The madness of the Black Friday sales is over (well, almost… today is Cyber Monday), allowing the most organised of you to slide into some novelty Christmas slippers and enjoy that first mince pie of the season, knowing you don’t need to join the masses who still haven’t ticked everything off their festive shopping list.
But before you get too comfortable, it’s worth checking if you can still save money, even on those things you’ve already paid for.
A handful of retailers – including Currys, AO, Blacks, Wickes and Richer Sounds – will give you the difference back if the price is lower after you bought an item from them. This includes their own price and those at other retailers.
There will be rules you need to follow, including which competitors can be used to trigger your refund. Often voucher code discounts aren’t eligible, and watch out for shops selling slightly different models – you won’t be able to use these as a match. But if it’s covered, you can ask for the difference.
Other shops may work a little differently. We know John Lewis ended its price matching last year, but it still has a price-drop policy based on its own prices. So if that TV, toy or top that you picked up at the department store is cheaper now than it was last week, you can put in a claim for some of your money back.
You can even, temporarily, take advantage of this via Amazon on items sold between November 17 and today. If they drop their own prices, you’ll get the difference back.
Generally, this post-purchase price matching will only last for a week or two, though John Lewis offers you 35 days, Currys has extended it to two weeks over the Black Friday sales and the Amazon offer covers price changes up until December 4.
Boots – which only matches on electrical beauty products – has a much shorter 72 hours to get a claim in.
If I’d bought anything at these shops in the past week I’d certainly be keeping an eye out to see if I can get some money back. Most of the time it’s going to be a manual task (Amazon is the only one to check and pay the refund automatically).
However, you can use price alerts for some of the bigger shops on websites such as PriceSpy and Idealo to get an email or text if the item you choose does get cheaper. It won’t track every other seller, so it’s worth looking at other significant retailers.
If you want to double-check that Amazon follows up on its promise, you can use the CamelCamelCamel website. If you didn’t buy from these shops, there is one more way you could save on existing purchases that you spot for less – though it does entail a bit more effort.
First, find out if the shop in question allows returns – you’ve at least 14 days for anything online unless it’s perishable or customised, while high-street shops don’t legally have to let you, though most do.
If they do, then buy the item at the cheaper price you found elsewhere, then take back the initial purchase.
If you bought online it might even be possible to cancel it before it has been dispatched.
Double-check that your refund won’t be issued as credit or there won’t be a postage charge to send back online orders.
One last thing while we’re talking about returns. It’s worth looking over everything you bought in the sales. Now the dust has settled, do you actually want or need them? Can you actually afford what you spent?
If not, send them back now. It’s easy to get a little complacent over Christmas thanks to extended returns periods, but we all know how busy the next month will be.
Before you know it, January is here and you’ve either lost the receipt or missed the deadline. Get on it now.
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