Kohl’s No Longer Accepts Promo Codes on Toys, But Promises Competitive Pricing
Heads up, Kohl’s shoppers!
If you’ve visited Kohl’s lately, you may have noticed they no longer accept promo codes and coupons on toys, so there are no discounts on toys outside of sales. 😳 Many readers have reached out to us to ask if Kohl’s will still be competitive in the toy category, and we wanted to get to the bottom of it for you! 😕 With the holidays just around the corner, this news initially came as a bit of a surprise to us, but it sounds like Kohl’s will still be running promotions on toys throughout the holiday season.
So, while you’re no longer able to use coupons to save on toys at Kohl’s (see the full list of exclusions here), we’re told they’ll offer prices inline with their competition during the holiday season, and when they do we’ll be sure to keep you up to date on all the latest deals! And hey – you can still redeem Kohl’s cash and rewards on toys! 🎁
Well this is annoying. I find that I visit Kohl’s less and less. Their pricing fluctuates so much. This coupon exclusion is just another reason for me to visit another store like Target instead.
YESSSSS. They keep excluding more and more things from promos, Kohl’s cash, etc. I have been able to find much better deals elsewhere lately.
AND I feel that my orders get cancelled quite a bit. That is so annoying!!
I have a Kohls credit card that I only got to use with sales. May cancel since you can barely find anything the promo codes work with.
I was thinking the same thing. That’s the only reason I got the card to begin with.
I think it’s not a good move and myself and a bunch of my girlfriends will not be purchasing toys from kohls anymore. I personally think their prices are still jacked up, and their competitors offer coupons and other discounts for toys on top of good prices
I feel like Kohl’s has never been competitive on toys, so they will have a lot of price changing to do in order to become competitive. Even with their sales, they were generally still had high toy prices.
agreed. my daughter wanted an LOL doll and it was 17.99!!! Target had it for 6.99. they shouldn’t be in the market of toys that’s not their niche but black Friday they had a couple good ones
AGREED!
Big bummer. I have been buying most of our toys each christmas from Kohls. I am also a cardholder and it is a growing disappointment that so much no longer is available to use the 30% coupons for anymore. If this continues what is the point of being a Kohls charge holder? Without being able to use my 30% off the toy prices are incredibly higher than what I can find at places like Walmart or Target.
this is sad. I find their toys are overpriced without the codes. I think this may hurt them in that department but maybe it’s just me. typicly they have toys at regular price or at 10% off which can’t touch Amazon and Walmart unless they go ok clearance.
Remember when the percent off worked on everything??? Every year they exclude more and more.. it’s almost like only their brands now.
yes so sad!
I never thought they had decent prices on toys. They will have to come down a lot to be more competitive on toy pricing.
Kohls has never been competitive with any prices unless there is a promo code. This is going to sink them! Next will be no Veterans Day sale (which I know a lot of us wait for!). I foresee Kohls closing like every other similar store.
Kohl’s is becoming the new Carson’s. I don’t see it turning out well for them unless they offer you specific coupons. I used to do 75% of my Christmas shopping there, but I have a feeling that will change.
This idea did not work for Carson’s. Kohls prices are already ridiculous. I think they jack up the ‘regular’ price on things to make the sale price look like you are getting a great deal when really you are paying the same amount at Kohl’s after the sale and a coupon as you wpuld regular price somewhere else.
I’m sorry, but to say that they are competitive on prices of toys is a joke. They only way it gets close is with the coupons. Definitely won’t be purchasing toys from there anymore.
I’ve always thought Kohl’s was way overpriced! Unless there was a really sweet deal posted on here that made sense, I would do it! Like Fiestaware dishes years ago.
I will likely, never purchase anything from there again. Bad move on their part if you ask me.
Not good news. However, I am really fortunate that I have been purchasing many of their clearance toys with promo codes along with other hip2save deals in the past- plenty of toys and gifts around here for Christmases, Birthdays, Weddings and donations. I actually use a spare bedroom as a gift room…lol
As soon as I saw that Kohls was going to carry LEGO brand, I knew they would stop taking promos on toys. I agree that their regular prices are much higher than elsewhere on toys, so I expect I will shop at other toys for these items.
