You’re a certified Black Friday shopping pro, but have you heard about Black Friday’s lesser-known little brother, Cyber Monday? If Black Friday is the popular kid everyone knows about, Cyber Monday is the hip tech geek of seasonal sales. Here’s everything you need to know about the second seasonal sale holiday of the Thanksgiving weekend.

A Brief History of Cyber Monday

The term “Cyber Monday” was coined by a Shop.org press release in 2005. Shop.org and other online retailers noted that the Monday after Thanksgiving showed a significant increase in sales. Whether this is due to Black Friday’s symbolic kick-off of the holiday shopping season or simply due to people choosing to take care of some holiday shopping during their work hours instead of their time off, online retailers decided to embrace the sales surge by starting their own promotional sales to kick off the holiday season. Thus, Cyber Monday was born.

Cyber Monday sales have increased annually since 2005, with 2010′s Cyber Monday reaching a historic billion dollars in sales (according to comScore reports).

What to Expect From Cyber Monday

Similar to the way leading retailers with physical store locations pull out all the stops on Black Friday, Cyber Monday is an online shopper’s sale paradise. If you do your research, you can walk away with just as good of a deal (if not better) as you’d find on Black Friday. Sales on electronics and other online-friendly goods are especially popular.

If you’ve got a few favorite online retailers, consider joining their online mailing list; you may receive the details of the sale before everyone else.

What to Look for on Cyber Monday

1. Free shipping: As any seasoned online shopper will tell you, online shopping is a hassle-and-line-free way to get your holiday shopping done in one fell swoop. There’s just one catch: shipping costs. If you’re shipping a large or heavy item, you could wind up paying a fortune in shipping costs — making shopping at a traditional store more economical. Many retailers offer free shipping on Cyber Monday, so take advantage of free shipping offers — especially for international retailers or heavy purchases.
2. Site-wide sales: Online retailers’ pricing fluctuates widely, especially on sites that carry a wide variety of brands. Site-wide sales are a great way to save on your entire order. However, don’t get hypnotized by the site with the highest percentage marked off because  a bargain retailer’s 20 percent sale may beat a pricier retailer’s 40 percent.
3. Laptop and HDTV sales: Given the day’s electronic nature, it’s no surprise that some of the hottest Cyber Monday deals are centered around two big-ticket electronics. Look for huge mark-downs on both HD televisions and laptops.
4. Virtual deals: If your loved one is clamoring for a virtual gift instead of a physical object, your best bet is to check out Cyber Monday’s offerings. Discounts are usually offered for XBox Live subscriptions, Wii Points, and Microsoft Points as well as popular apps for the iPad and iPhone.
5. Gift card discounts: It’s impossible to save on a gift card, right? Wrong. On Cyber Monday, many gift card specialty retailers offer gift cards for less than the card’s face value.

Many sites offer the same deals they run on Black Friday again on Cyber Monday, so don’t be afraid to save some of your holiday shopping for when you’re not in a tryptophan coma. Just be wary of must-have holiday items that could be sold out by the time Monday rolls around.