Black Friday

Every year, Web sites managed to get their hands on Black Friday sales inserts early. You can check them out to help plan your shopping trips Friday morning:

- www.2008blackfridayads.com
- dealnews.com
- bfads.net
- www.iblackfriday.com
- blackfriday.net
- www.blackfriday.info
- daddyodeals.com
- blackfriday.gottadeal.com
- blackfriday.dealspl.us
- www.blackfday.com

While many retailers welcome any chance to get you in the door, some don't like these leaks and reportedly leak fake info to throw off the insider sites.

The National Retail Federation warns that the deal you see might not be the deal you get because it's not coming directly from the retailer.

Smart Shopping Web sites

The key to shopping smart and saving money is to know before you go.

Get the latest buzz about bargains at slickdeals.net and fatwallet.com. Go to the "hot deals" message boards where veteran bargain hunters share their secrets.

If you don't have a newspaper, you can check out the sales circulars at sundaysaver.com, and choose between national and local retailers.

At SalesCircular.com you can select a product by category and search for sales in your area.

If you do find what looks like a good deal, head over to PriceSpider.com, which tracks months worth of price fluctuations so you can see if the price advertised really is a good sale.

And if you couldn't find the product you want at the price you can afford, DealAlerter.com will send you an e-mail alert if an item you want drops to your target price.


Shipping cheap

What's the cheapest way to get a box of holiday gifts cross country? We shipped four identical sets of holiday dishes - a 6-pound box - by FedEx, UPS, and two by US Mail - one priority, the other parcel post.

We packed the boxes going by US mail since they don't offer that service. Fed Ex and UPS packed our boxes for us for the cost of materials.

All four boxes were shipped to Alexandria, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. What did it cost?

Our U.S. mail priority box got there in just two days, but we got hit with a costly balloon fee because the box was too light for its size. Shipping came to $43.95. Add $14.50 for packing materials and our total reached $58.43.

Five-day parcel post was a better deal: $24.79 for shipping, $14.50 for packing materials for a total of $39.29.

The cheapest shipping rate came from Fed Ex at just $13.45 for five-day ground service. But since Fed Ex charged us more for packing materials - $18.99 - the total for the UPS box was cheapest. The UPS total was $30.71 -- $14.09 for shipping and $16.62 for packing materials.

However, if the the boxes had gone overnight or express, in most cases it would have cost us nearly three times as much.

So ground is definitely the cheapest way to go. But with a travel time of five to seven days, that means you're package has to be sent early.

The U.S. postal service also offers flat-rate boxes. They come in three different sizes and no matter the weight, you only pay the set fee. It's a great deal, especially if you're sending heavy items.


Gift cards

Holiday shoppers are expected to drop more than $24 billion on gift cards this year. But what if you receive a card you don't want?

LeverageCard.com lets you buy and swap gift cards. And the card doesn't have to be worth what it was when you received it.

LeverageCard will also help track card balances and offers protection for cards purchased through their site in case retailers go out of business.

Don't get burned

A word of warning that has to do with those "as seen on TV" infomercials. They're seductive, particularly this time of year, with promises of easy payments for that latest, greatest gift of...whatever. But hundreds of consumer complaints might make you think twice.

The ads offer everything from portable steam irons that offer the greatest wrinkle removing to incredible, flexible cookware, and long-awaited pain relief from a small, handheld infrared device. But before you reach for your credit cards, listen to what some local customers have to say.

JoAnn Sunderlage bought the Light Relief for her ailing mother, "They're awful, just awful."

Hersh Mandelman tried to buy arch supports called Walkfit, "it's incompetence."

And Jim Asin ordered the Tobi Steam Iron, "obviously it's just not an honest company - disreputable."

Each ordered a product they heard about in TV informercials.Asin ordered just one "Tobi Steamer." We visited his home when he pulled out two of them - one works, he says the other just leaks water all over the floor.

Again, he ordered just one, but the company charged him twice. "You took money out of my bank account without my permission you know, and that's fraud," Asin said of the company.

Hundreds of customers filing complaints with online watchdog sites like ripoffreport.com say the same thing happened to them. And most say the reaction they get from customer service personnel only makes it worse. "After I complained," says Sunderlage, "I never heard from them - ever."

It's not just the Tobi Steamer - the complaints list more than a dozen different products. Each appears to be its own separate company. But we traced each product back to one single company: the Sylmark Group. The company did not return calls seeking comment.

It's easy to fall victim to scam sites or shoddy products when searching for holiday deals, so make sure you check out any questionable companies or products.

Head over to infomercialscams.com and ripoffreport.com before buying to see what other customers are saying about the company.

And one of the best things you can do is use your credit card for purchases. That way, if there's a problem, your credit card company is much more likely to help get you some satisfaction.

If you feel you've been ripped off, you can also file a complaint with the Attorney General's office at http://www.atg.wa.gov/FileAComplaint.aspx.