Which Department Stores Give Price Adjustments After Black Friday? Macy's, Nordstrom, Kohl's, JCPenney, Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom Rack Compared (2026)

Price adjustment rules at a glance (2026)

Store	Refunds its own price drop?	Window	Matches competitors?	Matches Amazon?	Honors its online price in store?	One adjustment per item?	Black Friday / doorbusters
Macy's	Yes	10 days from order date (furniture and mattresses: from delivery or ship date)	No (mattresses only, up to $100)	No	Prices may differ	Not stated	No Black Friday exclusion; Last Act excluded; promotional discounts can't be combined with an adjustment
Kohl's	Yes	14 days with dated receipt	In store: competitor's in-store price with the ad. Kohls.com: direct competitors' online prices	Not named	Yes, Kohls.com price matched in store	Not stated	Clearance and BOGO excluded; Kohl's can name periods with no adjustments
JCPenney	Yes, one-time, in store	14 days with receipt	Yes, in-store and online prices	Yes, items sold by Amazon.com	Yes	Yes ("one time")	Lowest Price Guarantee runs 365 days, including Black Friday; clearance excluded
Nordstrom	Yes, full-price items only	10 days from purchase or shipment	No (as of October 2026)	No	n/a	Yes	Items bought on sale excluded
Bloomingdale's	Yes	10 days from order date (online) or purchase date (store)	No	No	Prices may differ	Not stated	No event exclusion stated; third-party seller items excluded
Nordstrom Rack	No	—	No	No	n/a	—	—

Sources: each store's official policy page, checked on October 21, 2026. Links at the end of this page.

It went on sale right after I bought it. Can I get the difference back?

Yes at five of the six stores, if you ask inside the window and the item still qualifies. The store refunds the difference and you keep the item; Macy's, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's say the money goes back to your original payment method. The catch is the clock: Macy's and Bloomingdale's count 10 days from the order date (Bloomingdale's store purchases: the purchase date), Nordstrom from the store purchase or shipment date, Kohl's and JCPenney 14 days from purchase. Nordstrom only adjusts items you bought at full price. Nordstrom Rack does not adjust prices at all and says so in its FAQ: prices change too often. Nobody adjusts automatically. You have to ask, with the order number or receipt.

Which department stores price match competitors?

JCPenney has the broadest competitor price match of the six. Its Lowest Price Guarantee covers any retailer's in-store and online price on an identical in-stock item, including items sold by Amazon.com itself, and it runs on Black Friday. Marketplace sellers, auctions and competitor clearance prices are excluded. Kohl's matches in two narrower ways: its stores match a competitor's in-store price if you bring a printed copy of the ad (and match Kohls.com prices), but not competitors' online prices; for Kohls.com items, Kohl's matches the online price of a "direct competitor," a non-wholesale retailer with physical stores and an online presence, if the price can be verified on that retailer's website. Macy's, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom Rack do not match other retailers. Macy's has one exception: mattresses, up to $100.

What stores price match Amazon?

JCPenney is the only one of the six that names Amazon: its guarantee covers items sold by Amazon.com, not by third-party sellers on Amazon. Kohl's price match page doesn't mention Amazon: Kohl's stores don't match any online price, and the Kohls.com match covers only direct competitors with physical stores and an online presence, so ask Kohl's before you count on an Amazon match. Macy's, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom Rack do not match Amazon or any other retailer. If you want the Amazon price on a Macy's item, the only route is Macy's own price drop inside the 10-day window.

Do price adjustments work on Black Friday deals and doorbusters?

Partly. JCPenney's guarantee explicitly runs 365 days a year including Black Friday, but it never covers clearance. Kohl's excludes clearance markdowns and BOGO offers and says it "may, from time to time, identify additional time periods where price adjustments are not available." Macy's lists no Black Friday exclusion, but it excludes Last Act (final sale) merchandise and says promotional discounts cannot be combined with a price adjustment. Nordstrom adjusts only items bought at full price, so a Black Friday purchase that later drops further does not qualify. Bloomingdale's official article lists no event exclusion; it covers "eligible merchandise" without defining it, so ask before counting on a Black Friday or Friends & Family price. The practical rule: an item you bought at full price in early November and that goes on sale on Black Friday is the best case for an adjustment at Macy's, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's if you are still inside 10 days, which means buying no earlier than November 17.

How often do prices keep falling after a markdown?

Often enough to matter. Across all six stores, askprice counted 45.3% of the second cuts on days 11 to 30, after the 10-day windows at Macy's, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's had closed. That gap is why the return-and-rebuy route below exists.

Will prices be lower after Black Friday?

For department stores the honest answer in October is "we are measuring it". askprice tracks the same items daily through Black Friday, Cyber Monday and December and will publish the comparison on December 1 and 2. What the policies already tell you: a Black Friday purchase at Kohl's or JCPenney is protected for 14 days, which covers Cyber Monday and the week after; a full-price purchase at Macy's, Nordstrom or Bloomingdale's is protected for 10 days.

Can I just return it and buy it again at the sale price?

