Most major retailers will match a competitor’s lower price on the spot — no coupon required, no sale to wait for, no cashback portal to activate. The price match playbook is the lowest-effort savings strategy available to any shopper, and retailers count on the fact that most people don’t know it exists or don’t bother using it. A 30-second phone search and one sentence at the register can save you $50 on an appliance, $80 on a TV, or $200 on a laptop — on purchases you were going to make anyway.

This guide covers exactly how price matching works at seven major retailers, what disqualifies a match, and — critically — the post-purchase adjustment window that lets you collect savings even after you’ve already checked out.

How Price Matching Actually Works

Price matching means a retailer agrees to sell you an item at a lower price you’ve found elsewhere. The mechanics are straightforward but specific:

What qualifies: The item must be identical — same brand, same model number, same configuration, and in stock (not backordered) at the competing retailer. “Similar” doesn’t count. A 65-inch Samsung QN90B at Best Buy must be matched against the exact same model at the competitor, not a comparable TV.

How to present it: A screenshot of the competitor’s current product page works at every retailer on this list. A live URL shown on your phone is equally acceptable. Printed ads from a competitor’s weekly circular are valid at most stores. The key word is “current” — the price must be live at the time you’re requesting the match.

Price match at purchase vs. price adjustment after purchase: These are two distinct tools. Price matching happens at the register before you pay. Price adjustment happens after you’ve already purchased — if the price drops at the same store or a qualifying competitor within a set window, you return to customer service (or chat) and get the difference refunded. Most retailers offer both. The adjustment window is where the real money gets left on the table, because shoppers assume the deal is done once they’ve paid.

The Retailer-by-Retailer Price Match Rules

Target

Matches competitors: Yes — Amazon, Walmart, and most major online and brick-and-mortar retailers Post-purchase adjustment window: 14 days Key exclusions: Lightning deals, limited-time online-only prices, Marketplace sellers, items requiring a competitor membership, different quantities or bundle configurations

Target’s price match policy is broad and shopper-friendly. If you find a lower current price at a major competitor, Target will match it in-store or online. The 14-day price adjustment window applies to Target’s own price drops as well — if a Target item you bought goes on sale within two weeks, you get the difference back automatically if you used a RedCard, or by request with a receipt.

Insider tip: Target’s price adjustment is retroactive even on sale prices. If you bought something at a sale price and Target drops it further within 14 days, you can claim the additional difference. Most shoppers assume one price adjustment per item — there’s no such restriction.

Walmart

Matches competitors: Yes — Amazon, Target, Best Buy, and most major national retailers, both online and in-store prices Post-purchase adjustment window: None — Walmart does not offer post-purchase price adjustments Key exclusions: Third-party marketplace sellers, limited-quantity or doorbusters, items requiring a membership, different bundle sizes

Walmart’s price match is available at the register (or during online checkout via chat) and covers a wide range of competitors including Amazon — which is notable, since many retailers exclude Amazon or limit it. The major limitation is the absence of a post-purchase adjustment window: if you buy something at Walmart today and find it cheaper tomorrow, you’re out of luck unless you return and repurchase.

Insider tip: For online orders, Walmart’s price match must be requested before the item ships. Once it’s in transit, the window closes. If you’re price matching a large online purchase, request the match immediately after placing the order — don’t wait until the item arrives.

Best Buy

Matches competitors: Yes — Amazon, Target, Walmart, Costco, Home Depot, Lowe’s, and other major retailers Post-purchase adjustment window: 15 days standard; 30 days for My Best Buy Elite members; 45 days for Elite Plus members Key exclusions: Open-box items, clearance, limited-time sales, marketplace/third-party sellers, prices that require a competitor membership, bundle deals

Best Buy runs one of the strongest price match policies in retail. They match a long list of named competitors, and the tiered post-purchase adjustment window gives Elite and Elite Plus members a meaningful advantage — 30 to 45 days is enough runway to monitor price movements on a major electronics purchase and collect the difference.

