“If someone tries to sell you something with a brain in it … ask to see the evidence. Ask for the part of the story that’s not being told.” — Molly Crockett

The next time you walk into a store take a second and look around. Look at how the products are displayed, where they are located on the shelf, and the words used to describe stuff that is supposedly on sale. It’s all done in a way to trick your brain in one way or another. Either to fill it with “warm and fuzzies” so you’ll buy, or to make you think you’re getting a great deal regardless of whether you actually are or not.

They say mold can’t grow in the sunlight. So today I want to expose these dirty little retail tricks to the light of day once and for all. Plus, I want to give you some tips on how to avoid them altogether.

1. Words, Words, Everywhere Words

It is no secret that retailers use psychologists all the time to figure out what words and images will trigger our brains to pull out our hard earned money and buy.

Popular phrases like “Lowest Price”, “Special Value”, “Limited Time Only”, “Unbeatable Price”, and “As Advertised” are plastered all over the store to make you think you’re getting a great deal.

A product could have a cute little sign by it saying “Lowest Price” when in actuality that’s the price it is always at.

The same can be said for “Unbeatable Price”, yeah it probably never can be beaten because the price will never be lowered.

But my favorite is “As Advertised”. So just because you included this product in your weekly flier it must be on sale? Yeah right, not falling for that one.

Ignore the signs and fliers and banners in the store, they often don’t mean squat.

Instead do your own independent research, especially on bigger ticket items, and make sure you’re actually getting a product that is on sale.

The easiest way to do this is at home with a price comparison website (PriceGrabber.com is my favorite) or do your research in the store with a free price comparison app on your smartphone (ShopSavvy is my favorite).

2. The Game of 3

Have you ever been in a store, especially consumer electronic stores, and you see 3 quite similar products with 3 different price points?

One priced high, one low, and one priced right in the middle.

Typically, this is not done by accident.

Stores have done the research and they know that consumers tend to gravitate to the product priced in the middle, figuring the lowest is cheap and of poor quality, and the higher priced one is a rip-off.

They do this because the middle priced item is where they make their money and where their profits are highest.

The next time you notice this retail strategy look closely at the differences between the lowest priced item and the middle, typically there is very little difference making the lowest priced item your BEST buy.

This is especially true with HDTV’s, Blu-ray players, video cameras, and digital cameras.

3. “Bait” Products

You’ll see this trick a lot in apparel, shoe, and clothing stores.

Basically it is when the Men’s Wearhouse has a $800 suit on display right next to a rack filled with $350 suits.

Truth be known, in many cases the $800 suit is nothing more than bait to make you think the $350 suit is a great value for the money.

Stores often never expect to sell the $800 suit.

Don’t let your brain play tricks on you!

Walk into a store knowing exactly what you expect to pay and only buy if the price fits your budget and not just because it appears to be a good deal.

In all likelihood the $350 suit will be on sale for $199 in a couple weeks.

4. Price Tag Game

If you’re a loyal reader here at Rather-Be-Shopping.com, you already know that I cracked the price tag code earlier this year.

While the last 2 digits of the price tag can indeed indicate a closeout or clearance product at certain retailers, in many cases it is simply a trick to make you think you’re getting a screaming deal.

Most people see a price ending in .99 and they think it is full retail price and when they see a funky number like .97, .28, or .73 they tend to think it must be a markdown price.

This is often not the case and done simply to make you think that.

Walmart is notorious for this as they often have some very strange prices.

They want you to think that they have a bunch of eggheads at Walmart HQ crunching the numbers trying to come up with the rock bottom price that they can sell it to you for.

While sometimes this is the case, it isn’t always, so be sure to do your homework ahead of time so you know if the price is right or simply a decoy to avoid.

Ask the Reader: Have you ever been tricked by any of these retail secrets? If so, how did you avoid them the next time they presented themselves?

By Kyle James

Photo by Intel Free Press.

In case you missed it, I was featured in The New York Times. The story I was interviewed for is titled More Retailers See Haggling as a Price of Doing Business and it documents the idea of never accepting the price listed at retail stores. The story was actually on the front page of the print edition. Crazy, huh? A dude working in his pajamas from a home office makes the front page of the NY Times. Gotta love this country.

