10 Ways to Skip Black Friday and Save Online

In the United States, the day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday and the start of the Christmas season for retailers. As explained in About.com, "The origin of Black Friday comes from the shift to profitability during the holiday season. Black Friday was when retailers went from being unprofitable, or "in the red," to being profitable, or "in the black", at a time when accounting records were kept by hand and red indicated loss and black profit."

Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Stores open earlier than usual and many shoppers stand in line for hours waiting for the doors to open in search of the deals inside.

There's lots of people. It's noisy. There may even be some pushing and shoving.

And if you hate crowds you'll do what I'm doing and skip it.

There are other ways to catch a great deal, and that's online. And it doesn't even have to be on Black Friday, although some of the online sites below will offer Black Friday discounts for further savings.

1. Bluefly

Versace, Gucci, Prada, Vera Wang, Dolce & Gabbana, these designer styles and more can be found for as much as seventy five percent off at Bluefly where you can buy top designer fashions at low prices.

2. Overstock.com

Whether it is clothes, books, electronics, jewelry or furniture, Overstock.com offers brand names at 40 to 80 percent off, all with a low shipping cost of just $2.95, no matter the size of the order. (Today when I visited the site they had reduced the shipping cost to just $1.00.)

3. Amazon.com

Amazon.com is known by many for their extensive selection of books, but that's just for starters. Toys, electronics, food, clothes, jewelry and much more can be found at Amazon, often at a discount. They offer gift wrapping (just 99 cents until November 20) and orders that total $25.00 or more get free shipping unless otherwise indicated. Also, Amazon has a Black Friday section as well.

4. eBay