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An Easier Way To Get A Price Match Guarantee On Purchases

Updated: 03/29/2021 by Financial Samurai 10 Comments

Getting a price match guaranteed on purchases is important if you want to save money and get the best deal possible. Let me share an easier way to get a price match guarantee.

It occurred to me that getting a guaranteed price match might be easier than the five steps I outlined in my holiday shopping strategy guide post. I ended up going to Best Buy three times to deploy my savings strategy on the electronics I bought for my parents.

Price Match Guarantee On New TV

New 50" LED SmartTV - An Easier Way To Get A Price Match Guarantee On Purchases
New 50″ LED TV with old CRT TV In Reflection

Trip One. Bought a 50″ LED SmartTV for $799, a soundbar for $249, and a Chromebook for $199 pre-tax on a Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Best Buy return policy is 15 days. So I was all set to try and take advantage of the price match during the Black Friday weekend sales.

Trip Two. Went back on Thanksgiving Thursday at 11:50pm after a poker game to get a 32″ LED TV and blu-ray player on sale for my mother and also see if I could get a price match for the 50″ LED SmartTV which is now on further sale for $599. They said, “no” which I had anticipated since Best Buy’s policy is to not price match on Black Friday. But unclear on the entire weekend sale. I was not deterred because they often say yes later on. I can simply return the product and argue for the cheaper price within the return policy. Besides, I had more stuff to buy this trip.

Trip Three. I was going to go back on the Monday after the Black Friday to try again on the 50″ TV and also price match anything I find on sale from Cyber Monday. But as luck would have it, I played golf on Sunday afternoon after Black Friday just a couple miles away from Best Buy so I did a drive by on the way home. Best Buy thankfully agreed to credit me $209 after tax for the 50″ LED SmartTV and I also returned the blu-ray player because it couldn’t connect to the internet. I also returned the chocolate HDMI cable for $38 and got a generic one for $9.95 because I’m connecting the blu-ray to a 32″ TV with no add-on sound system. Paying up for a fancier HDMI cable would therefore be a waste.

LEARNING ABOUT A NEW PRICE PROTECTION PLAN

Despite making one extra trip than anticipated, I’m happy to have gotten the best deals possible for products I needed to buy for my parents anyway. Thankfully Best Buy was relatively quiet all three times I went. It was about time my parents upgraded their old notebook and 25+ year old CRT TVs. The biggest pain was actually trying to carrying those beasts out to the garage!

My father mentioned over dinner one night before they left on a trip that the Discover it® card has a price match guarantee on all purchases. He’s owned the card for a decade, but I didn’t really think anything of it since I have my system and I also didn’t want a fourth credit card in my wallet.

But after I published my holiday shopping strategy guide post, another person mentioned the Discover card in the comments,

There’s a much easier way to get the deal without every stepping foot into the madness than what is outlined here in the post.

If you have a Discover it® card, they will price match the same item you see in any Black Friday ad on the day of Black Friday. They snail mail you a form and you have to complete it and return it but they refund up to $500 per purchase and up to $2500 in a year. Pretty nifty.

Always Protecting Your Purchases

That is actually very nifty! If don’t have ants in your pants, then the best thing to do is buy everything at once, online or offline, check all the sales online over the next 90 days based on Discover’s policy I researched, and then send all your cheaper findings into Discover card for a refund!

A $2,500 a year annual refund amount is HUGE and probably way more than any of us will ever need. A $500 refund per purchase for each item is also a great buffer. The only way I could see myself using a $500 refund buffer is if I bought a $2,000 or higher TV which is probably never going to happen as that would be a 65″+ beast.

Furniture and kitchen hardware are the other two categories where the Discover protection plan comes in handy given such categories are notorious for their high margins and variable prices.

Besides the sweet price protection program, Chase Freedom Unlimited offers 1.5% unlimited cash back on all purchases and has no annual fee. It is the best rewards credit card today with no fee. You can see my other favorite rewards cards that offer a price match guaranteed.

