The Best Buy Price Match Policy: Insider Tips To Help You Save
The Best Buy price match policy serves as a great way to always get the lowest price when shopping for electronics. Surprisingly, I recently had a Best Buy employee tell me that not many shoppers take advantage of their fairly liberal price match policy. So I figured that maybe shoppers just aren’t aware of it and how to best use it to save money. So this article idea was born. Here’s exactly how Best Buy’s policy works, along with some insider tips to help you use it most effectively.
How Does the Best Buy Price Match Policy Work?
The price match policy at Best Buy can definitely save you some money if you know how it works.
If you find a lower price at a qualified competitor, or from a qualifying online retailer, Best Buy will happily match that price.
To get a price match, the item must be identical in terms of brand, model number, and color.
When in-store, just find a “Blue Shirt” and show them the competitor’s ad or website (via your smartphone or tablet) with the lower price displayed.
The Best Buy employee will then do all the legwork required to get you the lower price.
See Also: 7 Insider Tips to Save Money at Best Buy
PRO TIP: HOLIDAY PRICE PROTECTION
Best Buy has a new “Holiday Price Match Guarantee” that allows shoppers to get the lower Best Buy price on stuff bought between November 1st and December 31st all the way until January 14th.
So, for example, if you buy a new TV from Best Buy for $650 on November 15th, then they drop the price on Black Friday to $550, you can get $100 back. Unfortunately this policy does NOT apply to competitor pricing, so it’s basically a price protection policy rather than a price matching policy.
Who’s Considered a “Qualified Competitor”?
Best Buy used to say the competitor had to be within a 25 mile radius of the store but that is no longer the case.
They now make it very easy and have a specific list of stores that they will price match.
They will ONLY price match the following 19 retailers, they include some heavy-weights in the consumer electronics category and offer a great opportunity to find a lower price.
This applies for BOTH an in-store price match AND an online price-match.
- Abt
- Amazon (Must be sold and shipped by Amazon, not a 3rd party seller)
- Apple
- Bhphotovideo.com
- BJ’s Wholesale
- BrandsMart USA
- Conn’s
- Crutchfield.com
- Dick’s Sporting Goods
- Home Depot.com
- Lowe’s.com
- Menards.com
- MicroCenter
- Nebraska Furniture Mart.com
- P.C. Richard
- RC Willey
- Sam’s Club.com
- Target.com
- Walmart.com
When shopping in-store, just show a Best Buy employee the product page from one of the above sites on your smartphone or tablet and they’ll verify the price and quickly get you a price match.
When shopping online, you’ll need to either Start a Live Chat -OR- call them at 1-800-BEST-BUY for a price match request. From their site, “Best Buy will then review and verify the price match request on a Best Buy device.”
Which Items Won’t They Price Match?
These are there price match exclusions:
- Refurbished Items
- Clearance Items
- Open Box Specials
- Contract mobile phones sold by any online retailer.
- Competitors’ service prices.
- Special daily or hourly sales.
- Items for sale Thanksgiving Day through the Monday after Thanksgiving.
Fairly small list. The biggest one is no Black Friday price matching.
Can You Get a Match After Your Purchase?
Yes, absolutely.
Also known as “Price Protection” or a “Price Adjustment”, this is when you buy something from Best Buy only to have the price drop via a sale or a new everyday low price.
Crappy feeling for sure! The good news for you is that Best Buy now offers 15-day price protection.
From the Best Buy website, “If we lower our price during the return and exchange period (15 days), we will match our lower price, upon request.”
Just keep your receipt and head back to the store to get the lower price.
For online purchases, call them at 1-888-BEST BUY (1-888-237-8289) and request your price adjustment.
See Also: All the Stores that Offer Price Adjustments (32 Retailers and Counting)
3 Insider Tips for Success:
Here are a few insider tips to make the Best Buy policy work for you.
1. Use the Amazon App
A very easy way to check Amazon for a lower price is with their free app (iOS, Android).
Use the app to scan the product’s bar-code when standing in the aisle at Best Buy. If Amazon has the item cheaper, you’ll get that price. No Prime membership required.
