Shoebuy has a neat 110% discount policy, where they’ll refund you the difference+10% if you find a lower final price (after discounts, tax, shipping, etc.) at a competitor. The only problem is, they take an insurance-claim adjustor’s approach to honoring it—by which we mean, they invent loopholes to void the offer. In one reader’s case, they said that because he used a discount code, his discount wasn’t available to the general public. Therefore his final price didn’t count, case closed, next customer please. The details of their 110% guarantee make zero mention of discount codes or coupons, or of any requirement of public availability. Shoebuy needs to change their policy if they want to take this approach; in the meantime, they should honor their commitment to this customer.

Besides, is using a discount code posted on a website that only some people will see really any different than publishing it in a newspaper only some people will read? They both seem to meet basic conditions for “general public” availability. In fact, if you consider that newspapers usually charge a fee for their papers, then a free website is arguably more available to the general public.

Here are the full details of their price guarantee as of Friday, October 19th 2007:

110% Price Guarantee

If you find a product for a lower price on another website, we will refund you 110% of the difference between the lower price and Shoebuy’s price. We’ll even refund the difference if we lower the price at Shoebuy.com!

Rules:

• The item must be in stock in the same style, size and color that was purchased from the Shoebuy.com website.
• The website where you find the lower price cannot be an auction site.
• The final price that would have been paid at the other site will be compared to the final price on your order with Shoebuy and will be included when calculating the difference.
• Offer is valid for 10 days after you make your purchase.
• Offer is valid on orders/items shipped to destinations within the United States.

(Thanks to Philip!)

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