Clothes on sale online but not in the store? Ask for the discount!

Guess what!? I discovered that Bloomingdale's WILL honor their online sale prices if you find the same merchandise in the store at full price. All you need is proof from the web site (make those printouts!) and your receipt.

I bought this James Perse Short Sleeve Henly Polo last week at full price ($85). I liked the shirt, but it didn't seem worth $85, so I was considering returning it. I decided to poke around online to see if I could find it elsewhere cheaper, and found it on Bloomingdale's site itself, marked down 20% to $63.75. That sounded much more reasonable to me. I grabbed my receipt and hit the store, where it was NOT on sale.

The first saleswoman I spoke to had to call the manager to ask whether they would honor the sale price. Then, she insisted that I needed to have the shirt with me to get the markdown. That made no sense to me since all of the information should be in the database upon lookup from the barcode on the receipt. Thankfully, another saleswoman confirmed that I was correct, and the receipt was all I needed. No need to schlepp around merchandise. I was credited back $21.25.

While I was there, I saw that the Diane von Furstenberg shirt I also bought last week is now 40% off (although not listed online). I'm about to head back to the store now to reclaim $75. Absolutely worth the hour it will take me to run the errand. And in total, I will have saved $100 just by doing a little research and legwork.

This economy sucks. There are markdowns and sales everywhere. Keep an eye out online and in the stores. Save big!