Shopped on Black Friday? Here's a Little-Known Reason to Keep Your Receipts

Hanging on to receipts could work to your benefit.

There's always a lot of hype around Black Friday. But this year, it seems like that hype was even more exaggerated.

A number of well-known retailers started releasing Black Friday deals as early as October this year. So if you started your holiday shopping early, you were no doubt in good company.

Meanwhile, if you were brave enough to hit the stores on Black Friday for some holiday stock-ups or retail therapy, you may now be sitting on a pile of goods -- and a larger credit card tab than you may have wanted. But one thing you don't want to do is toss out your receipts for your various Black Friday purchases. If you do, you might lose the chance to score additional discounts.

Take advantage of price matching

You may have found what you thought were a host of great deals on Black Friday. But here's a little secret: You're not guaranteed to find the lowest prices on all items on Black Friday. And in the coming weeks, you may come across even steeper discounts.

That's why it's so important to hang on to your Black Friday receipts rather than throw them out. A lot of well-known retailers will price match during the holidays (and year-round, for that matter). But you'll need your receipts to take advantage of that option.

So, let's say you bought an air fryer on Black Friday for $129.99 that normally retails for $169.99. That certainly seems like a good deal at first.

But what if you see that same item on sale in early December for $109.99? If you keep your receipt, you may be eligible for a price match where the retailer you bought that item from refunds you the difference. But without a receipt, you might lose the chance to get that money back.

Keep in mind that while some retailers will only match their own lower prices, others will match competitors' prices. So it really pays to do some research in the coming weeks and see how the Black Friday prices you paid stack up.

Your credit card statement isn't enough

If you shopped on Black Friday and charged all of your purchases on your credit card, you might assume that you don't need to hang on to your receipts. But it's still a bad idea to throw them out.

Many retailers will require an actual detailed receipt for you to take advantage of price matching, so find a safe place for those flimsy pieces of paper and keep them secure for a good 90 days or so. You may even want to take pictures of those receipts in case they get damaged (retailers may or may not accept a photo of a receipt as a substitute for an actual one, but it's worth doing).

Ideally, you walked away from Black Friday with a pile of goods at their lowest prices of the year. But keep your receipts around in case that didn't happen so you don't have to lose out financially.