Costco price adjustment: the 30-day rule, online and in the warehouse
How Costco's 30-day price adjustment works for costco.com orders and warehouse purchases, the sale-date rule added in 2025, what is excluded, and where to ask.
This guide follows Costco’s “Price Match - Costco.com Orders” page as read on October 20, 2026. Shoppers call it a price adjustment, and Costco’s page carried the title “Price Adjustment” until 2025.
How does the 30-day rule work?
Costco’s page says: “For members other than resellers, purchases that reduce in price within 30 days of the date of purchase are eligible for a price match.” The lower price has to be Costco’s own; the page says Costco “does not price match with other businesses or retailers.”
The 30 days count from the purchase date. These examples use 2026 dates, counted with a calendar script:
| You bought on | The price drops on | Day 30 after purchase | Eligible? |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 20 | November 10 | November 19 | Yes |
| October 20 | November 25 | November 19 | No, the drop came after day 30 |
| November 1 | November 27 (Black Friday) | December 1 | Yes |
The table counts the day after purchase as day 1. The page does not say whether the day of purchase counts as day 1 instead, which would end the 30 days a day earlier, or whether a delivered order counts from the delivery date. Ask early rather than on day 30.
What if the lower price is a dated sale?
For “items with specific sale dates (e.g., Holiday Savings Promotions),” Costco adds a second condition. You have to ask “within both the active promotional dates and 30 days of the purchase date,” and “requests submitted after the promotion has ended may be denied.” This rule first appears in the archived copy of November 24, 2025; the July 1, 2025 copy does not have it.
- Bought on costco.com, November 1
- $299.99
- Example sale price, November 20 to 30
- $249.99
- When to ask
- November 20 to 30
- Credit if you ask before the sale ends
- $50.00
The sale dates in the example are made up; Costco sets each promotion’s dates. If a sale has an item limit, the match covers only up to that number of units.
Costco.com order or warehouse purchase?
Costco’s page is written for costco.com orders. For warehouse purchases it has one sentence: “please inquire at the Returns counter at the Costco location where you made the purchase.”
| Costco.com order | Warehouse purchase | |
|---|---|---|
| Where to ask | The “Request a Price Match” form on Costco’s price match page | The Returns counter at the warehouse where you bought it |
| Time limit on the page | 30 days from the purchase date | Not stated |
| How you get the money | A credit to the original form of payment, typically within 5 to 10 business days after approval | Not stated |
| Tires and wheels | Use the online form | Go to the warehouse where you bought them |
A lower warehouse price does not count for a costco.com order. Costco says costco.com prices include shipping and handling costs that warehouse prices do not, and it “does not price match Costco warehouse prices for Costco.com purchases.”
What can’t be price matched at Costco?
- Prices at other stores or websites.
- Warehouse prices, for a costco.com order.
- Precious metals: “not eligible for a price match and/or any promotions.”
- Resellers: they “must purchase items during valid promotional dates” to get a sale price.
- A sale that has ended, if you ask after its last day.
Costco also reserves “the right to deny a price match request at our sole discretion,” and says future restrictions “will be shown at the point of purchase.”
Special Order Kiosk and Home Improvement installed products follow their own promotion rules. For extra Costco Shop Card value, exceptions are limited to 14 days before and after the official promotion dates; Costco sends those questions to its authorized dealer.
How did Costco’s page change?
| Internet Archive copy | Title | What it said |
|---|---|---|
| November 22, 2021 | Price Adjustment | A credit if the purchase “was within 30 days prior to the change in price”; warehouse buyers asked at the membership counter |
| March 27, 2024 | Price Adjustment | Promotional item limits added; credits in 5 to 7 business days |
| July 1, 2025 | Price Adjustment | “Within 30 days of the date of purchase”; credits in 5 to 10 business days (this version was published September 17, 2024) |
| November 24, 2025 | Price Match | The dated-sale rule added; same 30 days |
What Costco’s page does not say
The page gives no time limit, receipt rule, or refund method for warehouse purchases. It does not mention instant savings coupons, and it says nothing about price endings such as .97 or an asterisk on a shelf sign. Costco’s return rules are separate; electronics, for one, have their own list, covered in Costco’s electronics return policy.
