Price matching in Canada: which electronics stores do it

Three of the big stores that sell PC parts and consoles in Canada will lower their price to meet another store’s: Best Buy and Staples match it, and Memory Express beats it by 10% of the difference. Walmart, Costco, Newegg.ca and Amazon.ca don’t match other stores at all, though most of them will refund their own price drop for a few weeks after you buy. Every policy below was read from the store’s own page in October 2026, and every one excludes marketplace sellers, clearance and the big sale days.

The table: who matches, who beats, who doesn’t

The details, store by store, follow. Several of these stores say they can change their terms without notice, so read the page again before a big purchase.

Best Buy

Best Buy’s Low Price Guarantee matches a lower price on an identical product (same brand name and model number) from a retailer and authorized dealer located in Canada that sells and ships the product and has it at that price in your province. Online stores count on the same terms. You can ask before you buy or within 30 days after, or 60 days with a My Best Buy account.

The comparison includes environmental fees and shipping, and the item has to be in stock. What it won’t match: marketplace sellers (on Bestbuy.ca, Amazon.ca or eBay.ca), refurbished or liquidation sellers, and a long list of special prices, including Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Boxing Day and Boxing Week, members-only pricing, pre-orders, rebates, coupons, clearance, open-box, demo and refurbished items, financing and trade-in offers, and limited-time or limited-quantity deals. Only items sold and shipped by Best Buy itself are covered.

Canada Computers

We couldn’t read Canada Computers’ policy this month: its pricing page, along with the rest of its site, would not load for us in October 2026. The copy of that page held by search engines carries a notice that price matching is suspended until further notice, but we can’t tell how current that copy is. Until we can read the page itself, plan as if Canada Computers does not match, and ask at the counter before you buy.

Memory Express

Memory Express is the one store here that beats a price rather than matching it. Its price beat guarantee takes an authorized Canadian retailer’s advertised price and beats it by 10% of the difference, before tax. On a part Memory Express sells at $200 and another store sells at $180, the gap is $20, so you would pay $178. It also applies within 15 days after you buy, and its price protection refunds its own price drop within 15 days.

The conditions are strict:

• Both stores must have the item in stock, and Memory Express must stock it regularly.
• Same model, part number, year, colour and condition, new, factory sealed and under a Canadian warranty.
• The competitor must be in Canada, priced in Canadian dollars and shipping from within Canada.
• Two price beats per item per customer, or one if the competitor limits it to one.
• Makers’ own websites are matched, not beaten.

It excludes marketplace and third-party sellers, auction sites such as eBay, bundles, rebates, coupons, clearance and liquidation, limited-time and limited-quantity offers, and financing deals. There is no price beat or price protection on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Boxing Day or Boxing Week prices, or on grand-opening doorcrashers and weekly sales.

One exclusion matters for builders this month. Memory Express has suspended both the price beat and the 15-day price protection on all computer memory, SSDs and hard drives, citing fast-moving supplier prices, until the market settles. That covers two lines on every Build Sheet.

Staples, Walmart and Costco

Staples matches almost everything it sells against a Canadian authorized reseller: identical model number, components and warranty, in stock, within 30 days of receiving the item, or 14 days for electronics. It matches direct sellers only, so an Amazon.ca price counts when “Ships from” and “Sold by” both say Amazon.ca. It leaves out marketplace sellers, refurbished and demo items, Staples’ own open-box stock, clearance and close-outs, limited quantities, Bose products, and special events including Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Cyber Week, Boxing Day and Boxing Week, and Amazon Prime Days.

Walmart does not match competitors’ advertised prices. In a Walmart store it will match the price on Walmart.ca for an identical item that is in stock online, but not Rollback, clearance, Black Friday, Cyber Monday or other limited-time prices, and not marketplace sellers. Within 30 days, with the receipt, a store purchase that Walmart now sells for less gets the difference back, except clearance items. The manager on duty has the final say.

Costco does not match other stores, and Costco.ca and the warehouses don’t match each other. What it does have is a price adjustment: if Costco lowers its own price within 30 days of your purchase, you can claim the difference, at the membership counter of the warehouse where you bought it, or through the online request form for a Costco.ca order. Some promotions are left out.

Amazon.ca and Newegg.ca

Amazon.ca doesn’t price match. Its help page says it compares its prices with competitors’ to keep them as low or lower, and so doesn’t offer price matching; promotional prices only apply to orders placed during the promotion. We found no Amazon.ca policy that refunds a price drop after you buy, apart from pre-orders. The one guarantee is for pre-orders sold by Amazon.ca: you pay the lowest price it offers between your order and the end of release day, which is useful for a console or a new graphics card ordered before launch. Before buying, check the item’s usual price with Keepa on our Toolkit.

Newegg.ca doesn’t match other stores either. Its price match page, last updated on 21 July 2026, covers only a price drop on Newegg.ca itself: ask within 7 calendar days of buying an item sold and shipped by Newegg, and the difference comes back on a Newegg Customer Care card that is good for a year. Holiday sale prices (FantasTech, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, doorbusters and Shell Shocker deals), open-box, refurbished, clearance and marketplace items are out. One line on the page still says the purchase must be made in the United States, so confirm with Newegg’s customer service before you count on it.

Price protection: when the price drops after you buy

Price protection is the cheaper habit, because it needs no second store. Buy, keep the receipt, and look again before the window closes:

1. Note the window on the day you buy. Newegg.ca gives 7 days, Memory Express 15, Best Buy, Walmart and Costco 30.
2. Watch the price. Keepa tracks Amazon.ca, and NowInStock watches stock at Canadian stores; both are on the Toolkit.
3. Ask with the receipt if the price falls. Best Buy wants the original receipt; Costco has an online form for Costco.ca orders.

Two catches. Most stores leave their own sale-event prices out, so a Black Friday drop on something you bought in early November may not be refunded. And Memory Express’ suspension on memory, SSDs and hard drives applies to price protection too.

How to ask: what to bring and what gets refused

The easiest price match is the one you ask for before you pay, at the till or in the store’s online process. Bring:

• The other store’s live listing on your phone, with the price, the model number and “sold and shipped by” showing. Best Buy accepts a flyer, an ad or the web address.
• The exact model number. A different letter at the end is a different product under every policy here. Prebuilt PCs can come in configurations one store sells and no other, so check the model number before you make the trip; our prebuilt versus custom guide explains where those differ.
• Proof of stock. Best Buy and Memory Express both check that the other store has it in stock at that price.
• The receipt, if you have already bought.

Online, Best Buy takes requests through your order details page or by phone, and Memory Express has a Price Beat Request button at checkout where you paste the other store’s URL and price; it can take up to 24 hours to verify.

Ask before the big sale days, not during them. Every match policy here leaves out Black Friday and Boxing Day prices, so a competitor’s lower price in mid-November can be matched, and the same price on Black Friday can’t.

What gets refused, at one store or another: marketplace sellers, open-box, refurbished and clearance stock, bundles and rebates, prices that need a coupon, out-of-stock items, and anything on a sale-event list. A “was” price on the other store’s page doesn’t prove a real deal either. The Competition Bureau’s guidance on ordinary selling price says a “was” price has to pass one of two tests: most of the product’s sales were at that price or higher, or it was offered in good faith at that price or higher for a substantial period, in both cases usually judged over about a year. Check the price history before you believe a discount.

For consoles, the same rules apply: Best Buy and Staples will match the identical console from another Canadian store, and our console guide covers which one to buy first. The rest of Deals & Buying covers the sales calendar, warranties and open-box buying in Canada.