What's up with petsmart prices?

[tha cichlid man]

I went to petsmart to buy a test kit & a filter & was wondering why is the prices diferent on there web page then in there stores? I went in to buy a Aquarium pharmaceuticals freshwater master test kit (web page price$14.99) And a Aqua Clear Mini 20 (web page price$13.99) And the store price for the test kit was$24.99 & the filter was $20 odd bucks. Why is that?

[Vitaliy]

Would have been a great idea to ask them while you were there. :p

[DeRo316]

They factor in shipping cause they know you probably won't pay regular price
on the web site + shipping.

[Vitaliy]

Not much but checking out their website, this is what is stated

All prices are in US dollars. Our prices are set independently of the PetSmart store locations. As an Internet company, PetSmart.com is committed to bringing you, our customer, the best overall prices available online.

[graysilm]

i too have noticed that petsmarts website is much cheaper than the store.

[secretmuscles]

i used to work at a petsmart. The simple answer has allraedy been stated. They consider shipping costs, therefore you can pay about the same you would pay at a regular store. A quick lil fact that not too many people know about is that Petsmart will price match the website if you bring in a printed page of the item your looking for. They try to keep that a secret so everyone wont be coming in, but hey it doesnt bother me any.

[graysilm]

i used to work at a petsmart. The simple answer has allraedy been stated. They consider shipping costs, therefore you can pay about the same you would pay at a regular store. A quick lil fact that not too many people know about is that Petsmart will price match the website if you bring in a printed page of the item your looking for. They try to keep that a secret so everyone wont be coming in, but hey it doesnt bother me any.
wish i had known that

[tha cichlid man]

Thank Secretmusles that's what I was waiting to hear. I
seen a thread that said something like that but was not sure. Again thank for the info.

[Hannys_Papa]

Well its important to note that not ALL do - or in some you have to get the manager because the random sales person doesnt know about (or is not supposed to ??)....

[elkhound]

I printed off the portion of the website with the pricing of the test kit and took it into the store and they honored the website price after it was cleared through the manager.

[aknif]

I recently bought my Filstar XP3 at Petsmart for $104, their website price... When the cashier rang it up, she about had a coronary on the spot. The shelf price for the XP3 is $179.99... She'd never seen that much of a price break in her time as cashier, but she gave it to me! No questions asked!

Now, whenever I need anything, I check Big Al's first, factor in shipping, and then check Petsmart.com. If it's within a couple bucks, I'll print my page and stroll on into Petsmart.....

Though I wouldn't buy a fish there to save my life! HA!

[RockabillyChick]

ALWAYS PRICE MATCH!!! they will price match anything so long as you have proof that its the same thing, and that somewhere else actually carries it for less. thats how i got my test kit, the exact same one your talking about. i just printed out their web page, brought it in, and got my test kit for $16 after taxes.

[TommyR]

They factor in shipping cause they know you probably won't pay regular price
on the web site + shipping.


Also, some places ship from a warehouse so there's no overhead and they don't have to pay as many employees,etc. Most of the time web prices are always better. Price matching is nice but I don't like having to "work" to get a cheaper price. I'm not going to drive around and waste $10 worth of gas to save $2.00....

Tom

[RockabillyChick]

Price matching is nice but I don't like having to "work" to get a cheaper price. I'm not going to drive around and waste $10 worth of gas to save $2.00....

Tom


yeah, cause printing out a page from the web is so much work. and unless you have a major gas hog car or live in the middle of nowhere, most people don't spend $10 worth of gas to get to the pet store.

[Hrafnkel]

Actually, it's very possible to use more than $10 of gas to go to a pet store.

[RockabillyChick]

i dont use $10 worth of gas driving 2 and from work in 2 days, and my work is 10 miles away.

[aknif]

Obviously, if its going to cost you $10 in gas to GET to a pet store, having them ship it to you for $8 is the better option...

For me, I could hit every pet store in the Denver metro area and not use $10 in gas! :D I think you should consider moving.... HA HA HA!

[dougall]

I think it costs me ~$8 to get to from the closest petsmart.. add on to that the state tax you'll have to pay, it doesn't make it worthwhile to drive there rather than waiting 2 days to get something from big als..

