires sorting through the staggeringly large volume of tool sales, deals, special buys, doorbusters, bonus offers, markdowns, and other such promotional offers that are heavily advertised this time of year. I aim to navigate through the throngs of deals, and to filter everything into a more useful format.
I do this for myself as much as I do it for you guys, partly as a tool shopper myself, but also because I refer to my own coverage in answering readers’ questions.
Yes, I’m still shopping for and buying tools too. Even though I have a larger tool budget than when I first started ToolGuyd, I like to stretch my budget as much as I can. Who doesn’t like to save money on their purchases?
And when questions come in, having already reviewed and organized as many relevant deals as possible really helps me provide thoughtful and carefully researched answers.
What about those Black Friday deal shopping tips?! I’m sorry, my “tips” below are rather unconventional, and I felt that a bit of context was needed to help you understand where I’m coming from. These are really tips that I follow, and I figure that if they help me – and I feel that they have – they could potentially help you too.
Trust in Information, and Not Necessarily in Recommendations
This one isn’t really a “happiness” tip, but I still needed to work it in. It also applies to a broad range of products. Is a “top deal” that you see advertised actually the best deal for you?
For example, there is a Dewalt 20V Max cordless drill/driver that’s on sale for $99 at Amazon right now, and some other retailers have it at similar pricing. A lot of mass media sites and other channels have recommended this as a top deal, and they will continue to do so.
According to Amazon’s bestsellers list, this is their #2 top-selling cordless drill right now.
However, there are newer and better options within the same Dewalt 20V Max cordless power tool system, such as their Atomic series cordless drill kit and compact brushless drill kit.
This is where intent comes into play. Well, maybe intent plus experience, authority, and integrity.
ToolGuyd is my passion, and the desire to help readers make more informed purchasing decisions has been driving me from the beginning.
I have been seeing some awful tool recommendations made by “deals staff” at mass media channels. If the information they present to you is helpful in some way, that’s great, but be wary of recommendations.
Have a Backup Plan
Having a backup plan helps to lessen how stressful holiday shopping can be.
Will it be on sale? What will the price be?
If there is something you want to buy, but you have not seen any special buys or deals yet, what are you going to do?
- Maybe there will be a Cyber Monday coupon offer?
- Wait for a potential December promo
- Eventually pay full price
- Oh well, wait for next year
What to do if You’re on the Fence About a Deal
Every year, a couple of readers message me, asking about the chances a particular deal will be restocked or made available again later in the holiday shopping season. For a lot of types of products or promos, the answer is “no.” This has happened to me as well.
If you don’t learn about a deal until it’s too late, you’re out of luck.
If you learn about a deal and it sells out because you took too much time deliberating over it, that’s okay but it might have been preventable.
Will you regret it if you wait too long and lose out on a deal? Think faster or take the time to think things over, depending on how you would answer this question.
If an item is backordered, you can sometimes order it and then cancel should you change your mind. With backorders, you get placed in a virtual line. The earlier you order, the earlier your placement in that line. At some point, that virtual waiting list might be closed to new buyers. And, with a lot of deals, there’s a predetermined limit as to how many items can be sold at a particular price.
If the item is in stock and there’s a good chance it will ship faster than you can think things through, there are 2 paths. You can think things through, or if the retailer has a great low-risk return policy, make your purchase.
It Pays to Know Price Adjustment and Return Policies
Some stores are great when it comes to price adjustments, such as if you find a lower price at a retailer or at the same store within a set period of time (usually 30 days). Others aren’t good about this, but they might have an easy return policy.
I took advantage of one retailer’s price adjustment policy the other day and saved an extra $30 on a purchase I made earlier in the month.
Another retailer cut $15 off the price of a $50 item I purchased late last month. But, this retailer allows for free drop-off returns at participating stores. So, I ordered one at the less expensive price and will return the pricier one within its return period (which extends in January 2022).
I have been trying to better leverage my knowledge of price adjustment and return policies this year. I find this year to be less stressful than potentially waiting for a better deal that might or might not happen.
How I Approach Emotional Decisions
I can get hung up on purchasing decisions, sometimes even smaller ones. But, with the really good deals, you can lose out if you wait too long.
If I buy something at this price, will I regret it if the price is even better a week later? (This is where it helps to be familiar with your go-to retailers’ return policies.)
If I wait for a better deal, will I regret it if the item goes out stock for the season?
When I don’t have time to deliberate, I step outside my head, and this helps me to either take advantage of a deal or to pass on it.
You might ask yourself slightly different questions, but the point is the same. Form a yes-or-no question, and answer it.
How to Use Price History Information
Some deals return like clockwork, but that does not always happens. We have also seen price increases and fluctuations over the past few years.
Let’s say a particular tool that typically retails for $120 is on sale for $100. But, your research shows that it sometimes (or even often) goes on sale for $90 for Black Friday or the holidays. Its promotional schedule can be tricky. Will it be $90 next week? All you know is that it’s $100 right now, and that once the promotion ends, there probably won’t be another promotion for a long time.
A lot of people might wait for the $90 price that they hope and expect is still on the way. So, do you buy at $100, or do you wait? This is where some of the other tips come into play.
If I buy it at $100 and it drops to $90, I could have saved another $10. But if I don’t buy it at $100 and it sells out or bounces back to $120, I’ll have to spend another $20 if I’m not willing to wait for the next promotion.
So, what’s the better choice, potentially losing out on $20 savings or potentially losing out on saving an additional $10?
This is also where knowing price adjustment, low price guarantee, and return policies come into play.
Weigh your options and then decide. This is also where it helps to have a backup plan.
Comparison Shopping is the Worst
There are a lot of times when I’m asked to help make a purchasing decision. A reader shopping for a particular type of tool might have Product A on their wishlist, but Product B is on sale. What should they do? Buy the other product on sale or wait for their top choice?
Or, Product A and Product B are both on sale, but only for a very limited time or in limited quantities. If the store has a great return policy, consider buying both and then decide!
When I get stuck on a purchasing decision, there are generally 3 possibilities if I don’t have an instant answer: internal debate, decision postponement, or I find a way to make a faster decision.
If you don’t which deal to take advantage of, wait for the next promo if the item isn’t crucial to your work, hobbies, or happiness. Or, if the savings aren’t substantial, take the time to think things through at your own pace.
If you are committed to buying something right now, and you’re stuck in a limbo between two items, find a way to get through it fast. This of course doesn’t hold for larger purchases.
Good Luck and Have Fun!
Holiday shopping can be stressful, and it’s part of the reason why I research tool deals so thoroughly. There’s always the risk of making wrong choices, and it really helps to be informed as possible.
I worry that some of these tips might not make perfect sense, but it’s my hope that nobody is kicking themselves for missing out on a deal.
Sometimes it’s just a matter of bad luck. It can also be a matter of seeing and knowing what’s out there, but that’s also where I try to come in.
But a lot of people, myself included, miss out on good deals, and they regret it, either because they have to spend more or wait longer for the same product.
That could still happen. My intent for this post is to try to help avoid the regret part.
When we miss out on deals, I think that a big part of the regret is due to where the blame is assigned. We could have chosen differently.
A lot of people – myself included – surrender some of their composure and control when faced with impulse buys, must-have doorbuster sale items we didn’t know we needed, and surprise deals that throw planned purchase decisions back into debate. I developed some techniques that seem to have helped me, and I hope they help you too.
One final question I ask myself, when the others don’t apply – is this important? Oh, I still get stuck on trivial things at times, but I’m working on it.
Note: I am not a medical or mental health professional, and the information above should not be construed as medical advice.