2. Costco and Sam’s are Local Competitors
Surprisingly, Best Buy considers warehouse clubs like Costco, BJ’s, and Sam’s Club to be local competitors.
So if you find a lower price at any warehouse club, simply bring in evidence and show any “Blue Shirt”.
Look carefully at model numbers and SKUs as the product may look identical but in actuality be made specially for Costco and thus not be 100% identical to Best Buy.
Top Brands in Common: Samsung, LG, Apple, Vizio, Sharp, JVC, Canon, Nikon, Bose, Sony, and Yamaha.
3. “Local Competitor” Hack
Until recently, Best Buy would accept a price match from ALL local stores, not just one of the 19 large retailers that I listed above.
If you find a local competitor that has a lower price, but is NOT one of the 19 stores, TRY to get a price match anyways.
Since Best Buy changed their policy without any notice, I think you’ll still have decent success getting your price match.
I’ve been told manager’s are still being fairly lenient on this new policy as many shoppers aren’t aware of the change yet.
Ask the Reader: Have you ever used the price match policy at Best Buy effectively? If so, how much cash did you save and was it an easy process?
By Kyle James
I started Rather-Be-Shopping.com in 2000 and have become a consumer expert and advocate writing about out-of-the-box ways to save at stores like Amazon, Walmart, Target and Costco to name a few. I’ve been featured on FOX News, Good Morning America, and the NY Times talking about my savings tips. (Learn more)
I had purchase a beats headphone last 6months ago can i returned it? The control volume is broken
No, you’ll have to contact Beats directly and see if they’re still under warranty.
This is a fraud I tried to price match a TV and they said they could not do it with the Big Scree tv store so guess they pick and choose.
It’s true they do pick and choose. You have to escalate to a manger to get it done though. Worked for me.
A few months ago, I was perusing BestBuy.com, B & H, and Adorama as they are all within driving distance of Southwestern Connecticut where I now live after moving here from the Bronx. I was shopping for an InkTank printer by Epson, and found it at several retailers cheaper than what Best Buy had it online for. I utilized the Online Chat feature on the Best Buy website and conversed with Kathy (the Best Buy Rep). It took all of a 10 minute discussion and she matched the price without a problem. On another note, IF you’re shopping in store or online at B & H (bandhphotovideo.com or Adorama.com), they both price match as well. . .and since one is in Brooklyn, NY and the other in Manhattan, they like waging price wars on each other. Over Christmas, B & H surprisingly price matched Adorama on 3 for me that Adorama was out of stock on: the new iPad Pro 11″my ($50), Apple Air Tags ($10), and my MacBook Pro 16″ with M1 processor ($125). Adorama had been out of stock for several weeks, and weren’t going to have replenishment until post-holiday. I explained my case to B & H, and they graciously matched all three items so I could have them in time for the holiday.
Now, tomorrow morning, I’ll be calling BestBuy to price match two different LG AIr Conditioners (8000 and 9500 BTU) with a total price difference of $127!
Happy Savings!
John
This is for real, altho I learned a hard lesson in doing this. I had ordered a tv on bestbuy.com…and I got a bit antsy about overpaying (because the tv was being sold cheaper by a couple hundred dollars…but right when I bought it, the price had changed higher.) So, the first cheaper price I saw was on Amazon.com, which was about $50 cheaper than the price I had got on bestbuy.com…I did a live-chat on bestbuy.com and it took a bit of time for them to check out the details, but I got my $50 refunded…That’s the good news…Now, the bad news…Had I just waited a week longer, closer to the end of 15 days, I would’ve seen TODAY’s price of the tv on bestbuy.com which was a bit over $200 less than what I paid for it…The point is, it’s best to wait out close to the 15 days and not get anxious that no prices will drop…I would’ve had $150 more had I done that ! I’m still beating myself up for not trusting that the price may go down further…It’s an expensive lesson, but hope others can learn from it.
At least with Amazon, the product has to be “sold” by Amazon, not just shipped by Amazon. This eliminates a huge portion of Amazon’s inventory, which has often made the Amazon price matching useless for me.
I see that you have updated this article, but it’s still not accurate.
