How to Get Retailers to Match Prices

Remember the days when you had to drive from store to store to compare prices, or just go to the retailer that typically had the lowest prices and hope that you were getting the best deal? Those days are over. Now it's as easy as using a smart phone with a price-comparison app, such as RedLaser or ShopSavvy, to scan the barcode of an item and see if another retailer is offering it at a lower price. Then you can simply ask a clerk if the store where you're shopping will match the other retailer's price.

Okay, so maybe it's really not so easy. Plenty of stores have price-matching policies, but sometimes consumers have to jump through a lot of hoops to get retailers to match their competitors' prices. Policies vary from store to store, making it difficult to know what to expect from one to another. And most are fraught with exclusions. So is it worth it to even attempt price matching?

It certainly is if you're buying a big-ticket item and the other store that's selling it for less is miles away - requiring you to give up your time and drain your car's gas tank to get there - says Louis DeNicola, who examined stores' price-matching policies for Cheapism.com. You can improve your chances of a successful price-matching outcome if you follow these tips:

Know stores' requirements. Don't assume that getting a store to match a competitor's price is as easy as showing a sales clerk your phone with the competitor's price displayed on it through an app or online search. Many stores require consumers to show a competitor's print ad with the lower price, DeNicola says. Even at stores that don't require an ad for price matching, such as Walmart, sales clerks sometimes will ask for one, he says. So before you attempt to price match, call the store or check its Web site for its price-match policy to see what proof you need of a competitor's price.

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