Did you do your shopping during Black Friday? Here’s a Little-Known Reason to Save Your Receipts

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There is always a lot of hype surrounding Black Friday. But this year, it looks like that hype has been overblown even more.

A number of well-known retailers started releasing Black Friday deals as early as October this year. So if you started your holiday shopping early, you were definitely in good company.

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Meanwhile, if you were brave enough to hit the stores on Black Friday for holiday stock or retail therapy, you may now be sitting on a pile of merchandise — and a credit card tab. bigger than you might want. But one thing you don’t want to do is throw away your receipts for your various Black Friday purchases. If you do so, you may lose the chance for additional discounts.

Take advantage of price matching

You might have found what you thought were a host of great deals on Black Friday. But here’s a little secret: you’re not guaranteed to find the lowest prices on everything items on Black Friday. And in the weeks to come, you might encounter even deeper discounts.

That’s why it’s so important to save your Black Friday receipts rather than throw them away. Many well-known retailers will match prices during the holidays (and year-round, for that matter). But you will need your receipts to take advantage of this option.

So let’s say you bought an air fryer on Black Friday for $129.99 which normally sells for $169.99. It certainly seems like a good deal at first.

But what if you see that same item on sale in early December for $109.99? If you keep your receipt, you may be eligible for a price match where the retailer you purchased this item from will refund you the difference. But without a receipt, you may lose the chance to get that money back.

Keep in mind that while some retailers will only match their own lower prices, others will match their competitors’ prices. So it’s definitely worth researching in the coming weeks and seeing how the Black Friday prices you paid stack up.

Your credit card statement is not enough

If you shopped on Black Friday and charged all of your purchases to your credit card, you can assume you don’t need to keep your receipts. But it’s still a bad idea to throw them away.

Many retailers will require an actual itemized receipt for you to take advantage of price matching, so find a safe place for those fragile pieces of paper and keep them safe for around 90 days. You may even want to take photos of these receipts in case they get damaged (retailers may or may not accept a photo of a receipt in lieu of an actual receipt, but it’s worth it).

Ideally, you’ll walk away from Black Friday with a slew of merchandise at their lowest prices of the year. But keep your receipts in case this doesn’t happen so you don’t lose out financially.

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