5 Things NOT to Buy on Black Friday

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Not everything sees its best deals of the year during Black Friday. This year, don’t waste your money on things like furniture, gift cards, and tools.Make no mistake: Black Friday will be full of killer deals. But while stellar sales on wine and carsmay surprise and delight you, there are some items that only see minor discounts — or no discounts at all. Black Friday sales are time-sensitive, so wasting precious minutes looking for a deal that may not appear could make you miss a killer door-buster. In the interest of keeping you on track, we’ve rounded up 11 product categories that consistently under-perform during Black Friday.

Whether it’s furniture deals you should have grabbed in the summer or gift cards that’ll be cheaper in December, read on to discover the items that Black Friday forgot.

Chocolates & Flowers

It is perhaps unsurprising that gifts like chocolates and flowers don’t see much in the way of deals during Black Friday. The perishable nature of these treats makes them better suited for purchase close to a gift-giving holiday. While we did see a small spike in these deals during the 2013 Black Friday season, overall November 2013 saw the fewest offers in this category all year. Instead, wait to buy your flowers and chocolates closer to the biggest romantic gifting days of the year — Christmas and Valentine’s Day.

Home & Patio Furniture

It’s rare for a product category to go almost completely ignored on Black Friday, but such is the case with furniture. In fact, many high-end furniture shops don’t even hold Black Friday sales. This is because most retailers heavily discount these items in the warmer months, with home furniture seeing a huge spike in deals in July and August, and patio furniture clearance sales dominating in August and September.

Tools

Like several other entries on this list, tools won’t be totally skippable on Black Friday. After all, Black Friday is still the best time all year to score really cheap hand tools. However, as we mentioned in our November buying guide, the month of December actually has the edge in tool sales. Last year, we listed 16% more tool offers in December than in November.

High-End Laptops

The Black Friday season makes November the greatest month of the year for purchasing a tablet … unless you’re in the business sector for a genuine powerhouse. Superior machines that brag an effective CPU like Intel’s Core i7 models really see better costs amid the mid year back-to-class deals. July and September have a tendency to be the champion months for these apparatuses, with arrangements that are 9% less expensive (about $50 all things considered) than significantly November’s best arrangements.

Winter Gear

Here’s a category that actually sees a lot of discounts during Black Friday, but is nevertheless worth passing up. November is a winter month, so winter clothing is obviously in-stock everywhere at this time. As we noted previously, excellent site wide coupons will lead to some serious discounts on all kinds of apparel, including in-season coats, boots, and more. However, you’ll see the best deals on these items during winter clearance sales in January through March.