Black Friday Secrets

Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year but are those low, low prices worth fighting through a stampede?

Shopping expert Brittney Levine says those Black Friday deals may not be such a great deal after all.

"The biggest Black Friday secret? Don't believe the hype,” Levine said. “A lot of big retailers take manufacture retail prices and inflate them during Black Friday to make people think they are getting a major deep discount.”

In fact, she says procrastinators may save the most. "I would definitely recommend holding off until the week before Christmas because a lot of times these retailers heavily discount to get the product off the shelf,” Levine said.

And those famous doorbuster sales? Do your research. Those mega-cheap electronics might be a low-quality device manufactured specifically for Black Friday.

Levine said: "Is it really a great quality product that you're going to buy? Is it really going to last you?"

But if you are going to battle the crowds on Black Friday, Levine says to skip the clothes rack because many retailers inflate clothing prices early in the holiday shopping season.

"I would only suggest buying clothes if you see something for 40 percent off," Levine said.

She also recommends using your smartphone as a tool to get stores to match the price.

To show us how it works, she took us shopping at Best Buy where she picked out two memory cards for a camera and a Cuisinart juicer. Comparing prices on her phone, she found the same items sold online for almost half the price and merely had to ask the clerk: “Do you guys price match?”

Like that our bill went from $240 to $135.

And if you want to shop on Black Friday but would rather do it from your couch, Levine said that about 70 percent of those in-store deals can also be found online.

"The internet is a powerful tool,” she said. “There’s no need to go shopping on Black Friday.”