Price Protectr

Stores often say that if an item you bought from them drops in price, they'll refund you the difference. But consumers rarely take advantage of this policy.

Price Protectr aims to change that by sending you an e-mail notification when the price of something you've bought drops within the time covered by that store's policy. To use the service, you provide Price Protectr a link to a purchased item on the store's site, whether you bought it online or at the store (36 vendors are supported). After typing in your e-mail address, you supply the price you paid. Then you sit back and wait.

The site offers directions for requesting a refund from each retailer and provides links to store policies (which vary greatly). The covered time period may range from 14 to 90 days, depending on the store and the particular item involved.

Some stores, such as Best Buy, will match competitors' price drops--as well as their own--for items purchased in stores (but not online). But because Price Protectr tracks only the price at the store where you bought the item, you must track the same item at another store on your own to take advantage of this.

You can track your buying history, too. However, signing up requires that you enter personal information that the company says it may disclose in aggregated form, per its privacy policy.

It couldn't hurt to track a major purchase with Price Protectr's limited but useful service. You just might end up saving a chunk of change.

Erik Larkin