The first recorded use of "Black Friday" can be traced to 24 September 1869, when a financial crisis shook the US economy. On that day, two Wall Street financiers, Jay Gould and James Fisk, attempted to corner the gold market, leading to a market crash.

While there are mistakes to avoid and reasons not to buy in the Black Friday sales, here's our advice to make the most of the shopping event.

Stores opened as early as 6PM on Thanksgiving evening with doorbuster deals. 60% of retailers opened at midnight compared to 50% last year.

We're barely out of Halloween, and retailers are keen to get the holiday shopping season started with earlier Black Friday offers.

Christmas trees: top-rated trees from $54.99 While we wait for official Black Friday deals, there are some excellent offers from brands like Apple, Keurig, Shark, and Samsung. I'm using price history and comparison tools to ensure the deals below represent the outstanding value you can expect during the official Black Friday shopping season.

Noel Leeming's best Black Friday sales are just around the corner, and while there are some tasty early deals to be had right now, we expect there to be bigger and better deals come Black Friday Weekend.

Just because Black Friday isn’t here yet doesn’t mean that you can’t find great deals on tech and appliances. At Best Buy, holiday sales are well under way, with discounts on everything from tablets to TVs and refrigerators.

With just weeks to go until the main event, early Black Friday offers are now dropping daily. As the biggest sale of the year, the deals bonanza is your chance to save across tech, TVs and laptops, as well as beauty,