Heading out today for fight the chaos in the stores?

Not us. We’ll be spending more time as a family this year as the girls crowd around the laptop and check out Facebook for the best shopping deals of the weekend.

Confused about what Facebook has to do with Black Friday and the busiest shopping weekend of the year?

Just another innovative idea from the good folks at YTB who will be posting cyber specials all weekend long to help me, you, and anyone else who wants to avoid the crowded malls – saving both time and money this holiday weekend.

I gotta hand it to the YTB Home Office. They really know how to marry and capitalize on the latest and greatest market shifts.

Let’s face it – purchasing products over the internet is more the norm these days rather than the exception. Stores like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Macy’s, Sears, The Home Depot, Bass Pro Shop, The Finish Line, Champs, Target, Boarders (all right – you get the idea here) wouldn’t create these sites if people weren’t actually spending money on-line right?

Because I do so much shopping on-line my inbox has been flooded with all kinds of cyber deals this week to get ready for Black Friday. Best Buy is sending me this – Boarders is sending me that – and the vast majority of the deals are internet only. Some may be as small as free shipping and others are an additional discount for shopping on-line with them. The point here is that each of these retail stores have a new medium to reach customers in order to increase profits at a time of year that could make or break their bottom line.

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 MILLION people also subscribe to Facebook to connect with friends, post pictures, post links to funny videos and find the best deals for this years Christmas list.

Haven’t seen that last bit yet about the Christmas list? You will if you know where to look.

Because shopYTB has the inside track from hundreds of stores this holiday season, they’ll be posting all their specials this weekend on their three top fan pages for you to simply browse, find a deal you like and then go out and snag. If a deal from one of these major retailers wasn’t good enough, you can access the store through the shopYTB portal (something you can sign up for and do for free right here) you’ll get additional savings in the form of cash back.

Don’t have a Facebook account? Not a problem – each of the following pages are public – meaning you don’t need a Facebook account to see the long list of deals that will be posted this weekend.

www.facebook.com/CoachTomer
www.facebook.com/JKimSorensen
www.facebook.com/YTBDealsandSteals

Simply hit up one of these pages during the weekend for a list of specials and stores that are offering up some great savings this weekend. You can forget the crowded malls, the traffic, and the chaos that Black Friday always brings this time of year.

Save more time with family.

Save money.

Save your sanity.

It’s just a better way to shop for Christmas this year.

Thanks YTB!

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Each year the family swaps holidays with each set of Grandparents. This year we’ll spend Thanksgiving with Ronda’s side of the family and Christmas with my side of the family. Next year we’ll switch holidays. It’s something we’ve always done, long before the kids ever came along and it works for both us, and our families.

With Thanksgiving comes the annual start of the Christmas shopping season and Black Friday. It’s a day I’ve tried to avoid like the plague. I hate crowded malls, the parking nightmare, and hoards of people. While the girls don’t seem to mind the experience, shopping at one set of Grandparents on Black Friday just to transfer it to another set of Grandparents for Christmas does raise the problem of attempting to smuggle it back home in the car so the kids don’t see what we’ve bought. Then there’s the added problem of transporting the presents to and from Grandmothers house for the Christmas holiday. (Can you imagine the shipping charges or airline baggage fees associated with all those presents under the tree?? Yikes!)

I’m happy to report that most of these problems have been resolved this year thanks to shopYTB.

I’ve always been a big fan of shopping online and have been doing it for years. This year, because of what YTB has created for both ourselves, family and friends, we can all eliminate the nightmare of shopping the traditional way this holiday season – along with the added bonus of getting cash back when it’s all said and done. So far, it’s looking as if the shopYTB concept is the start of a new tradition in our family during the holiday season.

What got the ball rolling was my wife and mother who have been planning just what presents to get for the kids this year for Christmas. Mom had found the perfect doll house for Brittany and wanted Ronda to see it. While the two discussed the item over the phone, Ronda went to the internet to look it up online.

Not only were we able to find the item online, but also found one of the better prices through WalMart.com.

As an added bonus for everyone involved – Ronda can access the WalMart.com web site through the shopYTB portal, purchase the doll house, and have this large item transferred (site to store) to the WalMart near my parents for my mother to pick up free of charge. It also keeps the item out of Brittany’s prying eyes and hands here at home and she has no idea it will be sitting under the tree this Christmas.

