Smart shoppers look everywhere they can think of for a good deal. But does that include heading to the local pawn shop to see if they can scrounge up a good bargain when looking for holiday gifts? [More]
holiday shopping
3 Ways To Keep From Overspending While Holiday Shopping
By 11.24.11
The holidays tend to whip up an over-spending frenzy in shoppers, getting them to abandon common sense in favor of spending their way into misery. To avoid making a string of bad decisions you’ll regret when the credit card bills come in, you’ll need careful planning and self-discipline. [More]
Walmart Continues To Short-Change Customers On Gift Receipts
By 11.23.11
It’s been six months since reporters in California first caught several Walmart stores offering insufficient refunds on items returned with gift receipts. And then they confirmed two months ago that it was still going at Walmart’s across the country. In spite of all this evidence that the nation’s largest retailer needs to fix its gift receipt system, customers are still being screwed over when they try to return a gift. [More]
5 Things Not To Buy This Season
By 11.16.11
In the mad rush of the holidays, it’s tempting to try and make as massive a dent as possible into your shopping list, assuming you won’t find cheaper prices any other time of year. But buying everything that catches your eye can defeat the purpose of deal hunting, because you’ll be able find some items for lower prices later on. [More]
Tactics To Help You Dominate Black Friday
By 11.14.11
If you choose to brave the Black Friday maelstrom and emerge with with something to show for your efforts, it will help to have a plan of attack. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you could waste a lot of time and end up frustrated. Use the right strategies and you might be able to shop efficiently and score some sweet deals. [More]
Layaway Can End Up Costing More Than A Credit Card, Senator Schumer Warns
By 11.14.11
Retailers are trying to push layaway this holiday season as a way to buy stuff you don’t immediately have the money for. For people without available credit, this can be a way to eventually get what they can’t afford now. But NY Sen. Chuck Schumer is warning that layaway fees can add up to be a much higher interest rate than any credit card would be allowed to charge. [More]
How To Pick The Best Gadgets When Holiday Shopping
By 11.8.11
As we gear up for holiday shopping season, shoppers are faced with some tough tech choices. Should I get the 3D TV, or a regular TV? E-book reader vs. tablet, what’s better? And if I have a cellphone with a decent camera, is it worth it to pack another gizmo in my pocket too? It all depends on what your needs are. Ben Popken from Consumerist.com and Theresa Panetta from Consumer Reports CRTV tossed on the boxing gloves to take the gadgets to the mat in a series of “Tough Tech Choices” videos. [More]
Shopping Mercenary Will Tackle Black Friday For You
By 11.7.11
If you lust for the price breaks of Black Friday deals but lack the will to get up in the early hours and brave the wild crowds, you might consider hiring a stunt shopper — a bounty hunter of sorts willing to head out there and do whatever it takes to snag your gifts for you. [More]
Busting Black Friday Myths
By 10.27.11
With the shopping holiday known as Black Friday just weeks away, rumors of too-good-to-be-true sales are already spreading. But the realities of the post-Thanksgiving tradition of free-spending gluttony obscure the truth behind the day. Visions of scoring ridiculously great deals and completing all your holiday shopping in one day rarely come to pass. [More]
Walmart To (Sort Of) Price Match Holiday Season Purchases
By 10.24.11
With more and more people doing their holiday shopping online (because it’s generally cheaper and faster and doesn’t require driving anywhere), the nation’s largest retailer is doing what it can to encourage consumers to head to Walmart. Earlier today, Big W announced it will offer price-matching on purchases made between Nov. 1 and Dec. 25, even after you make your purchase. [More]
Walmart Bringing Back Layaway For Holiday Shopping Season
By 9.8.11
Five years after Walmart stopped offering customers the option to put most purchases on layaway, the nation’s largest retailer has decided to bring it back for brief run during the 2011 holiday shopping season. Of course, this being Walmart, the holiday shopping season begins in October. [More]
In Which I Suggest A Timeline For Various Holiday Shopping Seasons
By 12.31.10
If you think they call me Holiday Cat just because I have some things to say about the handful of weeks from Thanksgiving through New Year’s, you are mistaken. I’m a feline for all seasons, and as such I have a few suggestions on when stores should start selling various holiday-themed products without setting off holiday creep alarms. [More]
Is It Impolite To Return Or Exchange Gifts?
By 12.28.10
Returning gifts can be a tricky and sensitive proposition, especially if the gift is from a loved one who really thought they had found just the right thing for you. So to help you navigate this minefield, we turned to etiquette expert Anna Post of the Emily Post Institute for advice. [More]
Holiday Retail Sales Surge For Second Straight Year
By 12.28.10
If your wallet is feeling a bit lighter these days, it’s probably because you’ve done your part over the past few weeks to give the retail sector a needed boost. Holiday spending in the 50 days before Christmas this year was up 5.5 percent over 2009, which yielded a 4 percent increase over 2008. [More]
Have You Finished Your Christmas Shopping Yet?
By 12.24.10
I finished all my holiday shopping back before Hanukkah, so I’ll just be chilling out around Consumerist HQ and occasionally playing with a plastic bag. But I am aware that with only hours to go until Santa Claus squeezes his jolly girth down millions of chimneys, many of you humans are still scrambling to do some last-minute shopping. [More]
Hyundai Edges Out Target & Best Buy To Win Worst Holiday Ad Title
By 12.23.10
Of all the ads nominated by Consumerist readers for the title of Worst Holiday Ad of 2010, the Hyundai spots featuring Pomplamoose have been the most vociferously defended in the comments. Alas, it looks like the spots still had enough detractors to push Hyundai into the winner’s circle. [More]
Are SmartPhones Making Us Smarter Shoppers?
By 12.16.10
Not so long ago, comparison shopping required actually going to several stores or sifting through every circular in the Sunday paper. And even as at-home internet access became commonplace, that didn’t really help if you’d gone to the store without doing the legwork in advance. But the rapid growth of web-enabled phones could be leading to better retail prices and more informed consumers. [More]
