Which Stores Price Match During Black Friday and Holiday Shopping

Cheapism.com

By Louis DeNicola, Cheapism.com

As shoppers line up and count down the hours before stores open on Black Friday, some will come prepared with ads -- but not from the stores where they're waiting. Why, you ask? This year on Black Friday, price-match policies at some retailers promise to honor deals advertised by competing stores and occasionally online competitors, as well. This is great news, as consumers can visit only one store at a time, and it's often hard to get to all the stores with desirable deals before their shelves have been cleared.

But do your research: Every store has its own policy, often with a long list of fine-print exclusions, and sometimes price matching applies only to specific items. Some retailers also suspend their regular price-matching policies for the occasion.

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Here are the Black Friday price-match policies for some of the most popular retail stores.

Sears and Kmart. These retailers will not match prices from Thanksgiving Day through the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Kohl's. The policy states that price matching is available when you bring in a current, local ad. but it doesn'tspecify exclusions; experiences at individual stores may differ.

Walmart. Black Friday price-match policy applies to ads from other retail stores (but not online retailers) in which a specific price for an item is listed. This includes buy-one-get-one-free offers, as long as a price for the first item is printed.

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Target. Although Target has decided to match prices from some online retailers this holiday season, its policy excludes Black Friday ads.

Best Buy. The electronics retailer matches prices posted by a number of online stores but excludes items for sale Thanksgiving Day through 11:59pm on the following Monday.

Staples. The office supply vendor will price match local ads within 14 days of purchase. Staples.com will also match prices from many competitors' websites; click through to see a list.

OfficeMax. This office supply chain matches local competitors' prices for most items up to 14 days after purchase. You can fill out a form and OfficeMax.com may match an online competitor's price as well. In either case, items on sale Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday are excluded.

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Home Depot and Lowe's. These two home improvement retailers go beyond price matching. If you bring in a current ad for an identical item from a local competitor, both Home Depot and Lowe's will beat the price by 10 percent.

It appears that most stores will not match prices on Black Friday this year even if they have in the past. For those that do, note that most retailers have a long list of policy exceptions. Check the small print and consider calling a local store to confirm the policy before you make any big plans. Even if a store continues price matching during the upcoming shopping weekend, don't expect retailers to honor doorbuster deals or other limited-time offers.

One other possible option: You may be able to take advantage of any price protection offered by the credit card used to make your purchase. Set up a price alert on the items you buy using one of the services we've mentioned on our blog in the past. Double-check that your credit card offers price protection (many do) and the circumstances that need to be met to receive a refund. Citi's Price Rewind program, for example, applies only when there is at least a $25 difference in price.

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