It’s important customers are aware this is, for the most part, Best Buy’s nefarious means to get people to purchase using dishonest business practices — assuring them the difference in price will be refunded if it goes down within a certain time frame.
Makes you feel confident you can’t go wrong if you purchase from them as they will have your back. Nope. Not true.
They assure you of this, but if you don’t read the fine print of the exclusions, you wouldn’t realize that not only are the options few to actually qualify, but they do a little bait and switch during the purchase to ensure that you do not qualify.
If your purchase is part of a “bundle”, it does not qualify. I’ve had them add a “deal” to my receipt for $0.49 and then remove the $0.49 as part of a “bundle”.
This means when you attempt to get a price match, it doesn’t qualify. Even if you have them remove the $0.49 “deal”, it was purchased as a bundle, so it no longer qualifies.
I didn’t ask for this special $0.49 deal on my multi-hundreds of dollars purchase, so how can one regard this as anything but an intentional deceptive business practice? Please look around the internet — there are multiple class-action suits related to the supposed price match guarantee.
I went from being a happy consumer, feeling like the salespeople took really great care of us, to realizing we had been sold down the river.
I’m a cautious person and tend to ask a lot of questions about something that sounds too good to be true, which is what I did in this situation, but I believed what they told me.
And even if I read the fine print about bundles not qualifying, I would have been under the belief I had not purchased a bundle… because I didn’t.
They just added something to the receipt to make it appear that way.
Either I’m being lied to or you’re giving incorrect information, when it comes to Best Buy who knows. I tried to get a price match on an item from Amazon, before I even received it and was told, the item from Amazon had to be shipped and sold by Amazon itself…. now here’s the catch almost all Electronics sold by Amazon are sold by a different company and shipped by Amazon. Do you see the scheme! And like I said or I’m being what I do.
But here’s a doozy of a story for you and if there’s anything you can do to help I’d greatly appreciate it. I have been a member with Best Buy for almost 20 years. I’ve never had a package stolen from me until just recently. Two in fact back to back.
If you’d like to know more in great detail reach out. But to keep the story as short as possible. They kept my money after ordering a replacement and canceling it. Also blocking me from filing a claim with UPS. They have put a flag on my account till 2030. Also I thought I might add the fact that I install the security system and cameras after the first small item was stolen off my porch then a month later a product I’ve been waiting over 4 years to come back on to Best Buy’s website for sale that cost $600 was stolen.
I file the police report I followed up with the officers, I called Best Buy and spoke to several managers corporate of course. They never even copied my incident number they open and close my case several times. I am still flagged currently and not one single person has given me an answer as to why I’m being treated like a criminal. Most importantly why they are choosing to steal my money.
I have been hounding every day. Eventually Arapahoe Sheriff’s Department reached out to me and told me there’s nothing that they can do they wouldn’t even call Best Buy for me which is what Best Buy told me to have them do. I somehow managed to get a hold of Sedgwick, for those of you that don’t know that is their insurance company that processes reshipments or refunds.
They also ghosted me and stop talking to me. I come to find out this is my third offense. Let me explain. Last November Best Buy shipped a product to my old address after I had already received packages at my new address and I changed my address three times with them.
This was marked on my account as my fault. They quite literally are stealing from me so I have taken it upon myself to max out my credit card with Best Buy. They will not be receiving a dime nor will Chase Bank.
I spoke to Chase Bank told him the situation and let them know if they wanted their money they would have to get mine first and I would be very happy to return all the purchases I made and pay off my account. I have spoken to the officer one last time he suggested taking them to small claims court after bashing them on social media and filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I have never in my life been so disrespected by a company that I was loyal to. Even during covid I still made my payments on time and paid them off.
They offered financial hardship, I didn’t need it I was working let someone else have it. I know some of you may say you’re only hurting yourself with the credit card stuff but, there is no such thing as a debtors jail. This is not about Pride this is about principle.
Also this is after my last two purchases that were well over 3-7,000 bit the dust in under 2 years. They wouldn’t even give me my money back they gave me e store credit. Can’t pay off my credit card with that now can I. Honestly at this point, FCUK BEST BUY!