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This question keeps coming up and my answer is buried in several threads. Here's how you do it (until a home depot redditor sees this and jumps in to spoil the party) ;)
Part 1 - Searching HD inventory
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CLEARANCE ITEMS ARE NOT ON THE WEBSITE.
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See number one. You need to understand this before going forward.
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You can either jump on an empty home depot computer (fastest way) or have an employee help you..but see #1 because 90% of the time they will not use the computer correctly and simply pull up the website to show its FULL PRICE and get you out of their hair. Gently point them to the "PRICE CHECKER" icon on the computer.
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The stand-up computer station in the middle of the refrigerators or middle of lighting is typically empty. you can just walk over, dismiss the screensaver and click on the...wait for it...
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...PRICE CHECKER ICON! This is the only useful button on that computer.
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Before using PRICE CHECKER, remember step 1 above. IF THE ITEM IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE AT THE HOME DEPOT IT WILL NOT SHOW UP.
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Once you understand #6, you are ready to proceed.
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Type "wink" and anything related to wink automation will show up INCLUDING GO CONTROL ESSENTIALS and GO CONTROL PREMIUM. Click either of them to get quantity on hand (bottom left of screen) and..more importantly...quantity remaining at all other nearby home depots. No need to drive to a home depot with 0 inventory.
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If they do not show up, that home depot has likely sold their entire stock. If they do not show up, don't despair. See "Part 2" below.
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To hunt for GE LINK bulbs, return to PRICE CHECKER SEARCH and type in LINK LED. DO NOT TYPE IN GE. You will get 1-2 pages of results and if any of the A19, BR30 or 90w smart lights are in stock you'll see them on-screen along with a little yellow clearance sticker (cute huh?) Again, note quantities at other stores as well.
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type in 'hue iris' and if you're lucky and there is still one in stock, it will show up. If not, you'll get NO RESULTS. considering they are a penny, you will have to get lucky to find one (see pic I posted)
PART 2 - Finding the actual clearance items in the store/needle in a haystack EVEN IF NOTHING SHOWS IN COMPUTER ABOVE. Computer is not always accurate.
Because HD scatters clearance stuff all over, the computer result may or may not tell you where they are. Each Home Depot is different. Here are my strategies:
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Look all over lighting in the area under the ceiling fans. There are 'pockets' of clearance bulbs & stuff all over and often the GE bulbs can be found there. I found 2 GO CONTROL packages literally under the computer in lighting I was using. LOL I had no sooner found they had 2 in stock then I glanced down & there they were.
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Look in the "Home Automation" endcap. This has the lutrons, canaries, schlage locks, etc. and not all home depots still have this. Sometimes its gone completely or in a small area on the lighting shelf.
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The area ABOVE the lutron display which you can't reach without a ladder used to have lots of GE link bulbs piled up there.
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The area where the HUE lightbulbs are (last bay of lighting), look behind the bulbs on all shelves as well as near the HUE because again, home depot had TONS AND TONS of those GE bulbs and they can find their way to all kinds of nooks and crannies.
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The Clearance end caps. Usually 3-4 per store. Make sure you check these AND ESPECIALLY behind the big yellow clearance sign that hides stuff on the top shelf of the endcap.
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MOST IMPORTANT The customer service area has 2 corrugated metal cabinets behind it right by the exit that contains ECOBEE3s, NESTs, etc. This is the 'high end' stuff Home Depot doesn't want stolen. Its a treasure trove of abandonded WINK, Quirky, GE and GO CONTROL packages. Have them open this up and look around. I found 2 bus tubs full of GO CONTROL packages with the black plastic "security belt" around each of them.
Part 3 - FINAL CLEARANCE PRICE ADJUSTMENT
Ultimately things decrease to the final clearance price (before penny stock) over 4-5 weeks since the first clearance. You can return during this window with a product purchased, return it at customer service for a full refund, then rebuy it at the new lower price. Every home depot does this. Its not a problem. In fact the employee usually says "oh my, now I see why you are returning this".
Two comments
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you have to return before it becomes penny stock because they won't refund and resell the item at a penny to you.
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the final clearance price will have a .03 (like go control at 13.03) at the end of the price so that's how you know its as low as its going to get and you better return & rebuy it at that price right away.
Any questions?
Any idea why they are on such deep discounts?
You can call a nearby store and ask them to look up these SKUs:
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GoControl Essentials - 1001290771
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GoControl Premium - 1001290777
They can check stock and tell you the (alleged) specific location in the store where it is (e.g. "endcap aisle 3"). Some employees will check the website and say "it's not sold in stores", ask them to try to price checker or inventory checker.
With anything, it's hit-or-miss, but after trying a few stores with no luck, I was able to call and find out which stores had them in stock using those product numbers above.
OP is recommended using the computer at the store yourself to do this, and that might be a great idea, especially if you're having trouble speaking to a knowledgeable person on the phone.
Does anybody know how some customers know what we have on clearance? Had one dude come up to me and asked for a m12 milwaukee kit that was on clearance. I know for sure clearance doesn't show up on the website and if it does it's an item that's full priced. Plus its kind of annoying, knowing they will buy it and just put it on fb marketplace or offerup for triple the price.