Save Money on Halloween Costumes
Tip No. 2:
5 Tips to Get the Best Price on a Halloween Costume
- Comparison Shop Online
- Calculate Shipping Costs
- Factor in Coupon Codes and Promotional Codes
- Price Guarantees are Not All Created Equal
- Remember Sales Tax!
Comparison Shop Online
There are a couple of reasons why its better to shop online for your Halloween costume. There are more costumes available to choose from, and lots more costume retailers competing for your business. The more competition, the better your chances of getting the best deal. But let’s assume that you’ve decided this Halloween you’re going to transform into the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz, and here’s the costume you’ve chosen:
Great choice – should be lots of fun! But if you think there’s no difference between Halloween costume store prices, think again. They can vary widely. This isn’t an exhaustive list of costume retailers, but here are four examples:
| Vendor | Price | Plus Size Halloween Costume |
| Costume Discounters | $89.97 | Womens Plus Wicked Witch Elite Costume |
| Buy Costume | $94.99 | Wicked Witch Plus Elite Collection Adult |
| Costume Craze | $99.95 | Adult Plus Size Premier Wicked Witch Costume – Witch Costumes |
| Half Price Costumes | $115.99 | Wicked Witch of the West Plus Size Costume |
That’s a $25 dollar difference between the lowest priced costume and the highest, courtesy of a little price research. But wait – there’s more. Let’s go to Tip No. 2.
Calculate Shipping Costs
Before deciding which costume retailer to purchase from, you should also find out what their shipping costs will be, it can vary widely as well. Amongst these particular Halloween stores, one charges a nominal shipping fee, the other three offer free shipping if we meet the minimum purchase (which we do on this costume). Since Costume Discounters currently offers free shipping on orders over $70, its still the lowest price. But let’s move on to Tip No. 3.
Factor in Coupon Codes and Promotional Codes
I checked my Halloween Coupon Codes and Promotional Codes page, and found the following promotional links for two of these four costume retailers:
So BuyCostume is offering a 10% discount until September 21, 2009 on purchases over $65, and Costume Craze is offering a 5% discount on all orders, regardless of size. Of the two, BuyCostume had the better original price, plus a free shipping offer, so if you apply the 10% discount to the original price of $94.99 – 9.49 = $85.50, which is actually a better deal than Costume Discounters’ price. So assuming you can take advantage of the 10% discount by 09/21/09, BuyCostume actually has the better offer, if not, Costume Discounters still has the best price.
Price Guarantees Are Not All Created Equal
One other factor to consider is any price guarantees which any of the Halloween costume retailers may offer. Usually they will offer a 110% or 115% price difference guarantee. But be sure and read the details of the fine print, and think carefully, before taking this route.
Remember, they are only offering you 110% or 115% of the difference, not of the overall price. Assuming that we have a $25 price differential, that would be $28.75, it doesn’t actually end up being that much extra money off, even when there is a large price difference. Also, all of the programs I have seen require you to purchase at the full price and then contact the retailer *after* the purchase to request the refund of the difference. There are additional restrictions, no auctions, no clearance merchandise, and ultimately the vendor will decide if you qualify for the refund. And at least one of the vendors offers the “refund” not as cash back, but as a store credit.
I’m not suggesting that the vendors won’t honor most of their price guarantees, in fact, they have every incentive to do so. They get your business instead of the competition, and for a few dollars off the purchase price, they get to find out what their competitors are charging for the same merchandise, they find out which of their competitors you are finding and looking at, and they don’t have to do any work to find all this out. It’s a win win for them. To me, it seems like quite a bit of hassle for the customer and not a whole lot of return. I would personally contact them *in advance* of making the purchase, see if they voluntarily reduce the price on their website in a day or two, or offer you a special deal, and if they do, great, if they don’t, I’d personally buy from the vendor who has the better deal up front, all other things being equal.
Remember Sales Tax!
If you live in Oregon, Delaware or New Hampshire, or other states where there is no state sales tax, this won’t impact you. If you live in states like California, where the sales tax rate is over 9%, and other states like Washington, New Jersey, Rhode Island, etc. where it is quite high, before completing your purchase, check and see if you are being charged sales tax. The Halloween vendor is generally required to charge you sales tax if they have a physical presence (administrative offices, warehouses, etc.) in your state, and if your state sales tax is high, it can change your calculation of where you can get the best price. If a couple of Halloween retailers have similarly priced merchandise and shipping rates, and there’s nothing else that distinguishes one from another, and your state sales tax rate is substantial, the deciding factor between vendors might be whether you will be charged state sales tax.
