Best Buy 2024 Military Discounts: How To Claim and Save

Savings, Private Ryan?
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Alan Byrne
BY:
Editor
A Best Buy sign hangs on a store

If you're looking for the best way to avail of a Best Buy military discount in 2024, our unfortunate duty is to report: "It's complicated". It is Schrodinger's 10% off discount: it both does and does not exist until you set foot in your local Best Buy, only settling into being a thing or not once you ask a manager about it. This is the complicated state of affairs we'll attempt to make a little more comprehensible in this: our guide to military discounts at Best Buy. In the meantime, why not take a peek at what's currently on sale at Best Buy?

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What are the steps to becoming eligible for the Best Buy military discount?

It would be lying to lead with any verb other than "hope". Best Buy has no official military discount, at the corporate level. Instead, it's left to the discretion of store managers. If you're in luck, asking the manager at your local store might get you 10% off your purchase. It might not. This is where hope comes in.

To give yourself the best chance, it's advisable to call ahead; or at least come prepared. The discount, in the instances where it's offered, is available to active military members and veterans. So bringing along a current military ID, a DD214, state ID proving your Veteran status, or a military pay stub should go a long way towards proving your eligibility. Ultimately, it'll come down to the store manager's discretion, but it's a good idea to give them every reason to rule in your favor.

Are Best Buy military discounts available both online and in-store?

Because of the somewhat informal nature of Best Buy's military discount, there's sadly no way of getting that 10% off online. Without any SheerID or ID.me verification available, there's no way of proving your status, and there's no online version of a store manager to decide if they want to offer the discount at all. We can't even guarantee that Best Buy will offer a military discount when you go to buy a TV in-store. Again: hope.

Are military discounts stackable?

At the risk of sounding repetitive, without an official policy to point to, there's no official answer. All we can say for sure is that most stores' military discounts tend to limit their application to full-priced items, so any other discounts or coupons would not stack with the military discount. (It's also worth pointing out that other stores like Lowe's and Home Depot exclude appliances from their military discounts, so even if your local Best Buy does offer the discount in a general sense, these and other exclusions may apply.)

This is also the case if you're wondering if your discount expires, or what the return policy is on items you've purchased with it. We wish we could be of more help, but the policy is unwritten, and thus, any answers we might offer would be guesswork at best.

What are my payment options?

Since Best Buy's military discount will only be available in-store, if at all, these are the methods you can use to pay in Best Buy stores. (It's a slightly different list to what's accepted online.)

  • My Best Buy Credit Card: This gives you 5% back in rewards with Best Buy purchases, and also offers flexible financing options.
  • My Best Buy Visa Card: This has all the benefits of a Best Buy Credit Card, but it's also usable anywhere Visa is accepted, offering up to 3% back in rewards, depending on the nature of your purchase.
  • Best Buy Gift Card: Gift cards are like money if you had to call the shop you were going to spend it at like calling a pocket before potting the 8-ball in pool.
  • Credit/Debit Card: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover... these are names you've probably heard of, but do you know how their credit and debit cards work? Oh you do. We probably should have expected that.
  • Apple Pay and PayPal: Everyone loves digital wallets, to the point of going viral because you're sad Walmart doesn't let you use Apple Pay. No such complaints at Best Buy.
  • Progressive Leasing: Pay for your purchase in installments, with flexible purchase options and no credit needed. Click here for more details.
  • Best Buy Business Advantage Card: This is open to those with a Best Buy Business account. Click here for more details on that.
  • Personal, Business, or Cashier's Checks: Checks! Remember them? Best Buy does.
  • Cash: Clams. Moola. Coin. Lettuce. Scratch. Lucre. Cheddar. Spondulicks.

What other discounts does Best Buy offer?

Best Buy offers an employee discount for those who've been employed for 30 days or more. Rather than a flat discount, it simply allows Best Buy employees to purchase items for 5% above cost. Also, between November 20 and December 31, all employees are eligible regardless of their hire date.

Outside of that, Best Buy has stopped offering specific discounts — no student discounts or senior citizen discounts or first responder discounts, for example. Instead, they've moved towards offering discounts to members of its My Best Buy plans. These discounts can be significant in terms of savings, or just for being an unusual discount – for example, discounting a preorder of a new Apple MacBook model. These memberships come in two tiers: Plus and Total. Plus costs $49.99 a year, and Total costs $179.99 a year. (The Total plan comes with extra perks, and qualifies for select discounts that the Plus plan doesn't.) If you shop at Best Buy often, especially during the big sale periods, you'll likely make your membership fee back pretty easily.

What else should I consider when shopping Best Buy military discounts?

The main thing to consider is whether or not your local Best Buy even offers the discount. If it does, Best Buy's military discount will get you 10% off your new TV or toy or cookware. (Maybe – it's all very much at the manager's discretion.) If this is too wishy-washy for you, it might be worth focusing on their My Best Buy Plus or Total memberships, which will guarantee a wide range of very strong discounts throughout the year (but as we detailed above, do come with an annual fee). This also affords you the comfort of shopping online instead of in-store, which makes it much easier to compare Best Buy's prices against other stores. Plus, even a free My Best Buy account will let you dodge shipping fees when you shop online.

So that's your lot regarding Best Buy's military discounts in 2024 – it's not a clear policy, but hopefully you at least understand what's there to be understood a little better now. DealNews has a bunch of ways for you to keep up to date with Best Buy's best offers:

  • DealNews Select newsletter: sign up for this to get all the best deals from Best Buy and more delivered straight to your inbox.
  • Deal Alerts: If you want to keep an eye out for a more specific discount, set up an alert to be notified when it goes on sale.
  • Best Buy store page: If you just like browsing what's on offer at the moment, our Best Buy store page is packed with discounts on TVs, computers, appliances, and lots more.
Alan Byrne
Editor

Alan was recently named "The New Face of DealNews™" by himself, which is a step up from his previous title, "The King of the Run-on Sentence", although this latter – equally unofficial – title clearly remains the more accurate by some distance. He's a Dublin-based editor for this very website.
DealNews may be compensated by companies mentioned in this article. Please note that, although prices sometimes fluctuate or expire unexpectedly, all products and deals mentioned in this feature were available at the lowest total price we could find at the time of publication (unless otherwise specified).

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