Experts: Cyber Monday will offer best deals for holiday shoppers; watch out for scams

Experts say that this is the time to take advantage of retailers who have stocked up on big items that they are looking to move.

News 12 Staff

Nov 26, 2023, 8:40 PM

Updated 395 days ago

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For those who missed out on Black Friday sales, experts say the best deals may be on the way for Cyber Monday.
On Black Friday alone, reports have almost $9.8 billion in online sales made in the U.S. ahead of industry expectations.
Experts tell News 12 this will probably be a bigger holiday shopping season than anyone expected. They add that this is the time to take advantage of retailers who have stocked up on big items that they are looking to move.
Caleb Silver from Investopedia tells News 12 that Cyber Monday could see the biggest price drops of all.
"You're going to see a lot of deals and a lot of discounts and incentives for you to buy," Silver says. "You'll probably see those in toys, apparel and electronics – things that were not already sold in the last couple of days. You'll see steep discounts there across the online ecosystem."
Silver also shared advice on how to take full advantage of sales on Cyber Monday.
"Set yourself up for alerts from your favorite retailers. A lot of them, including Amazon and others, do these lightning sales that only happen for about an hour or 30 minutes at a time. Make sure you're clued into those," Silver says. "Also – comparison shop. Cyber Monday is going to be a day of discounts, but you can probably get a better deal if you shop around."
Another thing to consider is how you buy on Cyber Monday. On Black Friday, more than half of sales were made on smartphones rather than desktops or laptops which has never happened before. Silver believes there's a reason shoppers use hand-held devices more than ever.
"It says that we're doing a lot of our shopping through our social media accounts... any of the platforms are sending you promotional ads to shop right now. So that instant buy, that instant purchase we make has become a lot faster now," Silver explains.
With shopping on mobile devices, however, there are some things to be careful of on Cyber Monday.
"Be careful of scammers right now. This is prime season for online scamming. So you might get texted, asked to verify your account, or a promotional code to get a discount on an item you've already purchased, or someone wants you to verify your mailing address. A lot of those could be scams, so be extra careful this holiday shopping season," Silver says.
Silver also says to be careful with the spending because right now credit card debt is at a record high. His advice is to shop on a budget, with a plan, so that shoppers do not spend all of next year paying off a huge bill.