How To Get A Discount At Home Depot Or Lowes...?

[Herm M.]

A while back, I read that you can get a 15% or so discount at Lowe's if you go talk to someone at a particular desk at the store.

Anyone know what I'm talking about?

[Marc Freislinger]

Talk to commercial services desk.

Often they have a minimum order size for the discount, but if they get to know you sometime you can get the discount on everything, except tools. I could never get it on tools...

[J Scott]

At Home Depot, if you spend a minimum of $5000 (though they'll do smaller amounts if they know you), you can go to the contractor desk, submit your order to them, they'll submit the order to corporate for a price quote, and a few hours later you'll be offered a price somewhere around 8-12% below retail for that particular order.

From there, you can negotiate further (I never accept less than 12% and have gotten it down to 17% off). Generally, the discount will be dependent on the actual stuff you purchase -- higher margin items will get better discounts than lower margin items.

[Bill Gulley]

I prefer Lowes, I have pumped hundreds of thosuands through that store and don't let them forget it! LOL I can now just go to the store manager on duty and say "hey, I need a little better price on this" last item was a gas fireplace with screen for 200!

You can ask for a discount...better, IMO to say a better price any time. You can certainly ask at any store and sometimes you get it, but not if you don't ask! Good luck.

[Mitch Kronowit]

When we painted a house last year, the paint guy at Home Depot told us to take our 5-gallon buckets to the contractor's desk and ring them up there for a 10% discount or so.

[J Scott]

Also keep in mind that Lowes and HD generally accept each other's coupons...so, if you have a 10% off coupon for one, you can generally use it at either.

Here is where you can get the coupons:

http://www.homedepotmoving.com/signup/registration.aspx (sign up and they'll send you one)

http://www.lowes.com/cd_Coupon+Registration_253641591_

[Bill Gulley]

Originally posted by J Scott:
Also keep in mind that Lowes and HD generally accept each other's coupons...so, if you have a 10% off coupon for one, you can generally use it at either.

Here is where you can get the coupons:

http://www.homedepotmoving.com/signup/registration.aspx (sign up and they'll send you one)

http://www.lowes.com/cd_Coupon+Registration_253641591_

Yes, sometimes and probably in some places.....recently we went to Lowes with a coupon for whatever and it was no big deal, went to the service desk and saw it was a HD coupon, not lowes, started to head out the door and ask if they would accept it.....no, because it was not the exact same item.

I'm not a coupon clipper, but I would sure use one if it's what I need...one reason I'm not big on them is that there is alot of scamming done.....Best Buy and WalMart are real good about this. A HP computer, exact stuff on it, model 12345, the other store has the same computer, but modle 56789, so they are not exact and won't accept them. They don't say that the only stores in the world that have model 56789 are Wal marts since they buy by the train load! They are tricky!

So, at Lowes, that was what the gal at the service desk was giving me, I don't persue things like that because I really don't want to take it up with the "manager".

I guess it's when you go in, who you ask and if the products are similar or exact and what the local deals might be.

Good post Jason on the sites, for discounts/coupons!

[Mike G.]

Not sure if it's the same everywhere, but at our local Home Depot stores (Los Angeles area), you speak with someone at the commercial (or contractor's) desk, and if your purchase is over $2000 (or maybe $2500, I'm not 100% certain), they will send the order off to the "Bid Room". I've gotten over a 20% discount on a number of occasions. Large appliances seem to be treated differently, though.

[Account Closed]

While I ten to like Lowes prices better. I often end up needing to go to Home Depot because they tend to maintain a good stock and seem to have the items I'm looking for. They both offer discounts if you buy in volume.

[Chris Martin]

The commercial services desk at Lowe's in my area will print a good for that day only, 15% off coupon for paint. I buy in 5 Gallon sizes, so not sure if it applies to all orders or not. Although I have accounts with Lowe's, I don't think it is necessary. You just go to the desk and ask... and they provide!

[Raymond B.]

At the Lowes in Ct., your order must be at least $2500., to go to the bid room.

I have asked for discounts on smaller orders, (after placing a huge order, $10K+) and I have received at least a 10% discount.

If you don't ask, you'll never know.

Ray in Ct.

[Ryan B.]

Go on ebay and you can buy the Lowe's 10% off coupons for about a buck each.

You can also get gift cards to Lowe's, Home Depot, Menards, etc., on ebay for about 90% face value.

Combine a gift card you bought for 90% of face value with a 10% off coupon you bought for a buck and you can get pretty good deals.

I always keep at least 4 or 5 of the 10% off coupons in my wallet at all times. As long your purchase is over $10, the coupon pays for itself.

[Account Closed]

have you ever bought a 2nd hand gift card? how do you verify the amount on the card is what they say it is?

[Ryan B.]

Bryan,

I have bought several gift cards and have never had a problem with the info being incorrect. If you buy them off of ebay, make sure to use a seller that does a ton of business and has good ratings.

Most of the time this is what happens (I used to do retail security during college):

A person steals something from Lowe's, returns it without a receipt and gets an instore merchandise card for say $100. They then take the merchandise card to a pawn shop and sell if for $50 or $60. The pawn shop then puts the merchandise card on ebay and it usually sells at auction for approximately 90% of the face value (pawn shop that is selling it will have called the 800-number on the back to verify $).

