How to Find Black Friday Ads in Advance

It's the day on which most American retailers stake their entire year. Black Friday, or the day after Thanksgiving, is typically the biggest shopping day of the holiday season. Retailers publish special ads, open early and will typically have "early bird" specials, catering to the eager shopper.Some people, though, cannot wait for the ads to be published in the day or two prior to Black Friday. Many websites and message boards thrive on traffic from people looking for a sneak preview of the Black Friday ad. In many cases, the ads are provided by "inside sources," who send a copy of the ad or list of specials to a website. Some stores have been known to leak their ad early. In addition, customers who have registered as shoppers at a particular store can receive advance notice of the ads, directly from the retailer.

Instructions

1. Register with the retailers you want to shop at. Many stores will send e-mails to their registered customers that link to the Black Friday ad. In many cases, these e-mails come out early in the week leading up to Black Friday to help shoppers plan their individual shopping strategies, adhering to the adage that the "early bird catches the worm." If a store can get a low price in your face early enough in the week, they may hook you into visiting the store on Friday.

2. Go online to www.blackfriday.info. This site advertises itself as the official stop for Black Friday ads. This is a thorough website that monitors popular retailers and publishes tips in advance. For instance, they had an early Black Friday ad for Ace Hardware on August 8, 2008.

3. Go to www.bfads.net. Organized in a three-column blog format, bfads.net provides updates in its main column, with links to the specials and ad graphics (if available) in the left-hand column.

4. Go to www.theblackfriday.com. The Black Friday website is like its cousins mentioned above, providing links to major stores and to ads when they are made available. They also link to their coverage from previous years, in case you want an idea of what was offered in the past.

5. Go to Gottadeal.com's Black Friday page (blackfriday.gottadeal.com). Gottadeal's site has the advertising information, but also provides news and information on the holiday shopping season. With analysis of stores and predictions on when ads will become available, it is informative and entertaining.

Tips & Warnings

• As with any information provided in advance, the information is not 100 percent certain until the ad is published.