Michelle said

1st Black Friday on Tea: advice on how to plan?

Sooo this is my first Black Friday as a super-excited tea drinker and I was wondering what to expect. I noticed people mentioning saving up for Black Friday – how good are the sales? How much do you usually buy? Does it last the whole weekend?

Advice? :)

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This is my first too. Here’s some info that I was able to get.
http://steepster.com/discuss/8405-black-friday

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Nicole said

The sales are usually really, really good. Some start on Thursday, some go through Cyber Monday, some aren’t on until Cyber Monday… There are generally sales on throughout the whole weekend. IIRC, a lot of sales in the 15-20% range that I can usually resist. Those occasional 30-40% sales are another story. :)

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Uniquity said

They’ve been getting really big in recent years but it feels like the bubble might burst soon. A lot of small businesses can’t afford the deep discounts and the bigger ones don’t really need to. With Butiki closing, Whispering Pines moving, and other tea related changes, the sales will be interesting to see this year.

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Dr Jim said

Every year a few places splurge on really big (40-50%) sales. The big sales don’t repeat, so you can’t really plan for them. If you are flexible or adventurous, you can get some incredible bargains. There are a lot of sales in the 10-20% range, so if there are 3 or 4 companies that you are looking for, you’ll probably get a couple. My strategy is to look for big sales at companies that have good steepster ratings and experiment.

Every year Steepster has a big thread that consolidates info on all the sales. Here is a link to the 2012 sale:
http://steepster.com/discuss/3800-brace-yourselves-dot-dot-dot-black-friday-slash-cyber-monday-is-coming?page=1

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Cwyn said

Hoping for white2tea or Yunnan Sourcing.

apt said

was about to post this :)

I’m 99% sure that W2T is going to do one, and YS is probably going to do one as well.

Woooo Yunnan Sourcing! :D

MzPriss said

Me too Cwyn

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Dexter said

Advice?
Start saving NOW. It’s like a whirlwind of sales, you almost can’t keep up with what’s going on. Last year was my first year and I WAY over spent. LOL if you are the least bit of a shop-o-holic, save up, save up, save up. :))

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I might only be able to order from Butiki this year.

Kaylee said

I’m not sure Stacy will be doing her usual Black Friday madness sale, given that Butiki is closing.

I know, I meant that is about the time I am be ordering.

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I’ve gone through every tea seller that I can foresee myself ordering from, signed up for their email newsletter, created a wishlist, and made a secondary list of priorities. That way, I won’t have to think much…I’ll just have to make sure I have enough money in my account beforehand to support the insanity :)

Does anybody remember seeing Culinary Teas having a sale last year?

Great idea! I’m going to do this as well!

So….I’m crazy and actually have made 3 lists. One is for places I’ve never ordered from but want to (including Teavivre, The NecessiTeas, Mahamosa, Tea Guys, and Simpson & Vail). Depending on how many of these places I order from, I can then take a look at my list of places I’ve sample teas from but haven’t personally ordered from yet (including Della Terra Teas, DAVIDsTEA, and Whispering Pines). Finally, if I make it through both of those lists and still have money in my Tea Fund, I can pick stuff from places I’ve ordered from in the past (including Harney & Sons, Republic of Tea, and Tealux). The deal I’ve made with myself is that I absolutely cannot buy from a company that isn’t having a sale…and that sale has to be a good sale that is better than I’ve seen them have in the past few months. We’ll see how well I adhere to all of this, though. I’ll be at my grandparents’ house, so I may have an easier time than if I were home by myself with no one watching and no one to explain myself to :)

Oh dear…I’ve thought about this too much.

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Michelle said

this is great advice, thank you all so much! which companies are on your black friday wish list? :D

Dr Jim said

I’ll probably only place two orders, but I’ll be looking (in order of likelihood) at Harney, Teavivre, Yunnan Sourcing, Art of Tea, Mandala, and white2tea. Of course, my track record has been to get so excited by some deal that I try a new company, and also wind up placing more orders than I plan.

MzPriss said

Mandala, Whispering Pines, white2tea and Yunnan Sourcing.

Michelle said

I think for me it’s Whispering Pines, David’s Tea, Della Terra, Verdant and a bunch of maybe’s!

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This is my first year too! I’m going to take the Cookie Lady’s advice and make wish lists. We will be out of town with limited access to internet for thanksgiving. So having a list already made will be great!

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