4 Ways to Get Refunds for Retail Price Drops With No Effort

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When you’re out shopping, you’re probably always looking for the best price. But what if the best price automatically came to you — even days or weeks after your purchase online or in stores?

Welcome to the world of price drop apps that relentlessly search for better prices on what you bought and make retailers pay you the difference!

Price Drop Apps: How to Get Money Without Lifting a Finger!

You’re probably familiar with the claim most stores make that “we will not be undersold.” It’s a classic retail ploy to assure you that it’s fine to buy right now. Because if you find a lower price, the merchant will beat it — if you remember to go back to the store with your receipt and proof of a lower price, that is!

But for most people after they buy something, it’s out of sight and out of mind. Almost no one combs through the sales circulars looking for a lower price on something they bought last week, right?

That’s where the power of technology and price drop apps comes in.

Using specially designed algorithms, the following services can put a little extra cash in your pocket after your purchase.

Paribus

Paribus could be the next best thing to finding free money. This free service is open to anyone and you don’t even need to lift a finger to claim a refund if you’re told you’re eligible for one!

The price adjustment app starts with you connecting your inbox to Paribus so their Receipt Fetcher can identify your purchases. Any purchases it finds are then cross-referenced against a growing list of compatible retailers.

If a lower price is found, Paribus will either automatically file a price adjustment claim on your behalf or prompt you to do so — and you get to keep all of the savings.

There are no fees whatsoever with Paribus!

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Courtesy of price drop app Paribus

Here are the retailers Paribus currently works with:

Before trying Paribus, you may want to read about Clark.com writer Nick Cole’s experience with the app.

Earny

Earny works with a smaller amount of retailers than many of its competitors. It’s a subscription service that has two business models:

  1. You either pay a monthly ($7.99) or yearly ($47.99) service charge, or
  2. A 25% commission on whatever refunds the service gets for you

Participating retailers include:

Read Team Clark’s review here.

Sift

Sift is another price drop app that promises to automatically get you refunds when it finds lower prices through monitoring your inbox.

The following retailers are all set up for automatic price protection:

Sift will take 25% of any refunds it gets you on a monthly basis.

Yapta

Have you heard of airfare envy? That’s when you buy a ticket and find the same itinerary for less money later on.

The good news is that there are a handful of airlines that will give you a voucher for the difference, if you ask. These include Alaska, JetBlue, United and others.

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But unless you religiously follow airfares after you’ve made your purchase, you may not even know that you overpaid. That’s where Yapta.com comes in handy.

After completing the free registration and detailing your itinerary, Yapta will email you when your flight goes down in price and help you get a refund for the difference.

Yapta Airline Refunds Chart

Airline Offers a Refund for…
JetBlue $75+
Virgin America $75+
Hawaiian $100+
Alaska $125+
American, Delta, United $200+

The average annual savings you’ll get is $334.16, according to Yapta’s website. The free service has saved members more than $350 million since launching in May 2007.

Final Thought

Getting refunds is so much easier than it used to be thanks to price drop apps. Of course, you have to be comfortable with trading a bit of privacy in exchange for the possible savings. But that’s a call that only you can make.

Have you saved money with any of these price adjustment apps? Tell us in the comments below!

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