I saw a re-run on the news the other day about how if you go to a store and buy an item where the scanned price comes out higher than the price marked on the shelf then you are entitled to get it for free or a $10 credit if the item is over $10. This is known as the Scanner Price Accuracy Voluntary Code and you can find a list of merchants that participate in this by clicking on the link.

Speaking for myself, I have always found that London Drugs seems to be the most prevalent in having items that end up scanning higher than the tagged shelf price. Not exactly sure what the reason is for that. I personally knew this awhile ago but I know a lot of people are unaware of this and as a result they usually just accept the offer of simply accepting the item at the tagged shelf price.

I never actually gotten an item for free before though and I wonder what they mark down on the receipts for it as I’m sure as a business you always want to keep try why an item was discounted.

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Today there is some kind of event taking place called the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on where new technology products are being showcased. The big announcement was supposed to be an introduction of a new iPhone product.

Everyone remembers how the original iPhone was well over $450 when it first came out not too long ago right? As it turns out, this new model named the 3G iPhone is thinner and faster and comes with a price tag at about $199. I actually know a person who just purchased one of the original ones too for over $500 and was so happy to show it off to everyone. Of course, that’s a different story now with this announcement.

The best ways I have found to avoid situations like these is that whenever you intend to make high price purchases you should try to find someone who either works in the field or knows a lot about the product. While it is not 100%, chances are they know about trends and price drops that may benefit you.

I remember when I bought my digital camera as an example I did all of my research and narrowed it down to the one I wanted. As a precaution, I then talked to a person who was extremely knowledgeable about them. Similar to this scenario in some ways, he told me to hold off as there was supposed to be a technology conference taking place where they were announcing new models and prices. Sure enough, I did wait and ended up getting the same one as originally planned except it was a lot cheaper.

The other more common way to semi prevent this is to shop at places that offer a good price protection policy as stores like those are often more than happy to refund you the difference if the price for a product you purchased drops within a certain amount of days of your purchase. So while some places may be a little cheaper, if you are buying a high ticket item then it may be better to purchase it from a company that offers you a price guarantee of some sort.

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