So today I wanted to continue with the topic of haggling for a better price.

If you are an old friend to Rather-Be-Shopping, you already know how to use Live Chat to score an online coupon as well as using stores price matching policies to your advantage when asking for a better price.

Believe it or not, I have yet another way to haggle for a better price with online stores that you probably NEVER considered.

Here is the skinny behind this frugal hack:

Call Customer Service and Haggle

Real life example: The next time you are shopping at Kohl’s.com and find that perfect KitchenAid Stand Mixer to bake all your Christmas cookies, DO NOT just accept the online price given to you.

Always do some research. Within seconds you can find it at Amazon.com for over $25 less than what Kohl’s is selling it for.

At this point, just call the Kohl’s customer service number, tell them you’re a loyal customer, and politely ask if they’ll match the Amazon price.

I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the willingness of many retailers to price match items directly over the phone.

After all, they know you have the items in your virtual shopping cart and you are just 1-click away from finalizing your transaction.

They don’t want to lose your business at that point.

If the customer service rep refuses to match the price at the very least ask if they’ll knock off the shipping charges.

Instead of Haggling, Why Not Just Buy From the Cheapest Online Retailer?

Good question.

Why wouldn’t I just buy the KitchenAid mixer from Amazon?

Many consumers, perhaps you as well, are members of certain online retailer reward programs and get cash back and reward points on purchases.

So it makes sense to try and buy from only them so you can collect your member reward points.

For example, members of Kohl’s reward program get $5 back on every $100 they spend.

So it makes total sense to call the Kohl’s customer service line and ask them politely if they’ll price match online prices from their competition.

Also, make sure to add a Kohl’s coupon code to your online order to get even more savings.

Speaking of coupons, some online stores may have better coupons available making them the store you want to buy from.

You got nothing to lose and bundles of cash to potentially save by only spending a few minutes on the phone.

Times When This Frugal Hack Won’t Work…

Like most unique ways to save money this hack won’t work with every store and every situation. Here are some caveats to be aware of:

1. Most major retailers will not honor coupons from online competitors. (Some will)

So you won’t be able to just call up Best Buy.com and say, “Hey, I just a coupon code from NewEgg.com in my email for 10% off all digital cameras. Can you honor their coupon code?”

2. Walmart, the biggest retailer in the world, has a written policy that they will not match Internet pricing.

3. Macy’s won’t match online pricing but they have been known to offer consumers free shipping if you call customer service and try to negotiate.

Ask the Reader: Would you consider spending 5 minutes calling customer service to haggle for a better price? Maybe you have already done this. If so, were you successful in getting the price lowered?

By Kyle James

This might surprise you. Even though I run a coupon website that I started from scratch 12+ years ago I have never stacked coupons before. This is mainly because before today I had no idea which retailers actually let you stack coupons. Some coupon nerd I am, huh?

Well, that all changes today as I have gone through and done the “pain-staking” research to figure out which retail stores, both online and brick & mortar, will let you stack coupons on your order. Here are my initial findings:

Big Lots!

I got a Big Lots! coupon in my email the other day and right there on the coupon it said, “Stackable on top of existing deals”.

I, of course, was like SWEET, I need to get them added to this article.

Here is how it works:

– You can stack a percent off coupon with a dollar off coupon, but not two of the same type of coupons.

– You can also add your 10% military discount at Big Lots! and stack it with a dollar off coupon to bring your order total down even more.

– It works like this:  The percent off discount always comes off first, then the dollar off coupon is done next.

CVS Drugstore/Pharmacy

CVS Pharmacy has an excellent coupon stacking policy that can really help you save.

Here’s how it goes at CVS:

– CVS allows you to stack 1 CVS store coupon and 1 manufacturer coupon per item.

– You can also use your Extra Care Bucks (ECB) in combination with any other coupons.

– Print them! CVS accepts coupons printed from the web. Just make sure they have a barcode printed on them that scan-able at the checkout register.