Insider tip: Best Buy’s price match applies to their own Geek Squad-certified open-box items differently than standard inventory. If you buy a new-in-box item and a Geek Squad open-box version of the same product shows up at a lower price later, that does not qualify for an adjustment. However, if the new-in-box price drops at a competitor within your adjustment window, it does. Know which pool you’re drawing from.

Home Depot

Matches competitors: Yes — any local competitor and most major online retailers on identical in-stock items Post-purchase adjustment window: 30 days — Home Depot will refund the price difference if it finds or is shown a lower price within 30 days of purchase Key exclusions: Competitor installation prices (the item must be matched, not the full installed job), clearance items, liquidation prices, limited-time offers

Home Depot’s 30-day low price guarantee is one of the strongest adjustment windows in home improvement retail. They’ll match the item price at any competitor — including Lowe’s, Menards, and Amazon — and they proactively check for lower prices during the window, though “proactively” in practice means you should check and request the adjustment yourself.

Insider tip: Home Depot’s price match covers contractor and trade quotes on identical products. If a contractor quotes you a lower supply price at a trade account, that typically doesn’t qualify — but if a competing retailer has the same SKU at a lower shelf price, it does. The line is on the retail price, not the project cost.

Lowe’s

Matches competitors: Yes — Home Depot, Amazon, and major retailers; also matches Home Depot’s special order quotes on identical items Post-purchase adjustment window: 30 days Key exclusions: Clearance, liquidation, limited-time or limited-quantity prices, installation labor costs, pricing errors

Lowe’s and Home Depot price match each other routinely — their policies are nearly identical by design, since they’re each other’s primary competition on most SKUs. For appliances specifically, both retailers have negotiated pricing flexibility that isn’t advertised, and asking a floor associate for a price match against a specific competitor quote on a refrigerator or washer is a well-established tactic that frequently works.

Insider tip: Lowe’s offers an additional 10% discount on top of a price match for military members and veterans through their MyLowe’s Military Discount program. If you’re eligible, the sequence is: match the competitor’s price first, then apply the military discount on top of the matched price — not on the original price. Always confirm the order of operations with the associate.

Amazon

Matches competitors: No formal price match policy Post-purchase adjustment: No formal policy, but price drops on your order within a few days can sometimes be addressed through customer service chat Key exclusions: N/A — policy doesn’t exist

Amazon doesn’t offer price matching in any official capacity — they operate on dynamic pricing and expect you to decide when to buy. That said, two tools make Amazon more manageable:

CamelCamelCamel tracks the price history of any Amazon product and shows you whether the current price is genuinely good or artificially elevated. Before buying anything significant on Amazon, run it through CamelCamelCamel first.

Amazon’s Warehouse Deals are open-box and refurbished items sold by Amazon directly, often at 20–40% below new pricing. These are the natural “price drops” in Amazon’s ecosystem — not price matching, but functionally similar savings on identical items.

Insider tip: Amazon’s Subscribe & Save program locks in a price on consumables and applies a 5–15% discount. If a competing retailer’s price drops below your Subscribe & Save price, you can cancel the subscription at any time — no penalty, no commitment. Use it as a soft price lock, not a hard one.

Costco

Matches competitors: No — Costco does not match competitor prices Post-purchase adjustment window: 30 days on your Costco purchase price — if Costco drops the price on something you bought within 30 days, you get the difference back Key exclusions: Competitor matching isn’t offered; internal adjustment only

Costco’s model is built around being the lowest price rather than matching others, so competitor price matching isn’t part of their playbook. What is valuable is the 30-day internal adjustment: Costco runs consistent price rotations on products, and if an item you bought drops — common on seasonal goods and electronics — customer service will refund the difference with your membership number and receipt.

Insider tip: Costco’s price adjustments can be requested at the membership desk or via phone without returning to the warehouse. You don’t need to bring the item in. A quick call with your order number handles it in minutes — most members don’t know this and either miss the window or make an unnecessary trip.

