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Black Friday 101: Nine surprising things you'll find on sale

Black Friday has its usual suspects for deals, including electronics, But as Black Friday has grown into a massive promotional season, stores have taken the innate hype as an opportunity to discount even unconventional wares. 

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Jeff Chiu/AP/File
People shop at a Target store in Colma, Calif. during Black Friday last year. In addition to the usual suspects, Black Friday this year will offer deals on surprising items, from Apple products to tea.

At this point, we're all pretty familiar with the notion of Black Friday season, and it's very likely that you know what the usual suspects will be for doorbuster deals once the ads start rolling out.

But as Black Friday has grown into a massive promotional season, stores have taken the innate hype as an opportunity to discount even unconventional wares. And as such, you might be pretty surprised to learn what kinds of items you can get on sale during Black Friday. From cars to luxury goods, here are some Black Friday deals that go way beyond the typical electronics.

Apple Products

This won't be shocking for devout DealNews readers, but many people are still surprised that you can, in fact, get a deal on an Apple product during the Black Friday season. In fact, Apple Black Friday deals will see discounts of up to 33% off, but you'll need to shop at resellers. (Find out what stores typically offer the best deals here.) Apple devices tend to carry the same doorbuster appeal as a ridiculously-cheap big-screen TV, so these deals are excellent at drumming up publicity.

Beauty Items

According to our Black Friday predictions research, stores will actually offer coveted beauty deals during this time. A full 33% of beauty deals will be marked Editors' Choice, an increase from 12% so far this year. Look to stores like The Body Shop, Sephora, and Bath & Body Works for "buy one, get one" and "$10 or less" type sales.

Luxury Items

Once upon a time, luxury brands wouldn't be caught dead amongst Black Friday sales; but these days, you're almost guaranteed to see the outlet branches of some big names — like Last Call by Neiman Marcus — offer special promotions. According to our research, they're likely to launch sales early during Black Friday week.

Tea

Even we were surprised by this one; it didn't occur to us, until a tea-loving writer brought it to our attention, that Black Friday would bring about great deals on tea. But that's exactly what we saw last year, with both Teavana and Harney & Sons offering 25% off discounts.

MP3s

Both Google Play and Amazon offered a slew of free MP3s and discounted albums last year during Black Friday; Google Play offered a selection of pop and 90s hits for free, while Amazon slashed prices on popular "karaoke" songs from the likes of Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga.

Money

A number of deals will come with free credits that can be used towards future purchases, and we'll see some stores offer discounted gift cards; iTunes gift cards in particular are a popular discounted option. Plus, you might even make a profit on your Black Friday purchases if you're savvy with rebates. Stores like Newegg may offer deals that are priced lower than the included rebate, which means you'll pocket the difference.

Cars

Look for discounts or sizable gift cards of around $1,000 with your purchase, but keep in mind that these discounts aren't springing up for just this specific holiday. "Black Friday lines up nicely with the annual year-end inventory clearance process that dealers begin late in Q3, and that's what is really driving value at this time of year," says an analyst from Kelley Blue Book.

Online Drugstores

Usually the individual items that are discounted in a drugstore Black Friday ad aren't all that exciting or special, but sitewide discounts certainly are. Look to online vendors like Soap.com and drugstore.com for coupons that slash 25% to 30% off the things you buy regularly anyway.

Storage Deals

Technically, hard drives and the like fall into the computer and electronics categories, which are standard Black Friday culprits. But very few people think to stock up on storage deals during the mad dash savings event. It's a shame though, because it's an excellent time to score external and internal hard drives, SSDs, and flash drives.

Readers, have you ever encountered a Black Friday deal that surprised you? 

And if you're really excited for Black Friday deals, consider subscribing to the DealNews Select Newsletter to get a daily recap of all our deals; you never know when a Black Friday price will be released! You can also download the DealNews app, check out the latest Black Friday ads, or read

Lindsay Sakraida is the features director for Dealnews.com, where this article first appeared: http://dealnews.com/features/10-Surprising-Things-Youll-Find-on-Sale-During-Black-Friday-/1173476.html

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