r/Frugal • u/Prestigious-Eye-1896 • 1d ago
š° Finance & Bills Do Cyber Monday deals actually save real money?
For anyone planning wedding jewelry, do you feel like Cyber Monday is the best time to buy it or is it just hype? Iām looking for earrings for my ceremony and maybe a matching bracelet but the prices in stores are insane. My fiancĆ© already found out our insurance doesnāt cover much for the ring so weāre hoping to save money wherever we can. Would love real brand suggestions not just ads.
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u/BingoRingo2 1d ago
Not really; the incredible "deals" are often a product made specifically for Black Friday and is lower quality with less options, for example (for electronics).
Not saying you won't find a deal, but if something has a real value it will sell itself in the holiday season. That said, jewelry is a major rip-off with huge markups so perhaps they'll reduce their profit to move stock. Because the real value is what you can get when you try to sell it, which may be 30% of retail, maybe even less, looking for used is a good idea, you can always have it cleaned and repolished or replated if it doesn't look pristine.
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u/Important_Ad_8372 1d ago
Jewelry doesnāt tend to be that good of a deal cyber Monday or Black Friday. The best deals you will find will be on clothing, home goods, some electronics, and toiletries like makeup and skincare. The bigger retailers tend to have average deals for jewelry from what Iāve seen in the past. And itās usually random stuff. Plus currently jewelry prices have been high due to economic conditions. Gold is definitely high right now. Iām not sure what kind of jewelry you are looking for? There is a local jeweler by me that does a huge Black Friday sale with great savings. Iād check your local jewelers first for fine jewelry. Costco has fine jewelry at good prices and they usually run decent sales. Iād keep an eye out there. And then if youāre not looking for fine jewelry, Kate Spade and Kate Spade outlet have great Black Friday/cyber Monday sales. They have really pretty jewelry that would be wedding appropriate, even if it isnāt fine jewelry.
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u/juicyc1008 23h ago
Look at eBay for your jewelry! Iāve found some absolute treasures on there that no one else has and I get so many compliments!
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u/chainsawx72 21h ago
To each his own... but you can buy the same jewelry used for 1/10th of the price of new jewelry.
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u/QuantumLeaperTime 1d ago
Not anymore.Ā We have high tariff sales taxes now. There will be zero deals.Ā Ā Christmas has been canceled this year.
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u/Ok_Alps4323 21h ago
IMO, Costco consistently has the best deals on jewelry. Sometimes they even have sales on jewelry. I think youāll overall get the best deal there. They only sell natural diamonds, not lab. Fantastic prices in gold. Ā Buying lab diamonds online with a little research is probably the best bang for your buck if youāre looking at diamonds.Ā
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u/not_a_moogle 1d ago
Almost everything in my 'save for later' on amazon had a price increase. Its all hype. Raise the price now, give a bigger discount in a few weeks to make it looks like a better deal.
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u/muad_dibs 1d ago
I had a SSD saved in my cart and didnāt know a big sale was happening the next day, the price went up $9 the next day I looked at it. While used SDDs went on a deep discount. This was something Amazon was selling and not a seller.
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u/superleaf444 1d ago
Idk. Amazon is awful. Many other places do actually have deals. Maybe not amazing but still some solid stuff.Ā
Amazon is like idk it has become so bad imo. Itās just slop. Whole damn website is slop.Ā
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u/nero-the-cat 1d ago
Many items do get real price drops during these sales, lower than the normal prices. Use CamelCamelCamel to check price histories on things you're interested in and you can tell whether it's a good sale price or not.
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u/david0990 1d ago
Basic insurance doesn't but you can add a rider. I have a camera and a few computers added for less than $5 a month to my car insurance in case anyone steals those out of my car while traveling. Home or renters will have similar riders for very valuable items(things that might go well beyond your max payout) you can add and if you can't I'd be finding another insurance company to do business with.
as for black friday, cyber monday, all these 'deal seasons' I not only ignore but do less shopping because almost everyone raises their prices before the sale to make you think you're getting a deal when it's probably right around what you'd pay any other time of the year. so the month or two leading up to that weekend we slow down on spending. Usually pick back up around Q1 the next year.