The Post-Purchase Adjustment: The Move Most Shoppers Miss

The post-purchase price adjustment is the most underused savings tool in retail. Here’s the exact sequence:

Step 1: After making a significant purchase, set a calendar reminder for 3–5 days out. Check the item’s price at the store you bought from and at major competitors.

Step 2: If the price has dropped — at the same store or a qualifying competitor — bring your receipt or pull up your order confirmation and contact customer service. In-store, go to the service desk. Online, use chat (it’s faster and leaves a paper trail).

Step 3: State clearly: “I purchased this item on [date] and the price has dropped to [price] at [retailer]. I’d like a price adjustment.” That’s the whole script. The associate will verify and process the refund to your original payment method.

Extend the window with your credit card: Several credit cards offer purchase protection that extends price adjustment coverage beyond the retailer’s window. The Citi Price Rewind program (now discontinued but reflected in some Citi card benefits), Chase Sapphire Reserve purchase protection, and certain American Express cards will cover price drops for up to 90 days after purchase on qualifying items. Check your card’s benefits guide — this is frequently a listed benefit that cardholders never claim.

What Price Matching Won’t Cover

Limited-time flash sales and doorbusters are explicitly excluded at every retailer on this list. A Black Friday doorbuster price or a one-hour Prime Day deal does not qualify for a price match.

Clearance and open-box items are priced based on condition and remaining inventory — not the market price of the item — so they’re excluded from matching in both directions.

Third-party marketplace sellers are excluded by almost every retailer. Amazon Marketplace sellers, Target Plus sellers, and Walmart Marketplace sellers set their own prices and do not qualify as the “retailer” for price match purposes.

Different bundle configurations are ineligible even if the headline price looks lower. A laptop sold with a free carrying case at a competitor is a different offer than the same laptop sold alone — retailers will not decompose bundles for matching purposes.

Prices that require a competitor membership are excluded at most retailers. A Costco price requires a Costco membership; a Sam’s Club price requires a Sam’s Club membership. These are not open-market prices and most retailers will not honor them.

How to Stack Price Matching With Other Discounts

Price matching and coupon stacking aren’t mutually exclusive — but the order of operations matters, and some combinations are restricted.

The correct sequence: Establish the price match first. Once the lower price is confirmed and locked in, the price match becomes your new base price — and cashback portals, credit card rewards, and loyalty points all apply to the matched price, not the original. You’re earning rewards on the lowest possible number.

What’s generally allowed: Cashback portals (Rakuten, TopCashBack) applied on top of a price match are permitted at virtually every retailer — the portal tracks the transaction regardless of how the final price was reached. Credit card rewards always apply. Loyalty points always accrue.

What’s generally not allowed: Stacking a retailer-issued percentage-off coupon code on top of a price-matched item is commonly restricted. Most retailers treat a price match as equivalent to a promotional price — and their coupons typically exclude items already on promotion. Manufacturer coupons are more likely to stack cleanly, since they’re issued by the brand, not the store.

For the full four-layer stacking framework — including which combinations are permitted at which retailers — see the How to Stack Coupons Like a Pro guide.

The Lowest Price Is Usually One Question Away

Price matching requires no preparation, no browser extensions, no loyalty memberships, and no couponing expertise. It requires a phone with a browser and the willingness to ask. For a $500 appliance at Home Depot, the math is simple: a 10% price match saves $50 in 60 seconds. Most shoppers skip it because they assume the price on the shelf is the price. It usually isn’t.

Before any significant purchase, check the merchant pages on CouponCommando for the current price match policy at Target and Best Buy — including the exact competitor list each retailer honors. And if you’re buying ahead of a major sale event, the Holiday Shopping Calendar shows you when prices are most likely to drop so you can time your purchase — and your adjustment request — for maximum effect. For the full picture on what happens after you buy, the Retail Return Policies Compared guide covers price adjustment windows alongside return policy details for every retailer here.