Hands down, Target is my favorite store. I love the nice decor items and more trendy furnishings over what Walmart has to offer. Overall Target is just a much nicer store with reasonable prices. I mostly just look and appreciate how nice their things are. Sometimes I get to buy. When I get a $25 Target GC from family for Christmas I love seeing how far I can stretch those dollars on things I will enjoy. Shopping the end caps for clearance finds is another plus too.
My sister doesn’t use too many coupons, but she does shop sales and play the Target Game. She is an excellent player at it too. With 3 girls she’d have to be 
Their rooms are all decorated with the cutest items and their clothes are cute as a button- whether from Target or Children’s Place.
The Target Game is simply buying an item and hanging on to your receipt in case the item goes on sale or better yet clearance. Some stores will even give you a refund for the difference if an item you’ve bought goes on sale within 2 weeks. I’ve bought clothing items at full price, only to find them in the sale ad the following week. Visit customer service with my receipt and they’ll give me the difference back.
The game becomes more intricate a few weeks later, when they start to clearance out clothes to prep for a new season. Then I may find the same sweater on sale for 50% off. I’ll buy it on a different card, then later I’ll return the original item on the original receipt. The reason I pay with a different method is in case I lose my receipt and need to give them my card to search for the purchase. I don’t want them to search back and refund me the most recent price I paid. I want them to find the highest price I paid.
Target’s policy is to accept a return of any item in new condition with tags attached for any reason-within 90 days of purchase. If I haven’t used it or given it to someone yet, you can bet I’ll return it because I found a better price! If I’m lucky I’ll find it 3 or 4 weeks later at 75% off too, and can return it on the 3rd receipt and end up paying just $4.98 for a new $20 sweater. The trick with clothes is to make sure that you buy the same size, as each size is coded differently. If you buy a different size and pick up the wrong one to return later you’ll be out of luck. Please note: we can’t play the Target game with holiday items any more. The policy was updated in June to say that holiday and seasonal merchandise will be refunded at the current clearance prices.
It may be a pain to hang on to the receipt, but not so much if you put them into a drawer or box when you come through the door or empty your purse. Especially if there’s the chance that it will be clearanced before you use it. If you have a pencil pouch for Target coupons, keep your Target receipts there until the 90 days has passed. Target clearances items frequently and I especially love to find really nice decor items for very cheap. Does anyone else play the Target game?
So, are you saying that if we buy a shirt at Target for full price, then wear it and wash it and such, then a few weeks later, if we see it on sale we can purchase it, then go home, grab the first receipt where we paid full price (or more than the discount price) and the new discounted shirt, and get a refund for the full price?
If that’s the case, then that seems a bit dishonest to me. Unless you don’t take the tags off the full price shirt and you don’t wear it. But then that seems silly to me. Maybe I just don’t understand how Target works. Which is entirely possible.
LOL, you’d be surprised how many times I buy something and leave it hanging in my closet for months. Remember the shirt with the funny necklace thing attached? http://www.thriftytexaspenny.com/2011/06/i-need-some-fashion-advice.html It hung in my closet for nearly 10 weeks before I cut the tags and wore it. With as often as Target clearances items it’s not too hard to buy something on regular sale and find that 6 weeks later it’s already down to 75% off. I have gotten price reductions with just my receipt on items that I’ve already used though. That’s usually within the two week window. Think housewares, toys, gifts etc. When you buy ahead like I do, there’s quite a bit around here with tags still attached waiting to be put to use
I agree with H, R, E & C completely. Wearing or using the original item and then returning the one bought on clearance with the original receipt is dishonest. And if you’re going to buy something and leave it in the closet for weeks with the tags on, why did you buy it in the first place? Why don’t you just shop weeks later when the item is on clearance; saves the time, trouble (and gas money) of having to buy, hold, buy and return. Doesn’t make much sense to me.
It’s upsetting to think that my reputation of honesty is being questioned. I would hope that my long time readers would know my practices of buying in advance and upholding to legal use of coupons etc. You’ve seen me go back to a store to pay the difference when I’ve mistakenly used Qs that expired the previous day. Just this last week you saw me state that I wouldn’t use the “not combinable with any other coupons” $2 CVS Q for Huggies with the manu Q, even though the cashiers are saying you can. It’s not legal and I won’t do it. I do my best to be transparent about my errors and to promote legal practices on this site.
I buy in advance of when I need something to get the best price. I very rarely even to go the grocery store for an item we’re cooking that week. If I’m in Target and see a sale on a game for my niece or a shirt for my sister I’ll buy it then, while I’m already in the store. If I’m in the store again and find it later at a lesser price- and before I’ve given it to them (seeing as they are a 7 hr drive for me), it’s well worth my time and effort to buy it again and get the original item, still new with tags, to return at the original price. There is nothing shady about that. I’m returning the original item I purchased on the original receipt. I’ll update the post to be more clear about that. If I wait until I need to buy a gift the week before I need it, I’ll likely pay full price.
As far as buying a shirt for myself and letting it hang in my closet-it’s partially my being a creature of habit,and partially my way of making sure that I really want/need the item I bought. 
I’m confused about the returning part too because it sounded to me like you were just bringing back the receipt to get refunded the difference since you found a cheaper price. Alot of stores, like electronics stores will do that, but I wasn’t aware that target did.
You lost me on the buying the second one part though. If that’s their policy to honor the lowest price, could you not just bring the clearanced item up to customer service with the receipt for the one you paid for (assuming you have it with you) and say hey look I paid more for this same thing 3 weeks ago-see my receipt-and now it cost less, and they give you back the difference?
i don’t keep up with target policies, especially since they closed the closest one to me and i would have to drive to a neighboring town to get to one, so i only go every once in a while now, so this is totally news to me.
It’s been my experience that within 2 weeks Target will give me a price reduction with just my receipt, if an item is in their ad. If it’s not in the ad I’ll have to bring my item in to return. It’s not their policy to honor the lowest price, but it’s their policy to take any new unused item back within 90 days of purchase for any reason. Finding it cheaper is my reason
That makes much more sense. So they will just hand over money if you can show the ad and a recent receipt? Otherwise, its just using their return policy to your advantage. No different than bringing one item back in and exchanging it for another if you found a better price on a similar item the next week. It just happens to be an identical item. 😉
I apologize. I wasn’t trying to say you were being dishonest. I was just trying to understand. And the way it sounded, to me when I read the article, was kind of dishonest. But with others questions and your answers it makes more sense. Sorry. I really didn’t mean to sound snobby or rude in my last comment. I’m not so great at explaining myself with words. Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions.
Thank you HRE&C. I was actually telling my husband last night that you were asking for clarification, while anon was accusatory. I figured that you’ve stuck with me long enough to realize that we buy nearly everything in advance, but anon hadn’t. I thought your comment was very appropriate and I do want to be held accountable if I’m doing something that’s not legit, so I appreciate you asking for the clarification.