2011 Holiday Shopping Tips and Shipping Deadlines
December 12th, 2011
Are you done with your holiday shopping, or have you been putting it off for the last minute? The polls show that 32 percent of US shoppers made their purchases in November. This is more than last year, but still a relatively small fraction and the chances are you may be one of the procrastinators still shopping.
Maybe you have budget constraints, hate shopping, or simply enjoy the thrill of finding those last-minute bargains, whatever the reason is we are here to help you make sure your Christmas gifts come on time for the holiday. Please read these quick shopping tips and then scroll down for the round up of shipping deadlines from several popular merchants.
Good prices abound, but not everything is a good deal
- In general, although their stock is plentiful now, Christmas decorations, paper goods, and calendars reach their lowest prices after the holidays and through January.
- Watches and jewelry don’t have the best discounts either, and are usually excluded from department store coupon offers.
- Most of the heavily-discounted electronics and HDTVs advertised this month are off-brands. Look for major brand price cuts after the holidays and into February.
- Laptop deals are usually not very good in December, with one exception – the 17-inch desktop replacement prices are dropping fast. That’s probably because the hot items everyone wants this year are tablets and smart phones.
- Wait until after the holidays to get the best deals on linens and towels, those go on sale in January.
There are definitely some good choices at the best prices of the year
- Toys (of course!) – retailers have the most stock on hand for this season.
- Bicycle prices reach the lowest level in December.
- If you’re looking for cookware or small appliances, this is an opportunity to multiply your savings by combining online sales with coupon codes.
- You should be able to find some great deals on tools and hardware, too, including garden items.
- This is the month to go after Blu-ray movies, disk sets, and video games. Game console bundles are being offered with bonus gift cards and other extras.
Read the fine print on returns
- Some stores, like Walmart, will allow online gifts to be returned to any of their store locations. Others, like JCPenney, will pay for return shipping of online purchases.
- Some stores, like Target, require a receipt (or gift receipt), limit the number of returns, and only offer store credit, which may be restricted to the the same department as the original gift. Toys ‘R’ Us/Babies ‘R’ Us gifts returned by mail are credited back to the original form of payment (the buyer’s), so return that gift to a store if you want to get a merchandise credit.
- Notable exceptions are Kohl’s, Bath and Body Works and Coldwater Creek, who have no deadline and require no receipt.
- Best Buy has free shipping through December 27, and temporarily removed restocking fees for holiday gift returns only through January 4, 2012 (without exclusions). Read the policy here.
2011 Shipping Deadlines
To be sure your packages arrive in time for Christmas, here’s a compilation of shipping deadlines from popular retailers, including links to their coupons and deals. The dates were collected from store websites, advertisements, email distributions, and calls to customer service. The information is subject to last minute changes by the retailer.
| Standard | Express | Fastest | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 12/19 | 12/20 | 12/22 4:30pm PT |
| Banana Republic | 12/20 | 12/21 3pm ET | 12/22 3pm ET |
| BestBuy | 12/20 11am ET | 12/21 11am ET | 12/22 11am ET |
| Buy.com | 12/15 12pm PT | 12/20 12pm PT | 12/21 12pm PT |
| Circuit City | 12/19 5pm ET | 12/21 5pm ET | 12/22 5pm ET |
| Dell | 12/16 5pm CT | 12/19 5pm CT | |
| JCPenney | 12/20 | 12/22 12pm CT | |
| JR.com | 12/16 | 12/21 | 12/22 3pm ET |
| Kohls | 12/20 11pm CT | 12/21 11pm ET | |
| Macy’s | 12/21 | 12/21 | 12/22 5pm ET |
| Newegg | 12/14 3:30pm PT | 12/21 3:30pm PT | 12/22 3:30pm PT |
| Office Depot | 12/22 5pm local | 12/22 5pm local | 12/22 5pm local |
| Office Max | 12/22 5pm local | 12/22 5pm local | 12/22 5pm local |
| Overstock | 12/19 2am ET | 12/21 2am ET | 12/22 12pm ET |
| Payless | 12/09 1pm ET | 12/20 1pm ET | 12/21 1pm ET |
| Sears | 12/16 | 12/21 | 12/22 |
| Staples | 12/19 | 12/20 | 12/20 |
| Target | 12/15 | 12/20 | 12/22 |
| TigerDirect | 12/16 5pm ET | 12/21 5pm ET | 12/22 5pm ET |
| Toys R Us | 12/20 3pm ET | 12/21 3pm ET | 12/22 3pm ET |
| Victoria’s Secret | 12/18 5pm ET | 12/21 5pm ET | 12/22 5pm ET |
| Walmart | 12/19 | 12/20 | 12/21 |
| FedEX: | 12/16 | 12/21 | 12/22 |
| UPS: | 12/16 | 12/21 | 12/22 |
| USPS: | 12/15 | 12/21 | 12/22 |
Entry Filed under: Shopping
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