Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Screw Black Friday

blog.zsa.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–27 of 27 posts

Re: Screw Black Friday

#21

Post by lost_tourist »

tzs wrote: post #18

> If you need a new phone, buy a new phone. If you need a new laptop, buy a new laptop. If you need a new keyboard, buy a new keyboard. > Not because it’s on sale. Because you need it. What about things you don't need? For instance, I didn't need an outdoor security system with motion triggered recording. But I was curious about what critters visit at night. A few days a year we get snow that stays around for two or…

My compromise for this is wait 2 weeks for "do I really need it" (obviously always keeping in mind my overall budget for "extra") . If I shrug at the end of two weeks then I skip it. Most of the time it completely gets flushed from my cache. Other times I can't stop thinking about it, and thus I buy it.

Re: Screw Black Friday

#22

Post by lost_tourist »

ratsmack wrote: post #2

Black Friday is used to dump loss leaders, over runs and special order low function items that look like more expensive products. I have yet to ever buy anything offered on these sales. Edit: There's plenty of info available regarding my statement. Here's a few links. 1. https://marketrealist.com/consumer/are-black-friday-tvs-lowe... 2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/benzingainsights/2012/11/21/why... 3. https://www.bu…

I just bought a vacuum I'd been eyeing for a few months for 40% off. Clearly it's not all "bad deals". BTW it works great is a lot better than my last roomba knock off. The key item is "use your brain and don't give into base buyer instinct"

Re: Screw Black Friday

#23

Post by lost_tourist »

trhr wrote: post #8
bombcar wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah before the internet killed it Black Friday had some insane doorbusters that would literally get people killed.

Besides the doorbusters, they had limited stocks of rare items too. It'd be like if Best Buy had a sale two years ago on Nvidia GPUs at 40% off retail. So you had the scalpers in the early days of eBay fighting with the parents who needed Christmas presents, on items you couldn't get anywhere else, from Playstations to Tickle Me Elmos. On second thought, it's probably best that the internet killed it. People are wild…

Yeah Best Buy was the worst for these insane deals. TV's for 60% off. The problem? They only got 10 per store.

Re: Screw Black Friday

#24

Post by Markoff »

nulld3v wrote: post #19

Black Friday for me is about the tradeoff between money and patience. Customers who do not have patience but have money can pay the normal marked up prices. Customers who have patience but do not have money can wait for Black Friday. Sure, you can have mid pricing all year round but that prices out a portion of your customer base.

That's assuming black Friday has the best deals, which by my experience does not, so if you are patient you should really set up price alert and buy when it triggers instead thinking you will get the best deal on black Friday.

Re: Screw Black Friday

#25

Post by kthejoker2 »

Two other negative externalities byproducts of Black Friday

* "you are the product" cranked up to 11, so reductive and fundamentally misanthropic

* Creates a lot of confusion and axiety in an already mentally fragile world

Re: Screw Black Friday

#26

Post by nulld3v »

Markoff wrote: post #24
nulld3v wrote: post #19

Black Friday for me is about the tradeoff between money and patience. Customers who do not have patience but have money can pay the normal marked up prices. Customers who have patience but do not have money can wait for Black Friday. Sure, you can have mid pricing all year round but that prices out a portion of your customer base.

That's assuming black Friday has the best deals, which by my experience does not, so if you are patient you should really set up price alert and buy when it triggers instead thinking you will get the best deal on black Friday.

I still see some good deals. It's obviously not the same as it used to be but I'm still satisfied with this year.

Re: Screw Black Friday

#27

Post by chrischen »

I do feel like there were many more "fake discounts" this year where many brands simply rehashed the same discounts they were continuously offering before. I don't mind real discounts, but find it extremely distasteful when fake discounts are offered.
Post reply on HN