With over a thousand stores worldwide, Best Buy is a major player in U.S. consumer electronics sales. Through their hard-to-miss big box stores and services like the on-call IT department known as the Geek Squad, Best Buy and Bestbuy.com have become a household name brand in the United States. Of course, big specialty stores only stay relevant when they offer consistent service, and consistent low prices.
Best Buy started off in 1960s Minnesota as a music store called the Sound of Music. In 1983, the company rebranded as Best Buy and saw decades of unprecedented growth. Despite stiff competition (especially from the online behemoth Amazon) Best Buy remains a major seller and go-to for your everyday electronics. In fact, despite the challenges of the pandemic, Best Buy was named this year as one of Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators.
So how does Best Buy offer competitive prices? Does Best Buy offer price matching? The answer is yes, with a few guidelines, rules and exceptions. They have a pretty generous policy that should be taken advantage of. We will break down all the rules and details for you. Plus there are many ways to save while shopping. Amazing seasonal sales, as well as Black Friday sales are always a good way to save. In terms of everyday prices, Best Buy’s price match guarantee means they’re confident in their prices, and will be happy to match their competitors.
Price Matching Basics
- Competitors beware! Best Buy will match major online retailers: Amazon.com, Crutchfield.com, Dell.com, HP.com and TigerDirect.com. Also, they will match local retail competitors (including their online prices), which basically covers all local electronics shops within a 25-mile radius. This actually includes a local warehouse club (if it’s a local retail competitor). Double check with your store’s sales associates.
- Same products only. Best Buy will only price match when you find the exact same brand, model and style product.
- In stock and available. No wish list prices here. Best Buy will only price match when their product is available, and available at their competitors at the same time.
- Limited time. If you don’t ask for a price match at the point of purchase, the price match can be processed within the return and exchange period on the order, if Best Buy lowers the price after you buy. Typical orders have a 15-day window for returns (that window is typically longer around the holidays, though).
- They even self-match. Best buy stores will match bestbuy.com, and vice versa.
What Are Best Buy’s Price Matching Rules?
- Only new items. Best Buy only price matches new, in-stock and available items. So that means no open-box or refurbished products.
- Mind the time. Best Buy will match at the time of sale, and during the whole return period, which is usually 15 days but it’s best to check your receipts.
- Good timing. This is a pretty cool feature, but you’ve got to stay on top of it. If your item goes on sale during the product’s return period upon request (here is where you need to stay vigilant), they will lower the price of your item.
- Gather your proof. In order for your price match request to be granted you have to present the product and price on the competitor’s ad or website.
- Always available. If you are shopping online you’ve got a couple options: you can connect with Best Buy’s Chat (which is surprisingly easy and quick), or you can call 1-888-BEST-BUY.
- In-store convenience. When you shop in their stores, in order to get your price match you have to gather your proof and flag down any store employee, no need for customer service.
Which Items Are Excluded From Best Buy’s Price Matching Policy?
- Third-party sellers. While Best Buy will match Amazon.com, look carefully because they will not match any third-party sellers, and there are plenty of them lurking on Amazon.com.
- Super sales events and crazy coupon deals. Best Buy will not match competitor’s coupons, and if you use a coupon for your purchase at Best Buy, you can’t also use a price match – it’s one or the other. Price Match Guarantee doesn’t cover Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales or special hourly sales events.
- Special pricing offers. No luck if you’ve found a special deal associated with a finance offer, bundle offer, subscription service, clearance, membership program, gift card offer or limited quantity deals.
- Best Buy Education. These sales operate with their own price discount offers.
- Best Buy for Business. These sales operate with their own price discount offers.
- Contract cell phones and service prices. Don’t try your luck with any cell phone service deals, installation or delivery services or rent/lease, pre-order deals.
- Typos. Best Buy will not honor any honest mistakes. So, if you think you got lucky finding a major error on their site or flyers they aren’t going to honor that.
Best Buy’s Price Match Guarantee is pretty easy to use and can’t hurt to try. With a little extra effort to stay on your game, you can score lower everyday prices at the time of sale or shortly thereafter. Here’s a breakdown of your steps.
Does Best Buy Price Match Black Friday?
No. While the Best Buy price matching policy is in effect for the holiday season, the time span from the Friday before Thanksgiving Day through the Monday after Thanksgiving (aka Cyber Monday) is exluced.
That means, if you buy something before Black Friday and see a great doorbuster price on that same item, you’re out of luck — Best Buy won’t price match it. There’s a possible workaround, however, and that’s Best Buy’s holiday return policy. Typically, Best Buy offers extended holiday returns that allow shoppers to return anything they buy from October (Oct. 24 in 2022) through Dec. (Dec. 31 in 2022) into January (Jan. 14 in 2023). So, technically, if you bought something Oct. 24 or later, and it falls in price during Black Friday, you could buy that Black Friday deal and return your own item for a refund. Note that it can take retailers (and your bank) some time to process a return and refund you, so you’ll need enough money in the bank to cover the new purchase before the money comes back to you.
How to Price Match at Best Buy
- Find or buy your in-stock item at Best Buy or BestBuy.com.
- Keep all your receipts and records of sale (and be within your items return window).
- Double check the same in-stock item at Best Buy’s competitors.
- Bring proof of higher price to Best Buy store to any sales associate or if your purchase was at BestBuy.com call 1-888-BEST-BUY or use their online chat.
- Receive price match for the item.
The post Does Best Buy Price Match? appeared first on The Real Deal by RetailMeNot.