Could they not just exclude Lego like Barnes and Noble does on coupons?
I HATE when stores pull this!!! They promise “competitive” pricing and hardly ever fully follow through with that. I really hope this backfires on them and that they revert back. Why fix something that isn’t broken?
I actually read an article about this elsewhere. They said Kohls is doing this due to the closure of Toys R Us and the need to compete in the toy market daily, not just during special promo codes. By adjusting their pricing, they should show up along with Target, Amazon and Walmart in a google search. They also carry legos now, which are price controlled by the manufacturer. Buying legos at Kohl’s is actually your best option of where to buy, as you can earn and redeem Kohls Cash and Yes2You Rewards on them.
That’s a lot of the benefit to buying excluded items at Kohls, Kohls cash and rewards.
Kelsey, you actually understand this post! I would give you a hug if I could! I don’t want to sound rude to everyone else, but I think they missed the part where it said, “Kohl’s is changing their prices on toys to be more competitive.” No more overpriced nonsense (at least not in the toy department).
I predict Kohl’s will have a very poor holiday season. Being able to stack promo codes on toys was a huge draw. Lowering their prices a little will not make them equal to Target. Even if prices and msrps are inline with other stores, other stores still have coupons and discounts (like Target) and have better returns etc.
Kohl’s already lost my business on a batmobile baby walker this month. Kohl’s charges $99.99 for it and does not accept promos. The cost of the walker every where else (amazon, target, buy buy baby) is $79.99 or less. I bought it from buy buy baby and saved an extra 20% too with a coupon. And, I am excited as the walker is out for delivery today!
Where has a better return policy than Kohl’s? I’ve never had a problem returning things to Kohl’s, but Walmart, Target, etc. always give me trouble
Walmart is awful for returns, but Target you cannot beat. If you use your red card they can look it up by that and never even question it! That plus cartwheel deals and red card discount is wayyyyy cheaper than khols.
Walmart is much easier for returns than Target is for me. lol
Until recently, I have not had any major issues with returns at Kohl’s either. Returning items while Kohl’s cash was either used or earned has complicated things has always been a bit of an issue. In stead of just returning an item, you must first consider if it is worth it (getting $10 less than what you paid) if you earned Kohl’s cash and already spent it.
I had a big problem with the even exchanges with baby clothes. A couple of months ago, I bought a lot of Carters clothes when I was expecting (multiple transactions). I was told that I would be able to do even exchanges later (like one $29.99 msrp Carters item exchanged for another Carters $29.99 item) in order to preserve my discounts and Kohl’s cash earned. However, this proved to be untrue. If an item is no longer sold or goes on clearance, you cannot simply do an even exchange. If the item is no longer sold, you are out of luck -no exchange. If your item is now on clearance, you must exchange for some arbitrary lesser clearance price (good luck finding anything!). All I know, is that I ended up with a lot of 5 pack bodysuits that wouldn’t fit my son and that i was not able to even exchange for other packs of bodysuits.
Unfortunately, seasons and styles of baby clothes change in inventory quite often. So, in the case of baby shopping, I would not recommend buying anything remotely ahead of time. And, all those shower gifts you got a month prior, you may not be able to exchange even with a gift receipt.
With Target or JCPenney, returns are just more straightforward. You don’t have to calculate loss of something like kohl’s cash. So, even exchanges are not even necessary. Also, Target and JCPENNEY even exchange an item for the price shown on your receipt. Kohl’s will not honor the msrp that you purchased an item at for an even exchange even if you have a receipt proof.
I just bought a toy at $49.99. Within a week of purchase, the msrp of the toy was lowered to $39.99. I was denied at two Kohl’s and over the phone an even exchange for the $49.99 price that I purchased the item for. Other toys similarly were not devalued to $39.99. I got burnt.
I wonder what all is included in the rig category? Like including the big water Banzai inflatable bounce house things and all other water toys?
*toy category
So sad that in my opinion Kohl’s discount restrictions are becoming way too much! Seems like everything I want to buy for my teen daughters is excluded! Sorry just had to vent!
