Maximise your Savings with the Best Buy Price Match Guarantee
Are you in love with the latest tech at the lowest prices? If so, Best Buy is your destination to get smartphones, home stereo systems, tablets, music, home security systems—the list goes on when it comes to Best Buy’s extensive inventory. But what happens if you see a laptop at a lower price at another retailer. Are you out of luck?
That’s where the Best Buy price match policy can have you taking home your devices at the lowest prices. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the Best Buy price match guarantee, as well as show how your credit card and an indispensable app from Sift can make your life less complicated.
Who Does Best Buy Price Match?
Not every online retailer is honored by Best Buy Price Guarantee. Best Buy limits price matching to local retail competitors (including their online prices) and the following retailers:
What Qualifies for a Price Match Guarantee
There are three criteria to be met to be honored by Best Buy’s Price Match Guarantee:
- The item must be identical to the competitor’s product, which includes matching brand, model number, and color.
- The item must be immediately available at a local retail competitor or qualified online retailers, including:
- Amazon.com
- Dell.com
- HP.com
- Newegg.com
- Tigerdirect.com
- The item must not be shown on Best Buy’s exclusions list (see below)
Exclusions to the Best Buy Price Match Guarantee
- Contract cell phones
- 3rd-party products on websites
- Best Buy Education and Best Buy for Business transactions
- Competitor’s service prices (inc. delivery and installation fees), pre-order and trade-in offers
- eBay store offers
- Special daily/hourly sales at retailers
- Financing offers
- Bundle offers & items included in bundle offers
- Free items
- Pricing errors
- Mail-in offers
- Coupon offers
- Items that are advertised as limited quantity
- Out-of-stock items
- Clearance items
- Open-box items
- Refurbished items
- Pre-owned items
- Credit card offers
- Gift card offers & items included in gift card offers
- Rent/lease to own items
- Point of Sale Activation cards
- Video game discounts related to membership programs
- Items for sale between Thanksgiving Day through to the Monday after Thanksgiving (from Best Buy or a competitor)
Additionally, only one price-match per identical item per customer at the current pre-tax price is allowed.
Your Credit Card’s Price Protection
As mentioned before, your credit card may play a part in getting a price lowered, even if Best Buy won’t honor the lowered price. Credit cards come with a perk called “price protection”. It’s similar to price matching, but it works after you’ve made a purchase with your credit. If you find a price has been lowered 30 – 60 days after you’ve made a purchase, you can receive a reimbursement in statement credit by filing a claim with your credit issuer.
Typically, the reimbursement process can take a few weeks or months, depending on your credit issuer. For a full list of how each credit brand works and limits for each one, click here . It may seem daunting to have to monitor a price for weeks afterwards and then pursue a claims process just to get the price difference back via price protection—however, Sift can help make the process a breeze.
Simply put, Sift monitors your recent credit purchases for lowered prices. When a lower one is found, claims are automatically filed on your behalf to get the lower prices from your credit company. This frees up your time scanning the competition and fine print, as well as having to deal with a prolonged claims process. To automatically track of all your extended credit card return protections and to unlock additional credit card benefits, download Sift from the Apple Store or Google Play.
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(Note: Consumers should be aware that Best Buy can alter their price-matching policy at any time. As of this writing, the information in this article is up-to-date.)