Joann Fabrics and Crafts

The coupon stacking policy at Joann is very similar to Michaels:

– They’ll let you use competitor coupons from Micahels, Hobby Lobby, and Hancock Fabrics. You can actually use a coupon from each place on the same transaction as long as you are buying at least 3 items.

– Similar to Michaels, you can use multiple coupons on the same transaction. For example you can use a 25% off your entire purchase and a 50% off any 1 item coupon on the same purchase. The thing to remember is that the item you got for 50% off is NOT eligible to also receive the 25% off discount.

– You cannot use the same coupon multiple times on the same day, although I am not sure how they would be able to keep track of this.

Kohl’s

Kohl’s is a shining star when it comes to the ability to stack coupons.

Here is the skinny:

– You can combine a percent off coupon with a dollar off coupon but you cannot combine 2 percent off coupons.

– They’ll also let you combine 2 dollar off coupons on your online and in-store purchase.

– When shopping at Kohl’s.com be sure to enter one coupon code at a time and click the ‘Apply’ button after each one is added to your shopping cart.

– Always verify that your order total reflects the coupons before you enter you credit card information.

– Your best bet: When available enter a free shipping coupon code followed by a 20% off coupon code.

Here is the order in which Kohl’s will stack your coupons:

1. First, department-specific dollar-off or percent-off promo codes will be applied to the qualifying items.
2. Then, any dollar-off coupons (like Kohl’s Cash and Rewards Cash) will be subtracted from your subtotal.
3. Lastly, the ONE sitewide percent-off discount will be applied.

See Also: 6 Kohl’s Shopping Secrets That’ll Blow Your Mind

Michaels

Just yesterday my wife took advantage of the coupon stacking policy at our local Michaels store to save quite a bit of money.

She actually used the Rather-Be-Shopping app and the cashier scanned both coupons when she was checking out. Here is how it works:

– You can use multiple coupons on your in-store purchase but the coupons must have different bar-codes.

– Example: If you have a 20% off coupon and a 40% off your highest-priced item coupon, you can use both BUT the 20% off coupon will not apply to the item that received the 40% off discount.

– They also accept coupons from competitors like Joann, Hobby Lobby, and Hancock.

NewEgg.com

NewEgg is a very popular online electronics retailer with competitive pricing. They also have a stackable coupon policy worth mentioning:

– They let you add an unlimited number of coupon codes to your online order.

– The catch is that only one coupon code can be used for each item in your virtual shopping cart.

Target

Also, Target is cool with you stacking some coupon deliciousness.

Here is the scoop:

– Specifically, they allow you to use 1 manufacturer’s coupon AND 1 Target Store coupon AND 1 Cartwheel offer on EACH item in your purchase.

– Where to find Target coupons? Look on their Facebook page, their Twitter account, and be sure to get their free Red Rewards Card and they’ll email you new coupons on a regular basis.

Victoria’s Secret

The coupon stacking policy at Victoria’s Secret is pretty darn liberal. Here is the skinny:

– Victoria’s Secret lets you use up to 3 coupons per in-store purchase.

– No restrictions in terms of dollar off or percentage off coupons. In other words, they in theory would let you use 3 percent off coupons on a single order.

– For online shopping, many of their coupon codes are only good for one time usage.

– Be sure to check their Facebook page for exclusive coupons that you can stack until your heart’s content.

Walgreen’s

The opportunity available for saving money by stacking Walgreens coupons is also worth mentioning.

Here are the details:

– From the CouponProBlog, Walgreen’s lets you “use ONE Manufacturer coupon, ONE Manufacturer Store coupon (found in their weekly ad) & ONE Instant Value coupon (found in their monthly coupon booklets).”

– No doubt you can maximize your savings if you can use each of the above mentioned offer types. Make sure to check out their weekly ad in your local newspaper in addition to one of their monthly coupon books which you can find in-store.

Ask the Reader: Have you had any success stacking coupons at other retailers not listed here?

Please let me know as I’d like to keep adding new stores to this article in an attempt to make it a complete resource. Thanks!

By Kyle James

Photo by Carol Pyles