How To: Use Price Matching to Get The Best Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals

Black Friday and Cyber Monday often offer customers some incredible deals at incredible prices. However, it often involves a lot of shopping around and hunting for products that are in stock or available. In order to attract more online shoppers and get customers through the door more stores are upping the ante this year and are offering more lenient price matching policies and a few have started price matching to more stores.

Traditionally brick and mortar stores have been reluctant to price match to online e-tailers and more particularly online giants like Amazon. In the past most stores limited price matching to ads or websites from traditional retailers and would place heavy restrictions on price matching to anything online. This year Walmart is taking an aggressive pricing policy and reversing that trend. Earlier this month they announced they'd now price match Amazon.com and a handful of other online retailers.

With these new changes this year using price matching may just be the best bet and offer you the best deals! In order to get those deals though you'll need to know what you are doing and know exactly how to go about it! Here are a few tips that should help insure your price matching is a success:

Finding The Best Prices: Try using price comparison websites like NexTag.com or even Google Shopping to find the best buys and gather your information on products and pricing. Another great source is social media sites. Follow your favorite stores to stay up to date on coupons and sales. These kinds of announcements usually happen first on social media. Watch for hashtags like #BlackFriday and #CyberMonday for special deals from your favorite brands.

Do Your Store Research: Once you've found a deal you want and efore going in-store or calling customer service double check the store's price matching policy. All stores have them detailed on their website, though some may be a bit confusing. Walmart has their 'Ad Match' and 'Online Price Matching Policies'. The later explains exactly which websites they'll match prices to and offers clear stipulations as to the limitations.

Gather Your Information: Most stores require printed copies of competitor ads or print outs of the webpage with clear product information and pricing. Do not go in-store unprepared to show this! In some cases they may be nice and allow you to show them the website. However, they generally don't have time!

Verify Your Product Information: Before you head in-store make sure you verify that the item you want to buy is A) The same product and model numbers B)  Not part of a Clearance, Closeout, Liquidation, Special Hour/Flash/Limited Quantity offers C) In-stock at the online retailer’s website at the time the request.

Making Your Purchase: Once you are ready to head in-store before requesting your price match make sure you pick-up your item, re-verify the details from above and head to the cashier with your selection. You need to have all your information ready so that you can request the price match right at the register with your product in hand.

What If They Won't Price Match?: Be polite but be authoritative just try not to be overly assertive or pushy. If the store has a question or there is an issue with making the price match remember that Management has the final decision for matching an online price. If you are friendly most the time they are willing to work with you and will be more receptive to you. If they absolutely refuse, try going up the food chain to another manager. If they still refuse the price match then you may want to try another time or another store.

Once The Purchase Is Made: Don't forget the bargain hunting doesn't end once your purchase had been made. Many stores offer policies that extend for days or weeks after you've made your purchase. Don't be afraid to go back to the stores and ask for them to match a better price at a later date.

With these quick tips along with a little leg work you should have a fairly easy Black Friday and Cyber Monday price matching experience. Just remember patience is going to be key and will certainly help out when you are in-store! Do you have any tips to help make pricing matching easier? Share your ideas with fellow shoppers in a comment below!