Related: It’s Revenge Spend Time Post Pandemic!

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Filed Under: Retirement

Author Bio: I started Financial Samurai in 2009 to help people achieve financial freedom sooner. Financial Samurai is now one of the largest independently run personal finance sites with about one million visitors a month.

I spent 13 years working at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse (RIP). In 1999, I earned my BA from William & Mary and in 2006, I received my MBA from UC Berkeley.

In 2012, I left banking after negotiating a severance package worth over five years of living expenses. Today, I enjoy being a stay-at-home dad to two young children, playing tennis, and writing.

Current Recommendations:

1) Check out Fundrise, my favorite real estate investing platform. I’ve personally invested $810,000 in private real estate to take advantage of lower valuations and higher rental yields in the Sunbelt. Roughly $160,000 of my annual passive income comes from real estate. And passive income is the key to being free. With mortgage rates down dramatically post the regional bank runs, real estate is now much more attractive.

2) If you have debt and/or children, life insurance is a must. PolicyGenius is the easiest way to find affordable life insurance in minutes. My wife was able to double her life insurance coverage for less with PolicyGenius. I also just got a new affordable 20-year term policy with them.

Financial Samurai has a partnership with Fundrise and PolicyGenius and is also a client of both. Financial Samurai earns a commission for each sign up at no cost to you. 

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Comments

  1. John White says

    December 28, 2014 at 8:44 am

    This was my experience with Discover’s Price Protection:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBovoOCkJ2I

    Reply
  2. Jack @ Enwealthen says

    December 24, 2013 at 3:26 pm

    Price matching is a great way to save money, if you have the patience for it, as are coupons, if you have the discipline for it.

    Personally, I go for online purchase and the cash back rebate. The 3-10% cash back (depending on the store) adds up, but more importantly, I don’t spend 15, 30, 60 minutes looking for the perfect coupon, or standing in long lines in a store.

    Simple and fast, that’s the way I like my savings.

    Reply
  3. Michael says

    December 15, 2013 at 4:27 pm

    I once accidentally received the Black Friday discount unintentionally by purchasing with CC the week before and then returning on Black Friday to make the purchase with a different CC because I had used the wrong CC. When the employee recharged the item it rang up as the Black Friday price. She was a bit confused and unsure why the price was so different.

    Needless to say I received the discount.

    Reply
  4. krantcents says

    December 10, 2013 at 7:00 am

    I tend to plan my purchases much more and try to maximize the price breaks. Large purchases like appliances are even more important for price matching because you cannot time your purchase as well.

    Reply
  5. Maverick says

    December 10, 2013 at 12:44 am

    I have used a store’s complementary wifi to call up a competitor’s website and ask for price matching. Depending upon store policy, you can do better than matching.

    Also, Discover BANK has 0.80% interest on savings for parking money short term without lockup. Or better yet, GE Interest Plus is currently above 1%. GE Select is higher yet, but has terms.

    Reply
  6. Micro says

    December 9, 2013 at 4:36 pm

    I have a Discover it card that I used a while back. I didn’t realize they had the price match policy. When I finally settle on using a main card, that price match is really going to weigh in it’s favor.

    Reply
  7. Untemplater says

    December 9, 2013 at 8:48 am

    I’ve seen commercials on TV for that card recently as well with the FICO score. I’m glad more companies are offering more transparency and also offering price matching. Great job on all your electronics savings!

    Reply
    • Financial Samurai says

      December 9, 2013 at 2:06 pm

      Feels like Discover card is like the Saturn of car brands or credit union of lending institutions. Smaller, more intimate, less haggle etc.

      Reply
  8. Dave says

    December 9, 2013 at 6:41 am

    Paying for a fancy HDMI cable is always a waste!

    Reply
    • Financial Samurai says

      December 9, 2013 at 2:05 pm

      Glad the folks at CNET think it’s a waste of money too! Patting myself on the back for saving $29 after tax then.

      Reply

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