Save Money on Halloween Costumes
Tip No. 1:
Halloween Coupon Codes and Promotional Codes
When bargain shopping for Halloween costumes, always, always, always, look for coupon codes and promotional codes. The price listed on an online costume retailer’s website isn’t necessarily the final and only price. There’s a lot of competition for your purchasing dollars, especially in this economy, especially amongst retailers who are so heavily dependent upon seasonal purchases, and when a lot of them have substantially the same merchandise for sale. They want your business, preferably repeat business, and they are often willing to sweeten the offer to get you to buy from them, or to increase the size of your purchase. The savvy internet shopper can often find a coupon code or promotional code for their Halloween costume and save a few extra dollars.
For example, I ran some internet searches and found the following costume retailer coupon codes and promotional codes. None of these offers was made automatically on the retailer’s website, I had to take the time and effort to run searches and find them. (ETA: Since typing the preceding sentence, I found that an equivalent offer to one of those listed below had been added on the front page of Costume Discounters website, so I wanted to give them a shout out for that. Thank you!) A little bit of effort can save you a nice chunk of money and get you more for your hard earned dollars. But I’ve already included them here, with their expiration dates, so you don’t even have to go hunting for them! (If you are aware of any I’ve missed, please let me know and I’ll add them to the list. And I’ll continue adding promotional codes and coupon codes as I find them myself.)
Please keep in mind that if you find a costume you like, at a discount price, you should probably take advantage of it sooner rather than later. Your favorite costume could sell out unexpectedly, a coupon or promotional code could be withdrawn without notice. The closer it gets to Halloween, and the more swamped a costume retailer is with orders, they may be less inclined to make special offers to get your business. At least one of the offers below expires on September 30, 2009, a month before Halloween. So if you see a good deal, take advantage of it right away, if you can.
Spirit Halloween Coupon Codes and Promotional Codes:
Save 20% on a single item from Spirit Halloween. Expires 10/29/09. (I only found a Text Link. Click on the words “Spirit Halloween” in the box below to take advantage of the offer.)
| Get 20% off 1 item at SpiritHalloween when you use the coupon code SPAF20! Hurry, this offer ends 10/29/09! |
Save 10% on your entire order from Spirit Halloween. Coupon code expires 09/30/09.
Costume City Coupon Codes and Promotional Codes:
So far, I haven’t found any promotional codes or coupon codes for Costume City, but I’ll keep searching. If you know of any, please let me know, and I’ll post them!
Costume Discounters Coupon Codes and Promotional Codes:
Free shipping on orders of $70.00 or more. I couldn’t find an expiration date. I could only find a text link for the coupon code, so click on the text inside the box below to take advantage of the offer.
| Free Shipping on all orders of $70 or more! |
Costume Kingdom Coupon Codes and Promotional Codes:
10% off purchase of $50 or more. Free shipping on purchases of $75 and more. I couldn’t find an expiration date.
BuyCostume Coupon Codes and Promotional Codes:
Save 10% off your order of $65 or more. Found no expiration date.
Anytime Costumes Coupon Codes and Promotional Codes:
So far, I haven’t found any coupon codes or promotional codes for Anytime Costumes, but I’ll keep my eye out for them, and if you know of any, please let me know in the comments section below. I’ll be happy to post them as soon as possible!
Half Price Costumes Coupon Codes and Promotional Codes:
Free shipping on Halloween costumes. I couldn’t find an expiration date. Click on the text inside the box to get the offer.
| Free Shipping on Halloween costumes |
Extreme Halloween Network Coupon Codes and Promotional Codes:
Save 10% off your order of $75 or more. I couldn’t find an expiration date.
Save $6 off your purchase of $60.00 or more. I couldn’t find an expiration date.
Costume Craze Coupon Codes and Promotional Codes:
Save 5% off all orders at Costume Craze. Found no expiration date.
Costume Express Coupon Codes and Promotional Codes:
Save 15% off any order of $70 or more at Costume Express. Expires 09/30/09.
Free shipping on orders of $75 or more. I couldn’t find an expiration date.