If you have recently been inside of Kohls you’ll notice that the original pricing of toys has decreased, making it the same as competitor pricing. Since this rollout Kohls has had some sales on their toys making them slightly cheaper than competitors at times.
Yes, there original prices have been falling. I bought a Fisher-Price Beatbo with the original msrp of $49.99 as part of a larger order. However, this toy arrived possibly broken (not packed well) and we just didn’t like it. So, I took it to the store to exchange it for a different $49.99 Fisher-Price toy that we could have purchased for the same price in the original transaction.
However, when I went to the store with the $49.99 toy that I had purchased about a week ago, the original had dropped to $39.99. Even though, I had all receipts to prove that the item was valued at $49.99 when I purchased it, the “$39.99 price was in the system.” So, I was only able to exchange the toy for a $39.99 toy. If I returned the toy, it would mess up my Kohl’s cash and I would not get a full refund. And, very few msrps of other FP toys were devalued and the devaluation (if any) varied. So, a week ago there was plenty of FP toys valued at $49.99 that I could have exchanged for, and now I have to exchange the toy at the $39.99 price where there are only a couple of FP toys at that price (and none are appropriate for my son.)
So, basically, I got burnt. Buyer beware!
Kohls downfall…….
That’s unfortunate. I’ll be doing more of my toy shopping at Target this year. Hopefully Target keeps up with their “toy of the day” coupon deals this holiday season.
I am beginning to wonder why I carry a Kohl’s card anymore. Their exclusions have made it difficult to shop. I find their store brand items to be subpar across the board. Maybe this is my final ‘sign’ to cut this credit card up. Such a shame since this is where we did 90% of our Christmas shopping. I hate to say it, but hope they take a BIG hit from this.
I was really banking on them having some good toy deals like those basketball hoops on Veterans Day for our angel tree gifts.. guess I’ll be looking somewhere else!
I can only assume they will now have higher quality toy items now. They can only stock toys that they won’t lose money on when someone is using 30% coupon..
This is a bummer. I used to buy all our Melissa and Doug toys with stacked codes at kohls, now they just remain inflated in price when compared to other retailers. Kohls has lost my business in the toy department. I’ve been buying from M&D toys from zulily now and will wait for a Target toy department deal for other toy purchases
They stated they would offer more competitive pricing, so maybe they will adjust the toys down now that they don’t have to factor in coupons. I have bought Legos from them already with kohls cash and honestly it was awesome. Their LEGO prices are the same as anyone else and you can’t get $10 off a Lego kit anywhere, so to be able to at least use kohls cash on them makes me happy.
I’ve actually noticed JCPenney has become a lot better option to save. They are easy to do price adjustments and give JCPenney cash now kind of like Kohl’s. They have been earning more of my business and less of it goes to Kohl’s. Kohl’s doesn’t even do even exchanges the same way anymore. There is more and more I don’t like about Kohl’s.
Horrible move on their part! So close to holiday season and another reason not to shop at Kohl’s
i just compared 3 toy prices on the Kohl’s website. walmart/ target/ Amazon beat Kohl’s prices by 25-30% on each one. how is that competitive? i too used to stock up on the veterans day sale, buying imaginext, Fisher price, Disney.
Goodbye Kohl’s….sad it has to end this way. Used to be a loyal customer.
This definitely will affect my spending there. AND they did this with beauty items not that long ago-many brands were eligible for a discount but not anymore!
So let me get this straight- they do monthly coupons to compensate for their overpriced items but continue to exclude more and more items from said coupon. So why would anyone continue to shop there?!
I was there last night and they also just changed their exchange policy, can only exchange for the SAME item now (can be diff color or size) instead of exchanging for something the same price. I will be much more careful what I buy now since you lose coupons and kohls cash when returning items. I am done ordering items unless I am SURE I want them.
Even when you are sure you want something, the something might be packed in a plastic clothing bag instead of a box and arrive broken. So, an even exchange is your only option if you dont want to lose your Kohls cash. This happened to me.
Then the msrp of your item may have been lowered since you bought the item or the item may have gone on clearance or out of inventory. Also happened to me.