If you are not comfortable buying merchandise cards off of ebay, go to a pawn shop in the worst part of town, tell them to call you when they get merchandise cards as you will buy them for 90 cents on the dollar of face value. I actually have 2 pawn shops that call me quite a bit when they get these cards in.

Couple this with the 10% off coupon you bought for a buck and you get approximately 20% off of a purchase that you needed to make.

[Mat Lewczenko]

BigBubba, I really liked that plan until I found out that most of it is perpetuated by theft (not by you, but by someone else).

We used the 10% off coupons all the time when you could just get a handfull of address change cards from the post office.

[Jim S]

Originally posted by BigBubba:
Bryan,

I have bought several gift cards and have never had a problem with the info being incorrect. If you buy them off of ebay, make sure to use a seller that does a ton of business and has good ratings.

Most of the time this is what happens (I used to do retail security during college):

A person steals something from Lowe's, returns it without a receipt and gets an instore merchandise card for say $100. They then take the merchandise card to a pawn shop and sell if for $50 or $60. The pawn shop then puts the merchandise card on ebay and it usually sells at auction for approximately 90% of the face value (pawn shop that is selling it will have called the 800-number on the back to verify $).

If you are not comfortable buying merchandise cards off of ebay, go to a pawn shop in the worst part of town, tell them to call you when they get merchandise cards as you will buy them for 90 cents on the dollar of face value. I actually have 2 pawn shops that call me quite a bit when they get these cards in.

Couple this with the 10% off coupon you bought for a buck and you get approximately 20% off of a purchase that you needed to make.

You can also go online to plasticjungle.com and buy Home Depot gift cards for a 7% discount. While I was waiting for my last flip to settle I accumulated $18,000 in HD giftcards for $16,700. Add that to the contractor desk discount and it adds up to about 20% discount. Ka$hing!

[Ryan B.]

Mat,

I know exactly how you feel, since the underlying factor is theft (usually). I cannot say that I agree with the process, but in today's society, not many people even bat an eye at something like this. Kinda sad.

[Michal Rooney]

May I suggest slickdeals.net ? Set an alert for the actual thing you're looking for (paint, a specific tool) and if it comes up be ready to pounce on it.
They also have a lot of good strategies for getting cards that aren't illegal.

[Ryan B.]

The cards are not illegal. I am not saying that every card for sale is obtained this way.

[Matthew T.]

Originally posted by J Scott:
At Home Depot, if you spend a minimum of $5000 (though they'll do smaller amounts if they know you), you can go to the contractor desk, submit your order to them, they'll submit the order to corporate for a price quote, and a few hours later you'll be offered a price somewhere around 8-12% below retail for that particular order.

From there, you can negotiate further (I never accept less than 12% and have gotten it down to 17% off). Generally, the discount will be dependent on the actual stuff you purchase -- higher margin items will get better discounts than lower margin items.

Actually if you spend enough at Home Depot you can become what is called a managed account and then sending purchases to what is called "The Bid Room" is only a max of $1000. On one project for a four story porch i got all the wood from Home Depot and sent it all to the bid room and I got 38% off, no joke. It all depends on the markup of the items. Sometimes I only get 6% off.

[Mark Yuschak]

Originally posted by Bryan Alenky:
have you ever bought a 2nd hand gift card? how do you verify the amount on the card is what they say it is?

Coincidentally enough, I had a couple kids walk up to me today at my local Home Depot and ask me if I'd buy their return card from them. On a hunch I did. But that was only because they had the receipt to accompany the card which showed the value of $106.11, and that value matched what was written on the back of the actual card. Plus, the receipt was 4 minutes old from the actual time. I bought it for $70.

I routinely use Lowes coupons at Home Depot. Plus, Home Depot and Lowes will honor Harbor Freight 20% off coupons. Usually it requires two levels of manager approval. The extra five minute hassle is well worth the wait, IMO.

I find Lowe's prices and selection to be MUCH better. However, their locations are rarely as convenient as Home Depot.

[Ryan B.]

Nice job cutting out the middle man :)

[Michal Rooney]

I did not mean to offend I was just giving an alternative. And there is some shady stuff on slickdeals as well. It's up to you to use them or not. But they are really good at teaching you how to get the most out of your coupons.

[Luis A.]

At both HD and Lowes you always get a 10% discount if you are military (active, retired, veteran)

The threshold for the discount at the contractors desk is $2,500 at HD. I verified this recently. So if your purchase is at least $2,500 they will send it in to the bid room at HD headquarters and come back with a discount.

What happens when they send it to the bid room is that they discount some stuff as much as 20%+ and other stuff they don't discount at all. So depending on what you are buying your overall discount can vary wildly, from 5% to 15% at the most.

FYI, for my last purchase which was around $3,000 before discount, I got a better discount with the military 10% than with the contractors desk.

[J Scott]

Originally posted by qkjones:

FYI, for my last purchase which was around $3,000 before discount, I got a better discount with the military 10% than with the contractors desk.

Luis -

If they're not offering you more than 10% at the bid desk, just tell them that you're going to Lowes where you have a 10% coupon and where they have better selection. They'll increase the discount if you do that, and you can also ask for free shipping as well.

My guy at the bid desk knows not to even bother coming back at less than 12% discount...as he knows I can get 10% off without his help...and we average about 14%...

Also helps that he knows I'll escalate to my wife if we're not getting enough of a discount... :)

[Jon Klaus]

I just went to the post office last week to pick up a change of address card. They gave me a packet which included a 10% off card for Lowes.