Walmart might not be kicking off the early-morning hours and consumer frenzy of Black Friday a week early, but they’ve launched Black Friday price wars a week ahead of time. They’re matching other retailers’ sale prices during Black Long Weekend, and will match any sale price on an identical product purchased at any time between November 1 and December 24.

“Black Friday is our Super Bowl and we plan to win,” the company’s chief marketing and merchandising officer said in a statement, presumably while coaching employees through wind sprints while pushing hand trucks full of game consoles.

Of course, this only applies to local stores. That means you can ask Walmart to price-match the Best Buy and the Target across the strip mall, but not Newegg or Amazon. And yes, Walmart reserves the right to verify those other stores’ prices.

If you bought something from a real-life Walmart, this works like any other price match: bring in the ad and your receipt, and get the price difference on a gift card. The price match policy applies to any advertised price between November 1 and December 24, except during Thanksgiving and Black Friday. During those two shopping frenzy days, Walmart will match other retailers’ prices…but only if you show up with your ad during those two days.

The method of getting a refund for online Walmart purchases is the new part, and might have the potential to go wrong. You just send an e-mail with your receipt and the other store’s ad to Walmart, and they send you an e-gift card back. Like the in-store price match, though, you can only send in advertised prices from your local stores.

Christmas Ad Match [Walmart]

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