The holiday season is upon us. Once again, it will be a mad dash to the closest electronics retailer. Chances are that the retailer in question will be a Best Buy location. If not, Amazon will do. Either way, both of these stores will price devices the same way this holiday season. That’s right, folks, Best Buy has pledged to play the price match game with Amazon during the upcoming holiday shopping dash.

If you’re a smart consumer, you test things at Best Buy before you buy them online. Buying things through online retailers is cheaper, after all. But, Best Buy is getting tired of your “try before you buy (somewhere else)” tactic. To stop you from flocking to the Internet to buy your holiday goods, Best Buy will match any online retail price. That’s a big deal. This means that you can test out the product you want to buy at Best Buy and actually buy it there too. Good move, Best Buy, good move. Here are the details that you’ll want to know (or the “fine print”).

Here’s The Catch…

First, Best Buy will only honor that price-matching claim if you ask for it. So, make sure that you ask a store rep whether or not they can match a price, and make sure that you have that price with you.

Next, the new Best Buy offer will not be valid from the Sunday before American Thanksgiving until Cyber Monday has ended – that’s approximately eight days. Keep this time limit in mind if you plan on shopping during the Thanksgiving rush.

Also, you’ll want to know that Best Buy will only match the prices of certain online retailers. Total, twenty different online retailers are included in the price match policy. You will find that Amazon and Walmart are on that list. You won’t find smaller e-tailers on the list.

Lastly, some Best Buy stores might not match all prices. If you go into the store with the “you have to!” attitude, you’ll be wrong. Best Buy stores are allowed to turn down a price match request. Basically, it has to make sense for the store. Since Amazon is capable of lowering prices beyond what Best Buy can do on some items, you may not get that massive TV at a much lower price. Then again, it never hurts to ask.

These are the things that you need to know before you try to argue your way into a price match. In most cases, Best Buy will actually honor the new price matching policy. After all, Best Buy is trying to avoid closing lots of store doors by offering consumers this new policy. But, don’t push your luck.

What You Won’t Find

Best Buy wants you to buy devices in store if possible. When Amazon offers one device or another a few dollars cheaper than what Best Buy is offering, you can expect Best Buy to match that price. However, if Amazon is offering something that’s hundreds of dollars cheaper, Best Buy won’t be able to keep up. In the end, it all comes down to what you want to do – and if you want to keep your local Best Buy store in business.