These Are The Best And Worst Things To Buy In May

The Marketplace Fairness Act — which requires online retailers to collect state sales tax regardless of an operation's location — may finally come to pass this month, and consumers who have enjoyed scoring tax-free items via online shopping may be disappointed by the development.

But the way we see it, the new law just means shoppers will have to be all the more savvy with their purchases. To help out, we've mined the dealnews archives of products, sales, coupons, and daily deals to point out what items are great buys (and conversely, what items you should probably avoid) throughout the month of May.

Now's the time to hit up Memorial Day sales & coupons.

Often times, stores want you to believe that every holiday weekend will feature some of the deepest discounts of the season, but that isn't always the case.

However, as an almost-mid-year event, we've consistently found that Memorial Day promotions tend to boast some of the best sales since January.

Keep an eye out in particular for a plethora of stacking coupons that will make already-discounted goods even cheaper; often these sales are the largest in recent months. (For example, last year Calvin Klein took an extra 85% off sale items!) Look to your favorite apparel, home goods, and department stores for special holiday promotions.

Spring clothing deals heat up.

Late April was an excellent time to start shopping for spring clothing deals, but the discounts really heat up in May.

That's because current-season apparel has now been on the shelves for about two months, and in order to make way for summer styles, retailers will begin offering discounts that could take 50% to 75% off.

If you want a particularly large discount, try holding out until Memorial Day weekend for those aforementioned stacking coupons.

Now is not the time to stock up on gaming consoles.

It's presently a terrible time to buy a gaming console of any sort.

Both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are about to be updated, and even if you don't want the latest model, the current systems are bound to get cheaper this summer once the next-gen consoles are announced.

We wouldn't even recommend getting the super-cheap, Android-based OUYA because there are rumors that Microsoft is going to knock the price of the current Xbox down to $99, and the Xbox is a far more capable system. Gamers should undoubtedly sit tight until the gaming world settles after the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June before making any major purchases.

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