With both Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming up, here are some practices you should implement when you are shopping for things during the season of deals.

• Tip 1: Make sure what you’re buying is actually on sale. Sometimes retailers will lower prices or say something is on sale, but it turns out that is not the case. A popular option for Amazon shopping is a site called camelcamelcamel. This site does a very good job of tracking the price history of different listings on Amazon so you can see if the things you are planning to purchase are actually on sale or if it is just a trick to get you to purchase that item.

• Tip 2: The biggest tip for going in-store on Black Friday is to be safe. Black Friday can get hectic when you are shopping with so many people trying to get something at reduced prices.

• Tip 3: A related tip is to make sure to read what you are buying especially if it is an online purchase. The images or title of an item can be misleading so make sure to read the description to see if the thing you are purchasing is what you are looking for and not a scam.

• Tip 4: If you are looking for electronics, this is by far the best time to look for them since many places are trying to get their stock sold. Most companies know that it’s the holiday season and people will be looking for electronics as gifts. A very important thing when purchasing an electronic item at an online retail store such as Amazon is to check to see if the item is actually new and not refurbished/”like new.” Buying refurbished items can make a difference in the quality of what you are purchasing since the warranty also changes if you are getting the item second-hand.

• Tip 5: Make sure to have a budget and stick to it. It can be very easy to spend a lot of money on things during this time since everything is considered a deal. You could very easily end up spending a lot of money even with all the deals.

• Tip 6: When it comes to shopping in-person, a good thing you can do is check their policies like price match and return policies. You could end up getting a better deal than what they have listed at the time with a price match. If you want to make a return, it would be good to know their policies since they might charge you a restock fee.