A great way to save money, especially on higher priced items, is to take advantage of a store’s price match policy. Lots of stores have price match policies but not that many people use them either because they don’t know about them or think it is too much work to price match. Taking the time to price match can be well worth the effort.
Price match policies vary by retailer but in general if you find a lower price at a competitor you just need to show the store you are buying at the lower price and they will match it. For example if you want to buy a sink at Home Depot but Lowe’s has the same sink for sale for a lower price you would just need to show Home Depot the lower price and they would match it. Some stores even allow you to show them a lower price up to 14 days after you make a purchase and will refund the difference. Some of the major retailers that have price match policies are Staples, Office Depot, Office Max, Wal Mart, Sears, Kohls, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond and Best Buy.
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Retailers have different exclusions on what they will price match but typical exclusions are online sites, closeouts, Black Friday deals, and special events. They also might not price match stores that don’t have any locations in the area. You can visit the retailer’s web site for complete details on their price match policies. Sometimes a manager will be reluctant to honor a price match; it can help if you have a copy of the store’s price match policy with you.
I recently saved over $20 by taking advantage of Sears’ price match policy. An item I bought for $199.99 went on sale at Target for $179.99 the following week. Sears allows you to price match an item for up to 14 days after you purchase it. Plus if you find a lower price they will beat it by 10 percent. I simply filled out a price match form online at the Sears web site and the following day I received an email saying my price match request had been approved. The next day I received a refund of $20 for the price difference plus $2 for the 10 percent and a little bit more for the reduced tax. Combined with my cash back from Mr. Rebates and using my cash back credit card, this amounted to significant savings over the original purchase price.
Remember, any time you are going to be buying from a store with a price match policy it can pay to check their competitor’s prices as well.
Andy Hough writes about frugality and living well on a small income at TightFistedMiser.com.
Reader Comments Read all comments (2)
paul of FL 5:39PM October 06, 2011
Michael of OK 9:43PM March 21, 2011