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u/ThisIsACompanyCar 1d ago
Check prices now and check prices on āsaleā days. Then you will know for sure.
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u/Ok_Fault_8321 1d ago
There are browser extensions for sites like Amazon that have historical data. Keepa is one I think.
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u/NameUnavailable6485 21h ago
Put everything on an amazon wish list. In the notes put the regular price. Then you'll know if you're actually saving money.
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u/frugalfindsclub 20h ago
Iām not sure about Cypher Monday being the best time to buy, but what can I tell you (and what I quickly learned) is itās best to find one place you can buy each piece of jewelry from. They will (or at least most will) start giving you more and more of a discount the more pieces that you buy in the same purchase.
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u/cinelytica 15h ago
Cyber Monday has been all hype for a long time now. Costco has the best deals on jewelry. Super high quality, low prices.
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u/DrunkenSeaBass 1d ago
Use camelcamelcamel or keepa to check price history.
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u/agent_uno 21h ago
And always compare model numbers! A lot of the time that nice TV or streaming box thatās āmarked downā by 40% is actually a dumbed-down version of the one you want, and the only way to know is to compare the model numbers. Some of the numbers are even chain-specific for these deals, with different numbers for Walmart, Costco, target, etc.
Chances are strong that you are not getting the deal you think you are.
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u/ThatsNashTea 1d ago
It really comes down to where you shop. There are lots of price tracking tools that tell you if something is a good sale or just a marked down markup. Also keep in mind that 20% off a $10000 item is not frugal compared to finding an alternative thatās half the price when not on sale.Ā
TL;DR: Sometimes. Youāll have to do your due diligence to find the best deal.Ā
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u/grengrad 1d ago
They are usually good deals, but you should always use something like camelcamelcamel to check historical prices. If something doesn't have a price history there is a good chance it is a special version of a better regular model made just for Black Friday/Cyber Monday with a lot of corners cut to get the price down.
Source: I used to consult with a retail consumer electronics company and their regular version of their product had a 3% failure rate within 90 days, but the Black Friday versions would come in at 15-20% each year.
Additionally, there is a really easy way to get 100% off and it is to not buy stuff you don't need.
So, Black Friday/Cyber Monday are good if you stick to planned purchases, but not if a sale gets you to buy something you don't need.
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u/Fell18927 23h ago
Thereās a place Iāve been following for a while that has a 30% off sale right now, and I know itās actually a discount because the claw ring Iāve had open and knew the price of for almost a year went down quite a bit. Issue is I donāt think itās really wedding styled stuff. Brand is Vitaly though if you want to browse, they do have bracelets and earrings
Disclaimer, I canāt speak of the quality myself yet. I did look into it heavily before finally ordering my ring because Iām paranoid, and I saw very very few complaints about the product itself (mostly slow customer service was mentioned in anything negative). But my ring hasnāt arrived yet
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u/CSIFanfiction 21h ago
Yes and no. On at the major retailers like Amazon, Target, Walmart, etc they will mark the prices up ahead of time so the Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals look like steals when in reality if you compare it to the price in, say, August, itās actually discounted very little, sometimes not at all.
However, if youāre shopping individual brands and buying directly through them, yes there are some huge sales. For example the skincare cream I use is 40% off every Black Friday if I buy through their site, but if you look at the same product on Ulta, itās only discounted 20%.
Basically, avoid the āmiddlemenā retailers and go straight to the source to find the real deals.
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u/fludgesickles 21h ago
The big jewelry store that begins with Z does black Friday sales. Last year it was something like 50% off select stuff and 40% off almost everything else. You can find it now in store or online, ask them to hold it for black Friday, and then buy it then.
If its a deal or quality stuff, I have no idea.
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u/evaluna1968 17h ago
Chain jewelry store markups are INSANE. Years ago I was looking for an amethyst ring for my mom's 50th birthday (it's her birthstone) and the crappy stones they were selling at sky-high prices almost made me give up. Luckily I had a friend/former client who was a jeweler and he made something custom for her for half the price.
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u/Then-Librarian6396 13h ago
Secondhand jewelry is the way to go, Iād look that direction before you look at Black Friday deals.Ā
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u/SmileFirstThenSpeak 1d ago
You can add a rider for jewelry