Usually yes, and this is the workaround people use once the adjustment window has closed. It works where the return window is still open and the item is not final sale:

Store	Return window	Holiday 2026 extension	Final sale / not returnable
Macy's	30 days	Purchases Oct 5 – Dec 31, 2026 returnable until Jan 31, 2027 (Dyson, Mac Duggal excluded)	Last Act, food, personalized items
Kohl's	90 days (120 with Kohl's Card)	Purchases Oct 4 – Dec 30, 2026 returnable through Jan 31, 2027, premium electronics and watches included	Beverages, trading cards, blind boxes; premium electronics, watches and mattresses normally 30 days
JCPenney	60 days with receipt	Most purchases from Oct 1 returnable through Jan 31, 2027	Body jewelry, ear-piercing kits; small electrics 30 days
Nordstrom	No set limit, case by case	—	—
Bloomingdale's	30 days of receipt	None posted as of Oct 21, 2026	Final Sale items ("The Final Offer"); third-party items 30 days of receipt
Nordstrom Rack	40 days	Purchases Oct 5 – Dec 24, 2026 returnable by Jan 18, 2027 or 40 days, whichever is later	Clear the Rack

Three things to check before you do it: whether the item is still in stock in your size, whether the store claws back rewards earned on the first purchase (Kohl's reduces the refund by the Kohl's Cash you no longer earned; Bloomingdale's Loyallist points can be reduced), and whether rebuying on a sale price costs you the right to a later adjustment (Nordstrom: items bought on sale are not eligible).

Does the online price count in the store?

At JCPenney yes: jcp.com prices are matched in store and store prices online. At Kohl's yes for Kohls.com prices in store. At Macy's and Bloomingdale's the two channels can run different prices and promotions. Macy's says "in some cases, a store sale price may be honored once the price has been verified," and promises no more than that; Bloomingdale's says in-store prices and promotions can't be applied to bloomingdales.com purchases. Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack sell at one price per channel; the Rack does not adjust either way.

What about Costco, Amazon, Target or Walmart?

askprice tracks the six department stores above and does not hold price history for Costco, Amazon, Target or Walmart, so this page does not rate their policies. Note that Target ended its Amazon and Walmart price matching in July 2025, which is why "which stores still price match" became a common question.

How to request a price adjustment (any of the five stores)

1. Keep the order number or receipt. Every store asks for it, and Kohl's requires a dated receipt.
2. Check the price daily until the window closes, or set an askprice alert on the product page so you get an alert in the app the day it drops.
3. Ask inside the window through the store's channel: Macy's online orders via chat or 1-800-289-6229, Kohl's online orders via Customer Service, JCPenney in store with the receipt, Nordstrom through its online price adjustment page or 1-888-282-6060, Bloomingdale's online orders via email assistance (store purchases in store).
4. Confirm where the refund went. Macy's, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's refund to your original payment method; Kohl's and JCPenney don't say, so ask.

What askprice data shows

askprice records one price per item per day at Macy's, Kohl's, JCPenney, Nordstrom, Nordstrom Rack and Bloomingdale's, 1,700,643 items in total since November 11, 2024. A "markdown" is a cut of at least 5% against the previous recorded price. On that basis, askprice found that 21.1% of markdowns were followed by a further cut within 14 days, the median further cut was $10.00, and 45.3% of further cuts landed on days 11 to 30. On identical items carried by more than one of the six stores, the median price gap between stores was 14.3% according to askprice data. Methodology and per-store depth: /about/methodology.

FAQ

What is a price adjustment? A refund of the difference when the store you bought from lowers its own price within a set number of days after your purchase. It is different from price matching, which compares your store's price with a competitor's.

Which store has the longest price adjustment window? Kohl's and JCPenney, 14 days. Macy's, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's give 10. Nordstrom Rack gives none.

Do I get cash or store credit? Macy's, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's say the difference goes back to your original form of payment. Kohl's and JCPenney don't say where an adjustment is credited, so ask when you request it.

Can I get more than one adjustment on the same item? Nordstrom and JCPenney allow one per item. Macy's, Kohl's and Bloomingdale's do not state a limit, but Macy's says promotional discounts cannot be combined with a price adjustment.

Does a coupon or promo code block the adjustment? At Macy's, promotional discounts cannot be combined with a price adjustment. At Kohl's, coupons used on the original purchase must still be valid to carry into an adjustment, and coupons can't be applied to a price-matched item, though Kohl's Cash is still earned. Bloomingdale's article doesn't mention coupons.

Do third-party marketplace items qualify? Mostly no. Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom exclude items from third-party sellers and Nordstrom Marketplace. Macy's excludes Direct from Vendor items but lists "eligible Digital Third-Party Seller items" as eligible.

Does Nordstrom Rack ever adjust prices? No. The Rack's FAQ says it does not price match or make adjustments because prices change often. The only route is to return within 40 days and buy again, except for Clear the Rack purchases, which are final sale.

What if the price drops on day 11? Macy's, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's will decline. Return and rebuy if the return window is open and the item is not final sale, or wait for the next markdown: according to askprice data, 45.3% of second cuts come on days 11 to 30.

Sources

Official policy pages, checked on October 21, 2026: Macy's price adjustment article; Kohl's FAQ articles 88 (price adjustments), 90 (price match) and 893 (returns); JCPenney "About Pricing" and "Lowest Price Guarantee"; Nordstrom Pricing Policy and price adjustment request page; Bloomingdale's "Am I able to receive a price or promotion adjustment?"; Nordstrom Rack FAQ. Return windows from each store's returns page and 2026 holiday return notice.