Black Friday USA Buying Guide
For many years, retail stores around the USA have been promoting Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, by offering deep discounts as consumers prepare for the Holiday season. Many stores will open very early, sometimes midnight but increasingly even before that! It is now considered the busiest shopping day of the year. Often people wonder if it’s possible to shop US stores on Black Friday from another country and often course if there is still value in doing so. Based on feedback from our own customers, it sounds like the answer to both questions is ‘yes’!
Historically, there are reports that it dates as far back as 1961 in Philadelphia related to the amount of traffic they were experiencing and started slowly gaining popularity in the 80’s as a reference to financial records where retailers were no longer “in the red” with accountants moving to using black ink to show profits. These days, every retailer tends to promote black friday and consumers increasingly participate, sometimes creating some wild scenes as they rush through the doors to get the best deals before they disappear.
The recent pandemic changed the way Black Friday shoppers and retailers dealt with Black Friday sales, many encouraging users to shop online with consumer also more eager to do so as well. In doing so, this has allowed consumers who live outside of the USA to access some of these amazing deals. So how do you find where the best deals are and then how do you make a purchase if these stores restrict international orders?
How to Prepare to buy in USA with a Virtual Prepaid Card?
- Check your country page where you live to see the load methods available
- Check the list of stores available (this may not be a final list but these are ones we know work)
- Apply for the US Unlocked card.
- Load your US Unlocked card (make sure to give it time for approval)
- Start shopping
Where to Find the Deals?
For most, you can probably go to your favorite retail store website to see what they are offering. Some of them may be a little hidden so you may have to dig a little. There are other websites that act as aggregators for multiple stores.
BlackFriday.com – One of the best resources is BlackFriday.com where you can see advertisement scans, a list of stores, the best deals, news and reviews plus you can add your email address to receive alerts.
BestBlackFriday.com – also a popular aggregator for great deals, they also list advertisements from popular stores but they also have a “Hot Products” section with items that have been popular products through the year.
Amazon – you can rest assured, Amazon has a large section dedicated to Black Friday deals though it seems a bit unusual that there are already items listed on their page but they also have an “Upcoming” section which might be more useful for the bigger deals. For Amazon, they tout Prime Day as their biggest of the year.
Walmart – as the top US retailer, Walmart gives you access to thousands of items. They’re also listing items on their Black Friday page which they have done in previous years, in fact you may actually expect to see multiple Black Friday sales during November.
BestBuy – not just for gadget obsessed, BestBuy usually rolls out a really decent offering for Black Friday that often includes appliances. International shoppers will probably be more interested in other gear like smartphones, tablets or headphones.
Target – not only do they have Black Friday deals but they also have early Black Friday! You can definitely find a good range of bargains from clothing to electronics, gaming to cookware and even bedding.
You can also head to our full list of retail stores, pretty much all of them will be doing something for Black Friday. Just make sure to load your US Unlocked virtual card with plenty of time so that you’re ready to go when the deals start coming in. If you haven’t signed up already, you’d best get to it now!
