[USA] Price matching, coupon matching

[Zeya]

Do any brick-and-mortar stores match prices or honor competitors' coupons (talking about Lego of course)? If you know of any, please share your experience (do you go to the service desk, need a hard copy, etc).

[meyerc13]

Most stores have their price match, price adjustment (for when the item goes on sale the day after you buy it), and return policies listed on their websites. Wal Mart and Target will both match advertised sales. At Wal Mart, usually all you have to do is show the cashier the ad. At Target, last time I tried to price match I had to go to the customer service desk. We also have a regional retailer, Shopko, that will match. There are of course many others, but the key is that the sale must be advertised. Toys R Us is one retailer that won't match. You'll also find that most reatilers won't match the prices on their own websites (despite the fact that at Wal Mart you can often get site to store shipping... so the policy doesn't always make sense).

Also, they will only match an advertised price, not an advertised percentage. So if Toys R Us advertises 20% off all LEGO City, generally you can't get a match at Target or Wal Mart. They have to advertise a specific set with a specific price.

[Zeya]

Hmm, so I guess this has limited use, in general. But I guess it would only come in handy in this case: Store X advertises a sale on a set, but then quickly sells out. So you can take the ad to store Y that does have that set in stock still, and get it from them.

Will Target and Walmart match sales advertised by TRU (with concrete prices on the ad of course)? It was never clear to me how stores define their competitors.

[meyerc13]

Yes, they would, but rarely does Toys R Us advertise a specific item... they seem to list 3-4 items and then something like $4.99-$25.99.

We have a regional store here called Fleet Farm that carries LEGO and other toys for the holidays. They generally open their toyland in October, but when they sell out of an item they are out. Quite often I've used their ad to get a price match at Wal Mart, since Wal Mart rarely checks with Fleet Farm to verify that the item is in stock.