We’re also finding other items from stores that offer free shipping, which eliminates the need to even hit the crowded stores and malls this Christmas season. In addition, I’ve had the unpleasant experience of hitting several of the same stores because one store was completely out of stock. I’m seeing more and more products offered exclusively online that are not found in stores – expanding the offering with more products to choose from.

While I’m also aware of the extended hours each store operates during the Holiday Season, it still doesn’t beat the 24/7 hours available from the comfort of our own home. Just after the kids went to bed last night, we ordered new bathroom decor for the kids bathroom that they’ve picked out. (A new beach and surf theme, fresh off their cruise experience.)

This year, not only is shopping for Christmas going to be far less of a hassle, but it will be nice to actually receive a check with cash back for doing it this way come the beginning of the year. Each purchase saves money in an assortment of ways.

If you’re like me, it one heck of a deal – and avoids all the hassle of the Christmas shopping season.

Just one more reason and example that makes YTB a great value for me and my entire family!

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I have to admit that shopYTB has not been a real high priority on my radar since it was introduced last January during Coach’s Birthday Bash. Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea and the concept – but my first love with YTB is travel. (It’s why I got into this business in the first place.)

Back then shopYTB was known as Aisle19 and as YTB often does, it looked at what we had and made it better. If you’ve been with YTB for any length of time, you’ve seen several website upgrades, product upgrades with new suppliers and travel vendors, and course upgrades such as First Class and RPM. That’s what YTB does. If there’s any question that YTB isn’t ground breaking or innovative, just take a look at Travel Weekly’s Power List and try to find another Travel MLM other than YTB since MLM’s first appeared on the scene in the mid 1990′s. (The vast majority of Travel MLM’s couldn’t even survive let alone appear on a list with other Brick and Mortar and Online Travel Companies.)

Back at the Convention, YTB renamed and re-wrapped the old Aisle19 and introduced shopYTB. By doing so, the company had better tracking and control of commissions and stores they wanted to do business with.

It didn’t take long for YTB to start adding new stores to this new package. Since Convention, not only has the IT Department been able to attach all the old stores from Aisle 19 under the shopYTB umbrella, but have added 100 new stores for a current total of 700 stores that offer the ease of shopping from home, and offer members cash back for doing so.

And the cost of signing up as a member? Not a single penny.

Yep, it’s still free to become a member of shopYTB.

I’ve heard YTB’s new Chairman of the Board state several times that one of the things he’s proudest of is that YTB doesn’t sell something like Carnival – something like Holiday Inn – or something like Avis Rental Cars – private branding it with some label and then selling it for 40% more for the “privilege” of purchasing it through some network of friends. It IS Carnival, Holiday Inn and Avis – all for a competitive price.

It’s the same for shopYTB -but better. It’s still the same store (or website if you will) but because you’ve entered through shopYTB instead of hitting the site directly you save money in the form of cash back.

Macy’s, Target, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Barnes and Noble, Lens Crafters, Old Navy, Sears…

You beginning to get the idea?

In addition, shopYTB is a good place to find those special deals, kind of like the Sunday paper, but every day. When I logged in this morning I found an offer from for 60% off Restaurant.com certificates on the front page. Barnes and Noble offers “The Deal of the Day” on books, music to movies. Another offer from Target includes free shipping with orders over $50.00. It’s a great place to start your shopping experience to save money.

The newest list of stores recently added include The Home Depot, eCampus.com, 123Inkjets, MacMall, Bass Pro Shops, Banana Republic, and InkPlusToner.com. (And we just bought a new exterior door for our back patio that I could have saved money on!)

I guess I’ve been purchasing online for so long now that the allure of shopping on the Internet has worn off. Been doing it for years. Now that I can get cash back for doing what I already do – there’s a new incentive and perk for this old dog.

If you like saving money and like deals (Who doesn’t?!) than you owe it to yourself to at least check out shopYTB as a legitimate way to save. It’s easy to use, connects directly with the online sites you already purchase with, provides immediate discounts and savings, and offers cash back when you do.

To me…it’s common sense.

PS - If you're involved with YTB, sign up for our FREE Newsletter. As a Website Owner or Website Seller, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB.

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