I have read posts here (and other places) regarding price matching at Sears. Since I had decided to start building a home theater I thought I'd give it a try for my receiver. I had found some really good prices from an online site (www.inetshopping.com)but I did not like the 'risk' of getting a heavy, expensive peice of equipment by UPS and potentially need to return it for some reason. A local store has the advantage of...well, being local. I'm willing to pay a little more for that; but not a lot more.
So, off to Sears I went with printout in hand. At first the manager told me that Sears would match the online price plus shipping. I argued with him for a while (mostly for sport) since I then would be paying shipping and tax but I let it drop since the shipping would be the 'little extra' I would pay for the convienence of a local purchase. The sales clerk then called a special number for them to check the online price. They told him the amount to match which was the online price, no shipping. The manager said "Whatever they say is what we will match". So in the end they matched the price without shipping (but with tax) - Saved me $100 off the Sears sticker price.

This sure seems like the best of both worlds. Low price and a local store to deal with. (Plus no waiting for UPS). If you haven't tried it you should consider it for any major purchase of items that Sears carries.

Thats interesting, I've always assumed that B&M stores would never price match an online store.

I always thought the same thing. I would never expect B&M's to match online prices. Off to Sears for me!

i just went there with a vauge idea of the online store name and one of the kid managers used a demo pc to log on w/ his aol account and we searched for the place, got the price and he matched it (sans shipping). got the Kenwood 503 HTIAB for $428 - $72 off sears sticker price. couldn't believe how easy they were to do business with. if i hadn't bought my rptv so fast i would have given more thought on getting it there.

Pretty good. Not only did you get a deal but they even helped you to do it.
I don't think every Sears will be quite that accomodating however.

When I was in the market for a new reciever I was faced with the delima of buying from online or trying to pricematch. Well I went for the later and decided to try Sears before going to other B&Ms. So I did as the first person did and printed up the ad and with it in hand and dragging my wife behind off to Sears I went. I did not see the model that I wanted on display so I asked a sales rep. if they even carried it. He checked the computer and found one in the back. Then I told him I would like to try and pricematch the product with an online store. He said it should be no problem and just wanted to make sure they actually had the product in back. When he came back he looked at the add and said wow that is one heck of a savings ($100 cheaper online) and then went to him computer rang up my purchase minus the difference between them and the online store. Although he didn't include shipping he did pricematch it for me with no problems at all!! It was great I will be going back there in the future for electronic purchases.

Has anyone price matched at Sears and then gotten another local retailer to take that price? I'd like to get a RPTV but don't think Sears offers a very good program for maintenance of RPTVs.

Please correct me if I'm wrong there.

Another local merchant (Tweeter) actually offers an extended warrantee that includes annual in home calibration and cleaning of the RPTV screen, lenses etc with a "good as new" guarantee. I'd prefer to buy thru Tweeter but don't know how much luck I’d have and I don’t feel like spending a few hours re-inventing the wheel if I can avoid it.

Anyone know of other B&Ms that pricematch online?

Interestingly, I have had the opposite experiences. I have had Sears.com match online sites on electronics but my local B&M Sears stores(King of Prussia and Montgomeryville in PA) will NOT match online prices, according to the sales representatives I have dealt with.

Just went to the Sears in San Bruno (only one in the SF area). They told me that they no longer price match online stores since they got burnt so many times during the Xmas season. I argued for a while and they finally said that I had to come back during noon and 6pm when they can call the price match in. Oh well...

Found this on Sears.com
 

I guess if they give you a hard time you could always call or emai this number. I am giving it a try today, I'll let you all know what happens...


Find a lower price?
We'll match it!
Sears Low Price Guarantee. If you find an identical branded item priced lower at another store, Sears will match that price. Just call Customer Care at 1-800-349-4358 or email [email protected] at the time of your purchase, or up to 30 days after the sale.

A little off topic, but I just picked up a Thule roof rack system for my car. My local bike shop matched the on-line price (the on-line price wasn't a low-ball place, it was just maybe 8% less than what he had originally quoted). I ended up paying about $25 more (tax, the online store had free shipping), but I can't really hold taxes against the local place.

Well I just went to the Danvers MA Sears last night and they still do price match. It sems your milage may vary by salesclerk and it may take a manager or phone call to get your deal.= but for now you still can match online.

Some people will Internet price-match including shipping, some people will exclude shipping. I'm not sure what it depends on... if you bump into someone that includes shipping, maybe if you talk to someone else or go to a different store, you might find someone that excludes shipping. There is also a deal that you can get 10% off an item if you don't have a Sears card and sign up for one. However, you can't combine Internet price-matching and the 10% off... you can do one or the other. Depending on the price of the item, instead of Internet price-matching, doing the 10% off deal would be better.

Circuit City pricematched an online store when I bought my Onkyo 575x. I paid $100 less than they advertised ($400 vs. $500). I don't know why they chose to do that match nor do I know what their company policy is. It never hurts to ask. ;) Others reported trying with no success so YMMV.