from our nbc news station, lynda baquero shows us how they prepared for the big day. >> reporter: it's the biggest shopping day online this year. and expected $13.2 billion in spending. that's up more than 6% from last year. >> i did find some really good deals. williams sonoma has some good deals, vineyard vines. >> i was looking for a ring. great deals on amazon. >> reporter: how much of your shopping did you do on cyber monday? >> i do almost all my shopping online. so i haven't really done a lot today. but, you know, still got the rest of the day to go, you know? >> >> cyber monday tends to be the biggest day of the year. >> reporter: the deepest discounts can be found on electronics and apparel. we found that air pods pro and this coffeemaker are the cheapest prices since at least july. >> we have up to 50% off on beats by dre. samsung tablets. >> reporter: holiday shopping kicked off on a high note friday. adobe analytics saying black friday sales rose over 5% from 2023. and while we saw folks headed to malls to shopping stores, americans are increasingly going online on black fr

lynda baquero from our station here in new york explains. >> reporter: most online retailers are changingts companies s a lot of mone specifically in shipping and operation coarses. according to a 2023 report from logistics technology company opturo, it can cost up to 30% of the original price of the item, pair that with online purchases having a higher return rate than those from a store, around 18%. the founder of the retail blog rather be shopping says in addition to amazon, he's noticed retailers like walmart, target, chewy, wayfair, zappos, costco, kohls and home depot now allow customers to keep certain returns. i've noticed items $20 or under, items that have been opened, big or bulky items, a lot of times costs more for the retailer to ship it back than to keep it. >> reporter: he says the returns consumers are most likely to keep are inexpensive, difficult to restock. small electronics, low cost clothing. >> oftentimes they'll tell you to keep it and still refund you. >> reporter: be careful trying to get free things with these policies, because you could be banned from returning