5 Mistakes Everyone Makes When Shopping at Best Buy

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It never hurts to be frugal when shopping for electronics, and if you’re in the market for new electronics and appliances, Best Buy will usually be one of your first stops, thanks to its general ubiquity and product selection. However, shopping at Best Buy isn’t necessarily as simple as walking in, grabbing something from the store, paying, and walking out. You’d be doing yourself and your wallet a disservice if you didn’t shop at Best Buy with a few strategies under your belt, such as getting a membership, price matching, and looking for discounts.

While the chain probably wouldn’t bother you if you grabbed any random product and paid sticker price, Best Buy, to its credit, offers several ways to save shoppers money, as long as you do the diligence to use them properly. These include checking out Best Buy’s additional storefronts focused on in-person and online discounts, using all of its customer support services like the Price Match Guarantee and special student discounts, and signing up for a membership to get even more discount opportunities.

Like many shopping chains these days, Best Buy runs its own membership program, called My Best Buy. While it can be annoying to keep up with yet another subscription in your life, if you regularly shop at Best Buy, it’s definitely a subscription service worth having.

To clarify, My Best Buy basic membership is completely free, unlike the higher tier plans, My Best Buy Plus and My Best Buy Total. The free tier offers free standard shipping on all online orders with no minimum purchase requirement, as well as utility items like accessing your purchase history, tracking orders, and creating wish lists.

The cheapest paid tier, My Best Buy Plus, costs $29.99 per year. For this, you get free two-day shipping on most orders, members-only discounts on select products, access to select exclusive sales events, and an extended 60-day returns window on most purchases. The highest tier, My Best Buy Total, costs $179.99 per year and includes mostly repair and support-focused benefits, such as protection plans, 24-hour technical support, and reduced repair fees.

Being a smart shopper at almost any store, including Best Buy, is about getting as many discounts as possible. Best Buy offers plenty of opportunities for these discounts; you just need to know where to look.

First, check the Best Buy website regularly for limited-time coupons. The chain occasionally distributes paper coupons or discount codes, either through physical flyers or digital mailing lists. If you want to receive these coupons on a consistent basis, consider signing up for these mailing lists yourself. Keep in mind that some coupons may only be valid for in-store or online purchases.

Second, visit the Best Buy website and check for flash sales, short-term discounts on certain products that are often greater than they would be otherwise. There’s always at least one major deal of the day, so you might get lucky, and there may be more abundant and attractive discounts during major shopping seasons and sales events. Get on them quickly, because there are no coupons for these deals.

Finally, if you’re a student at an institution of higher education like a community college or university, you may be able to take advantage of special student discounts on certain products when you shop Best Buy’s online storefront. If you link a Google or Best Buy account and verify your student status, you can freely shop in the student discount section for the duration of your registration. You will need to upload proof of school enrollment, such as a student ID or enrollment letter.

One of the most appealing aspects of shopping at Best Buy is its famous Best Price Guarantee. In a nutshell, if you find the exact same product on sale at another retailer for a lower advertised price, Best Buy will match that price, even though it doesn’t normally offer that particular discount. This is a great way to consolidate purchases, rather than having to drive all over town or wait for shipping from websites. Even if you find a better deal on a TV at Costco than at Best Buy, for example, Best Buy will happily match it.

However, there are some strict rules regarding the Best Price Guarantee that you should be aware of. First, the product in question must be completely identical at Best Buy and the retailer in question, including brand, model number and color. It must be a completely new product; the prices of second-hand products do not count. Second, the product must be immediately available for shipping or in-store pickup from one of Best Buy’s qualified competitors, including Apple, Costco, Walmart and others. Amazon products, in particular, must actually be sold by Amazon rather than third-party sellers. Finally, Best Buy maintains a list of exclusions specific to this policy, including bundles, contracted cell phones, and clearance offers, to name a few. If the product in question has any of the restrictions listed, its price will not be matched.

Like many large retail chains, Best Buy receives a lot of products on a regular basis, and not all of them are of the highest quality, which means clearance discounts for shoppers. If you like to shop during clearance sales, rather than at your regular Best Buy storefront, you may want to visit your nearest Best Buy location instead.

Best Buy Outlet is a spin-off chain from Best Buy proper specializing in clearance, open box, refurbished and used products. As long as you don’t mind the occasional scuff or scratch, you can get brand-name electronics at a very attractive price. All products sold at Best Buy Outlet are guaranteed to be functional, with their specific condition (Excellent, Good, or Fair) included in the listing. These products are covered by Best Buy’s Return & Exchange Promise, although their precise warranties, if any, vary by product. Remember that buying second-hand items can save you a lot of money, but it comes with risks that you should always keep in mind.

In the same vein as its Outlet stores, Best Buy also maintains an official presence on eBay with a digital storefront. Products may sometimes end up in the eBay storefront if Best Buy has excess products it’s looking to move quickly, and the savings are passed on to you.

You can visit Best Buy’s official eBay store to browse what’s currently on offer, with some deals sometimes being attractive enough to merit attention on eBay’s front page. As an added benefit, products purchased through the eBay store are always eligible for returns, either through shipping or drop-off at a Best Buy store. The only problems with this process are that you can’t compare prices on purchases on the eBay storefront, you can’t earn points with a My Best Buy credit card, and you can’t pick up your order at a Best Buy store.