Retailers offer price matching to get you to shop at their store

CLEVELAND - The political fight is over, but there’s another fight taking over the spotlight. It’s a fight to get your holiday shopping dollars.

Target began advertising weeks ago. It’s a store that AdAge said waited until after Thanksgiving to advertise two years ago.

The ads are one sign retailers are worried about their bottom line. The reason: Americans are still concerned about the economy.

“My fortune hasn’t changed much,” shopper Jeannine Landry joked.

Plus, your fortune may get smaller if tax breaks expire at the end of the year.

“We’ll see a reduction in our paycheck come January 1,” said Baldwin Wallace Business Clinic Director Phil Bessler. “The confidence level will be challenged if Congress can’t get this resolved.”

Another unresolved issue deals with sales tax. Some online retailers don’t charge it, so their prices are cheaper. Retailers are pushing for reform to level the playing field so an online store doesn’t have a competitive advantage.

To lure shoppers back to box stores, retailers like Best Buy are matching online prices hoping that moving will keep its doors moving. Poor sales last holiday closed some stores.

Other retailers like Target, Walmart, and Toys “R’ Us are matching competitors in-store prices.

“It’s a psychological advantage to give price matching and the question is how many people take advantage of it?” Bessler questioned.

“It sounds like a pain. A lot of fine print,” Landry said. “It’s kind of like going through the coupons. Sometimes it’s jut not worth the time.”

It takes some research to price match effectively, and don’t forget about all that fine print. Consumer World did the hard work for you breaking down all the policies and exclusions associated with the various stores.

Even PayPal is joining this fight wanting wanting you to pay for your items with their service.

In exchange, the company is offering a 30 day price match on all kinds of items, and a 7 day match on airline tickets purchased through PayPal.

“They’ll give up to $250 or $1000 per person for multiple items,” Bessler said. The $1000 limit is the cap through the promotion.

Want to see all the promotions as they're rolled out for the holiday. Eight ads were released while we voted on Tuesday, and several more were released today including Best Buy. You can see all the leaked deals on GottaDeal .