By Jennifer Waters, MarketWatch
Stop chastising yourself for paying full price on that trendy electronic gadget, those cool boots or ugly Christmas sweater before the deep discounts kicked in. You can still save on your holiday shopping after Christmas. Many credit cards help you to recoup the difference through their price-guarantee programs.
“It’s like free money that no one ever thinks to pick up,” says John Ulzheimer, the credit expert for SmartCredit.com. “Most people chalk it up to being disappointed when there’s a chance they may be able to reclaim the difference.”
Bloomberg
Think of price guarantees as a handy back-up plan that allows you to pay full-price on an item when you need it and still get a break if the price has been slashed up to three months later. That means you can buy a new refrigerator when yours goes on the blink in October and get a refund of the change between full price and the Black Friday discount a month later. But it only works if you use a MasterCard, Discover or Citibank credit card to make the purchase. Visa and American Express, which both used to offer price-matching programs no longer do.
“Price matching is actually a pretty good deal,” says Anisha Sekas, vice president of credit and debit for NerdWallet.com, a financial-advice site. “You don’t have to wait in line for great prices,” she says, but adds “it’s not perfect.”
Indeed, price guarantees require some legwork and don’t include all merchandise categories. You need to find the better price, and in some cases, you need to do it in as few as 30 days. Most programs require a copy of the credit-card receipt, a copy of the price-cut advertisement or a signed letter from the store, a copy of your receipt, and proof that both items are really the same.
Prices on items that look the same could vary based on the bells and whistles of each product. An iPad 3 and an iPad 4, for example, physically mirror each other, but their processors and a few other features are distinct.
“They want to know that you’re comparing apples to apples,” says Bill Hardekopf, co-founder of LowCards.com, a credit-card site. You must have the make and model of the product as proof.
Jewelry, cars, auto parts (including tires), art and animals are generally not part of most programs. Nor are airline tickets, consumables and perishables like food and liquor. And items advertised as “limited quality,” “going out of business,” “closeouts” or as “discontinued” miss the mark too, as do prices found at auctions or sites like eBay.
In some cases, there’s a minimum reimbursement of $25 that will max out at $250 to $300 per product. And in most instances, you can’t be reimbursed for more than $1,000 per calendar year.
What to expect from the three credit-card networks.
(Find the details for your specific card under the card benefits section of your credit-card agreement.)
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Citi Price Rewind. The price per item must have fallen at least $25 before a refund is given. You can get reimbursed for up to $250 per item and $1,000 per year if the paperwork begins within 30 days of the purchase. Unlike others, Citi will tackle the sales scouting for you if you register your purchase on the price rewind site when you buy it. Citi’s price rewind program also excludes purchases on guns and ammunition as well as rebuilt items.
Discover. Discover does not have a minimum price drop and allows card carriers as much as $500 per claim and up to $2,500 a year. You’ve also got 90 days to find a cheaper price but it won’t be applicable to purchases of digital downloads or the so-called BOGO (buy-one, get-one free) or similar offers.
MasterCard Price Protection. MasterCard also doesn’t care how much the price declines but has a $250 limit for each claim and only allows four claims a year. It allows you 60 days to scout out a sales price and won’t let you get a better deal on professional services or products you have purchased through a layaway program.
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Jennifer Waters is a MarketWatch columnist based in Chicago. Follow her on Twitter @JenWatersMKW.
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