https://www.cnet.com/news/cyber-monday-sales-3-dirty-little-secrets-to-know-thanksgiving-before-black-friday/ > What's in a name? Not much, when it comes to the difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Black Friday used to refer to sales that were literally just the day (or weekend) after Thanksgiving. (Whether the term "Black Friday" is based on the belief that the post-Thanksgiving proceeds were enough to put retailers "in the black" for the year, or because Philadelphia cops dreaded working traffic duty that day is an interesting academic debate, but irrelevant to your current shopping dilemmas.) But now, "Black Friday" is effectively code for "November sale prices." A lot of sales started last weekend, others are well under way. Amazon is letting customers get Black Friday sale prices if they order via voice on Alexa, and Walmart's online sale starts Wednesday night at 10 p.m. ET. And that doesn't include the massive PS4 and Xbox One sales that started pretty much everywhere on Sunday.  > And when Black Friday -- the actual day after Thanksgiving -- has come and gone, these same retailers start advertising "Cyber Monday sales" (or "Cyber Week sales") online. But the actual prices and items on sale are often exactly the same stuff at the same price. It's less a new sale, and more an SEO play on a different term.