I have a habit of keeping nearly every email I receive.
I almost never delete messages — especially not receipts.
That habit paid off. Over the last few months I reclaimed $22 in reimbursements, and all I did was shop online like usual.
Capital One Shopping Price Protection Review: How to Recoup Money from Online Purchases
My newest trick is calledCapital One Shopping Price Protection — a free service that helps you recover cash on your online buys.
Curious? Want to know how storing your emails can put money back in your pocket?
Keep reading.
How Price Protection Operates
Here’s a simple example. Suppose you buy a toaster for $20 online. A week later the price drops to $15.
Many merchants provide price protection within an item’s return or price-adjustment window, meaning you can claim the difference.
The trouble is, who has time to monitor price changes for every purchase?
That’s wherePrice Protectionhelps out.
It reviews your email history for receipts. If it finds purchases from one of its 25+ tracked retailers, it monitors the item’s cost.
If Capital One Shopping Price Protection detects a price decline on the toaster you bought, it notifies you and either contacts the retailer (if it’s one of the supported major merchants) on your behalf or shows you how to request a refund yourself.
To honor the price-protection rule, the retailer refunds the $5 difference to your original payment method — so you pocket money without spending time watching the price tag.
Retailers Price Protection Watches
Before you register, you’ll want to confirm whether Price Protection covers stores you frequently shop with. If it tracks retailers you use, it’s likely worth it.
To learn more about which merchants are monitored and the specifics of each retailer’s price-protection policy, take a look at the policy guides.
How to Enroll in Capital One Shopping Price Protection
Signing up for Price Protection is free and quick.
Go toits website, and enter your email address.
Note: Capital One Shopping Price Protection works with Gmail, Yahoo and Microsoft accounts. If you use another email provider, you can create an auto-forwarding filter to forward digital receipts to a Gmail, Yahoo or Microsoft account. During enrollment you’ll authorize Capital One Shopping Price Protection to scan your email for receipts and to send refund-claim messages on your behalf.
After signing up, recent purchases from tracked stores will appear on your dashboard. You’ll see whether prices fell and whether Capital One Shopping Price Protection has submitted a refund claim for you.
If you’re curious what others have received via Price Protection, click “Deals.”
Here are some of the reimbursements people had recently scored as of the last update:
Is This Too Good to Be Real? Is Capital One Shopping Price Protection Secure?
The fact that Price Protection scans your emails makes some people uneasy.
However, the company holds a B+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, which suggests the grade may reflect how long the business has existed (since 2014). Since 2016, Price Protection has been part of Capital One, which holds an A+.
Addressing Some Capital One Shopping Price Protection Grievances
Some users have posted that Price Protection didn’t find any refunds for them. Often that’s simply the case: it depends on where and how often you shop and the particular store’s refund rules. Keep in mind that merchants are the ones issuing reimbursements — not Price Protection itself.
If you encounter technical glitches, you can contact its support staff. Also, if you ever decide to delete your account and purge your data, go to “Settings” and choose “Delete Price Protection Account.”
Will I Keep Using Capital One Shopping Price Protection?
Since I do most of my shopping online — where prices change constantly, sometimes multiple times a day — I’ve been quite pleased with Price Protection.
Honestly, the easiest part is my favorite.
For me, grantingCapital One Shopping Price Protectionaccess to my inbox is a tradeoff I’m happy to make — and it’s one of the simplest methods I’ve found to save money while shopping online. If you want to also find stores that price match with price protection, this service can help point you in the right direction.
Disclosure: Capital One Shopping Price Protection pays us when you sign up through the links we provide.
Jordan Marks, a contributing writer at Savinly, helped update this piece.