[Jerm]

Obviously, if its going to cost you $10 in gas to GET to a pet store, having them ship it to you for $8 is the better option...

For me, I could hit every pet store in the Denver metro area and not use $10 in gas! :D I think you should consider moving.... HA HA HA!

WAAHH!! unfair!... (scribbles on paper... destroy Denver...) :laugh:

EDIT just a note, but petsmart sells flourite for 25 bucksabag. <--- my word don't steal :laugh: I want to take the bigal's 12.99 and go point and laught @ them, anyone wanna join? I'll tape it to the price sign :idea2:

[Roan Art]

i dont use $10 worth of gas driving 2 and from work in 2 days, and my work is 10 miles away.
Y'know, it may cost you very little to get to work and back, but some of some of us have families and drive vans or other larger vehicles. Unfortunately, that also costs a lot in gas. Especially nowadays.

You're lucky that you're only 10 miles away from your work. Many people end up driving two hours to work and back *every day* here.

Do we really need to hammer on someone because they'd rather buy on line than deal with the bother of saving gas and price matching at Petsmart? If you have kids it can be a royal pain to drag them along. You also need to add in the time factor that it takes to get to Petsmart, buy the item, and drive home. Sometimes the savings isn't worth the hassle.

FWIW, unless I had to have it right away or need other stuff too, I'd rather spend an extra 8$ and buy online than drive out to Petsmart and deal with salesclerks and long lines in the check out.

My 2 cents.
Roan

[Roan Art]

EDIT just a note, but petsmart sells flourite for 25 bucksabag. <--- my word don't steal :laugh: I want to take the bigal's 12.99 and go point and laught @ them, anyone wanna join? I'll tape it to the price sign :idea2:
Big Als charges extra to ship heavy items like flourite. It's not much of a savings buying it on line.

Add a few bags to the shopping cart, put your zip code in and see how much they will charge you. Now compare that to Petsmart.

Roan

[RockabillyChick]

i wasnt bashing. but if you live decently close to a petsmart, or its on the way to somewhere you go regularly anyway, i think its worth it to go in and price match for $10 rather than order online. i dont see printing out a page from the web and going to a pet store, that most of us here spend lots of time at anyway, as "work"

[tha cichlid man]

Well I went today spent 5 bucks on gas & saved about 23 bucks with the price matches, I think it was worth it dont you?

[toofazt]

just a note, but petsmart sells flourite for 25 bucksabag. <--- my word don't steal :laugh: I want to take the bigal's 12.99 and go point and laught @ them, anyone wanna join? I'll tape it to the price sign :idea2:


Big Als charges extra to ship heavy items like flourite. It's not much of a savings buying it on line.

Add a few bags to the shopping cart, put your zip code in and see how much they will charge you. Now compare that to Petsmart.

Roan
I have gotten Petsmart to price match bigal's $12.99/bag of Flourite price on line, Petsmart doesn't factor in shipping in thier price matches... Thats a lot better than their $25 price tag.

[Roan Art]

I have gotten Petsmart to price match bigal's $12.99/bag of Flourite price on line, Petsmart doesn't factor in shipping in thier price matches... Thats a lot better than their $25 price tag.
Geez, my Petsmart doesn't even carry Flourite :(

Really bites too, because I'm going to need at least 15 bags soon. Hrm, wonder if my LFS will match that price. Going to ask them.

Thanks for the idea
Roan

[sardesign]

Petsmart also has free shipping quite a few times a year... so stock up quick when they do. I bought Flourite (7 bags of the stuff) and got FREE shipping... that's 105 pounds :)

[Roan Art]

Petsmart also has free shipping quite a few times a year... so stock up quick when they do. I bought Flourite (7 bags of the stuff) and got FREE shipping... that's 105 pounds :)MAN! I'll just have to keep an eye out when the money is here and see what kinda deal I can swing :)

Roan

[dougall]

Petsmart has free shipping right now on purchases over $60,

but their price for fluorite is around $23 I think (too lazy to look) I think big als is cheaper even including extra shipping, as may be that pet place.

Unless petsmart will pricematch.