Mistakes Everyone Makes While Shopping At Target

Big retailers with a reputation for low prices are sometimes known for inflating their prices on certain items, so shop around. Target maintains a list of retailers for which it will match prices, such as Amazon and Home Depot, with the usual restrictions, such as it being the exact same model number. You can view the complete list on the Target help site. Price-matching doesn't apply to clearance and other sales, typos in prices, items sold by third parties, certain categories (such as contract mobile phones and optical services), and a handful of other exclusions.

You have 14 days after your purchase to find a lower price. The competitor's price must be valid at the time of the match, and you'll need to bring proof of the pricing (such as a sales circular).

There's confusing and sometimes erroneous information online about whether Target matches prices with its online store. It does, and its website is sometimes cheaper than its store. But keep in mind that it doesn't match prices between Target's physical store locations. And Target also won't allow you to use a Target Circle coupon once a price match is made, so make sure you weigh your options on which is the cheapest route.

This sometimes seems like too good of a deal, but manufacturer and Target coupons can usually be "stacked" during checkout, giving you both discounts in most cases. For many of us, at least those of us who are Gen X or older, the phrase "manufacturer coupon" calls to mind coupons in sales flyers (remember those?) you'd get in the Sunday newspaper. The process has gotten a lot simpler thanks to the internet. Just search sites like Coupons.com, Coupon Mom, and Savings to find coupons that meet your needs.

It's even easier to find Target coupons to stack with those manufacturer deals. Just browse around the Deals tab on the Target website. You can then see the weekly ad, the clearance section, and the Target Circle offers. If you prefer to see a text listing of current Top Deals aggregated in one place, you can find a list of the current promotions in the Target website's help section.

This won't be news to most of us, but item availability can be slow to update on the Target website. So for hot items or items listed as having limited availability at your local Target store, call ahead or steel yourself against disappointment if the items turn out to be sold out.

Target gives you a couple of other options when an item is out of stock. You can ask for a rain check or check with a Target team member about substitutions. Rain checks are good for 30 to 45 days, depending on the state you're shopping in, and let you get the sale pricing after the sale is over. There are a few exclusions, such as clearance items and contract mobile phones. You also want to ensure you get the rain check in writing since Target will only accept official paper rain checks.

You can get a substitution for similar items by talking to an employee about the out-of-stock item you were looking for and getting something similar for the same price. According to Passion for Savings, if the sold item is eligible for a rain check, pick up a similar item you would like to buy and ask an employee if it qualifies for a substitution. There are the expected limitations. For example, you can't substitute media titles or mobile phones.

One of the great things about clearance sales is the aspect of discovery — or the unexpectedness of treasures you find while digging around. You don't typically do much planning or make a lot of shopping lists for clearance shopping. But what if you could? What if you could plan ahead for big savings on particular items that you know will be in stock, or at least have a good chance of still being in stock?

You can do just that on Target's website. To see your local store's clearance items online, click Clearance under the Deals tab, select your local store, and then choose "Making a list" in the "How are you shopping today?" column. As always, you might be rolling the dice on any clearance items marked "limited availability" in your store. A better way to interpret "limited availability" (and not just for clearance goods) might be "few if any."

You might experience a slightly different thrill of the hunt when shopping online, but think of the benefit. You can browse through all of the clearance items without wandering around the whole store, which almost certainly means you'll discover things you need (or at least want) in sections of the store you wouldn't normally visit.

Target's post-holiday sales on Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween, and other holiday merchandise (including summer and back-to-school seasons) are famous for reaching as high as 90% off, says Christy Palmer of All Things Target. Don't let shopping burnout cost you.

Take Christmas clearance, for example. The sales start on the day after Christmas and proceed through a markdown schedule of 30%, 50%, 70%, and then (for whatever's left) 90% off. This happens at a much faster pace than Target's regular two-week clearance markdown schedule. Some Christmas items reach 90% by the first few days of January. All Things Target demonstrates that it's not unusual to find holiday deals that can be used year-round, particularly in categories like home decor. And stock brought in for Christmas can be marked down on the Christmas discount schedule even if it's not specifically a holiday item. For example, gift sets might not be specifically holiday-related, but will eventually reach the 90% holiday markdown if the things hang around long enough.

The number of signs an American encounters on an average day can be startling, so it's little wonder that we don't always catch all the details displayed to us in banks, gas station pumps, and Target stores. But they can be important, so you should know what to look for. According to GoBankingRates, if you're in a store but undecided about a purchase, Target's red and white signs for unadvertised sales will show the sale dates near the bottom, so you can plan accordingly. Some unadvertised sale prices might be valid for as long as a month, somewhat reducing the urgency to decide while standing in the store.

It's generally a good idea to read the fine print on signs, coupons, and ads that apply to you when time allows. And always trust the terms in the fine print and on Target's website before necessarily believing any advice you get from couponing sites and the like. For example, there's a lot of contradictory, and often incorrect, information online about Target's coupon policies, so it's worth a readthrough of the company's official rules if you're going to be using coupons regularly or trying particularly daring strategies or combinations with your coupons.

OK, sure, the Dollar Spot area (which Target has recently renamed Bullseye's Playground) in the front of Target stores is designed to make you spend a little more. But sometimes it can be worth a quick walk-through on your way to children's apparel. For one thing, there are the prices. Everything is between $1 and $5, which you can't even beat at the Dollar Store anymore. And the stock is seasonal, rotating every eight weeks or so, which keeps things fresh and relatively up-to-date. Finally, the dollar items have been subject to the same clearance markdowns as other stock, which means the occasional 10-cent find might just be waiting for you.

Yes, you're more likely to find a USB charger there than anything you might charge with it, but this is a feature, not a bug. Would you really want to use a $5 cell phone? No, better to just keep your current one charged so you can run the Target app until your battery gets hot.

Target stores are notorious for sucking shoppers into spending more than they had planned, which is called the "Target Effect," per NBC News. If this is an issue for you, use the Target app to map the location of items on your shopping list and bypass impulse buys and other hazards. You can also use store pickup and the Drive Up service to avoid temptation altogether. Furthermore, online prices are sometimes better than in-store prices — another good reason for shopping online in advance.

But the Target Effect exists because there are certain areas in which the retailer excels. Of course, this is partly a matter of personal preference. You can generally expect good results when shopping for toys, home goods (perhaps excluding furniture), video games, movies, and household staples. You can also score in the grocery section, so long as you avoid the fresh produce. And certainly, you can take advantage of all the available deals, as long as you keep your head about you and only buy what you need or what you truly think is a good idea.

Insider reports that the typical Target shopper visits 21 times per year and spends about $50 per trip. This is how you get to be the seventh-largest retailer in the world with high degrees of customer loyalty. The Target Effect is not to be taken lightly.