Five Stores Pay Back a Price Drop. Walmart.com Does Not

Usually yes, if you ask in time and the store is not Walmart.com. Best Buy, Target, Apple, Costco and Home Depot each publish a policy that pays back a cut in their own price after you buy. Walmart.com’s policy says the opposite: it does not match “prices for items previously purchased on Walmart.com that have since decreased in price”.

The catch is in the windows, and in what each store counts as a price it will honour.

The policies, side by side

Store	Window after you buy	The catch
Best Buy	Your return period: 15 days for most products, 60 for Plus and Total members, 14 for phones and other activatable devices	Not items advertised as limited quantity, gift card offers, bundles or member-only prices
Target	14 days	Not if a promotional Target GiftCard came with the purchase; not clearance; not another Target store’s price
Apple	The cut must come within 14 days of delivery; ask within 14 days of the cut	Apple-branded products only; Black Friday and other limited-time reductions excluded
Costco	30 days	Sale-dated promotions must be claimed while the promotion runs
Home Depot	30 days	Black Friday and other limited-time promotions excluded
Walmart.com	None	A Walmart store matches a Walmart.com price at checkout only

Each row is the store’s own published policy, read on 19 September 2026. All of them are about the same store cutting its own price. Matching a rival’s price is a separate policy, and Best Buy switches that one off for twelve days around Thanksgiving; that is covered here.

What changes on Black Friday

Black Friday is 27 November. Two things decide whether a price drop that day is yours: whether your window is still open, and whether the store counts a Black Friday price at all.

Apple and Home Depot do not. Apple’s price protection “excludes limited-time price reductions and special sales events, such as Black Friday”. Home Depot excludes “Prices Offered During Black Friday or Other Limited-Time Promotions”. Buying early at either store to be safe does not work if the drop you are insuring against is the Black Friday one.

Target names no holiday exclusion. Its list of what it will not adjust covers clearance, closeout, refurbished and pre-order items, and the gift card case, but not Black Friday. With a 14-day window, a TV bought at Target from 13 November onwards is still covered on the day. The gift card clause is the one that bites: a buy-the-TV-get-a-card offer at checkout rules out the adjustment later.

Costco’s 30 days reach back to late October, with one condition. For items with sale dates, and Costco names its Holiday Savings Promotions, the request has to land while the promotion is still running as well as inside the 30 days.

Best Buy is the one to read twice. Its Thanksgiving blackout sits in the list of competitor offers it will not match, not in the clause about its own price. But a second list applies “whether offered by us or a Qualified Competitor”, and it excludes items advertised as limited quantity and gift card offers. A Best Buy doorbuster sold as limited quantity is outside the guarantee even when it is Best Buy’s own price.

Walmart: neither half helps after checkout

Walmart splits its policy. Online, it does not adjust a Walmart.com order after the price falls. In a Walmart store it will match a Walmart.com price, but “the customer must inform the Walmart associate of the price at the time of checkout”, and it excludes Walmart.com clearance, Rollback, Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Neither route pays back a drop that happens after you have paid.

When the answer is no: return and rebuy

Where there is no adjustment, the fallback is a return followed by a new purchase at the lower price. That is not a price-drop policy, so it works only as far as the store’s return terms allow, and only while the item is in stock at the new price. Walmart gives 30 days on most consumer electronics, and says most items bought between 1 October and 31 December can come back until 31 January. Its named exceptions to that extension include wireless phones, protection plans and major appliances.

Costco accepts televisions, computers, tablets and cameras back within 90 days. Best Buy charges a restocking fee on some opened items: 15% on projectors, cameras, drones and camcorders, and $45 on activatable devices, with no fee if the product is unopened. Apple’s return policy, for one, wants the item in its original condition with all its parts, accessories and packaging, which is why the return window is worth diarising the day you buy.

How to claim a price drop

1. Write down the closing date on the day you buy. Target and Apple give 14 days, Costco and Home Depot 30, Best Buy your return period. Apple counts from delivery; Target, Costco and Home Depot from purchase.
2. Check the store’s own listing for the identical item. Every one of these policies is about the same product at the same store; a lookalike with a different model number will not count.
3. Ask while the lower price is still live, through the channel the policy names. Target says the price must be “listed and valid at the time of match”, and Costco wants sale-dated claims inside the sale. Best Buy: chat, or the Order Details page for an order you already have. Target: Guest Services in store, or chat or 1-800-591-3869 for an online order, with the receipt or packing slip. Apple: an Apple Store or 1-800-MY-APPLE. Costco: the form on its price match page for online orders, the Returns counter for warehouse purchases. Home Depot: phone, chat or a store.
4. Decide about promotional gift cards at checkout. At Target, accepting one removes the right to an adjustment later.
5. If the policy says no, check the return terms before you rebuy. Window, condition and any restocking fee decide whether a return and rebuy leaves you better off.