Dealnews's reporting from Friday's online shopping front (Black Friday Cheers & Jeers 2009 ) probably presages what you're likely to encounter today on CyberMonday, aka Shopping From Work Day.

Jeers outnumbered cheers. Examples of each:

Jeers: To Roku, maker of a popular Netflix streaming box for your TV. Its servers crashed on Black Friday during its 50% off deal. Once you got through -- you guessed it -- the 50% off deal was over....

Jeers -- with emphasis: To Sears, which had Black Friday sale prices that were substantially worse than other times of the year, or at least worse than its competitors. Ironically, this is the first year that Sears' web servers didn't go down, at least since we started tracking such things.

Cheers: To Office Depot, for free shipping all week with no minimum requirement...

The BIG WINNER: Amazon's customers, who saw the online giant match the best Black Friday prices at Walmart. And Best Buy. And newegg. And Staples. And Office Depot. And Apple. And Target. The list goes on. We imagined all of Amazon's product managers skittering about in a Black Friday war room, in a mad frenzy, unshowered, reeking of coffee and cigarettes, smashing their fists into their keyboards screaming, "You think you got a Black Friday deal, Staples? BWAHAHA! [Click.] SO DO WE!" We watched Amazon cut prices live, and it was a phenomenon to behold. But before we keep gushing, we should point out that there are another 364 days in the year.

Expect more of this today. Dealnews' main page is tracking CyberMonday deals with relish.

Notable, if you're looking for what they're selling:

Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, Piperlime coupon: 20% off all purchases + free shipping. To get it, enter the code "MONDAY" at checkout.

Liz Claiborne Cyber Monday Sale: 50% off sitewide + free shipping. Here, the magic word is "CYBERFUN" at checkout.

My own online shopping strategy involves triangulation -- once I zero in on a product I might want to buy, I copy its exact name into Amazon, eBay and Google and see what prices turn up. Sometimes there's a loss leader at a retailer you might not think of that beats 'em all (Drugstore.com? Really?), or a big jobber on eBay who doesn't have time to learn the going price of rarities that turned up in the latest items they're listing.

I don't want to be too specific here since some of my purchases are for folks who read this blog, but I was delighted at some of the art supplies prices at enasco.com, which I had never heard of until it turned up in a Google search.

The parade of black plastic tech gizmos and shiny pots and pans is wearying, though. Nonessential stuff loses its luster in lean times. My family is asking for truly practical big-ticket items, such as new storm doors.