Receipts, no matter how recent, don’t matter.
They have excluded nearly every brand that is in demand that people want (i.e. Dyson, Nike, Under Armour, etc.) The only things you can buy with them are nearly only the Kohls exclusive brands. I shop there only 1-2 times/year now. I used to shop there monthly when my son was smaller, but now we shop Big 5, JCP, etc. It IS kind of sad. While I like that the lines are shorter now in the stores than what they used to be, it seems sad that maybe this is the writing on the wall….
Really disappointing. I’ll no longer be buying toys from them.
Their coupon exclusions are getting ridiculous – Nike, Under Armour, NFL/sports items, etc. That said, I have a friend that works there and she said it’s the company (i.e. Nike) that is not allowing the coupons, not Kohls. Don’t know if that’s true or not.
I would buy that explanation if it was true everywhere, but it’s not. I was recently able to use multiple promotions/coupons on a pair of Under Armour shoes at DSW. Since they were $90 shoes, this was a huge deal. I would have bought them at Kohl’s, where we originally found them, if Kohl’s had allowed the use of coupons and Kohl’s cash on this brand.
Unfortunately it is the manufacturers that stop the use of coupons on certain items. Famous Footwear, JCP, & Kohl’s all have their Nike sales at the exact same time. Very rarely can you use coupons on them. It’s the same thing with Prestige Beauty Brands. Ulta only has sales/coupons on them a few times a year. You can still earn & use Kohl’s cash & rewards on these items though.
Same I’m done with Kohls and their shady business…also customer service sucks , app is going down hill and less and less discounts!!!! I returned a item the other day had kohls cash ok they took it off 10 bucks next day went back and returned a backpack and they tried to deduct the 10 off again after they did the day before ..the manager comes so I clearly show her the receipts and shes like shhhhh I’m trying to see what you did here …what I did ??? I said kohls always be trying to scam people I’m done shopping here !!!!
Kohl’s will be losing a lot of customers , with all their exclusions on coupon usage . Always loved the deals but now I find myself looking in other stores for deals on brand name stuff
First Levi’s…then Adidas….Converses…now ALL the Toys…I loved shopping at Kohl’s because of all the good deals and promotions to stack…but I feel like more and more things aren’t available for promotions and none of their prices are good without them…
I remember WAAAY back when Mervyns was still open and they had so many exclusions on their promotions it was hard to get decent deals… then they closed. JCP tried to not do coupons and that almost killed the company. Kohl’s has so many exclusions on their promos now it would be easier to list what you can use them on. I had to cut up my card months ago because we are trying to close out all debt and though I didn’t carry a debt on the account I needed it closed and now I don’t know that there would be incentive to open one ever again.
They are reminding me of Carson’s more & more!
Well Kohls just lost all my Christmas shopping. I used to buy all my toys at the Veterans Day sale where you can stack the $10 off $25 coupon with 30% off coupon.
Thanks for taking the time to chat with Kohl’s, and for keeping us informed. I hope you can also send them all the comments from this post! Maybe they could learn something from their customers…
They’re slowly going to put themselves out of business with their increasing prices, decreasing sales and coupons. I used to love them, but not so much anymore.
I have to say I was really disappointed with the quality of their clothing too. I was finding better quality items at WalMart with out having to struggle with discount and kohls cash limitations.
It seems like every day they are excluding promo codes for more and more items. Definitely not worth spending gas money to go into the store. And now with this new promo code exclusion on the toys I will definitely have my $ going elsewhere.
Kohl’s has become a major disappointment. They are now excluding everything. I know many say that now the prices will be competitive but with coupons I thought the prices were often times better. Loved when it was 10$ off a 30$ purchase, plus 20% off toys plus 30% off. With the Veterans Day sale I would spend very little and buy great gifts for family’s that we sponsored. I didn’t have to break the bank but was able to provide a nice Christmas for others. So many items you can’t use coupons on. So frustrating. I always chose to shop Kohl’s over J.C. Penney’s and Boston store because it was 30% off everything! I loved it… now, not so much.
I think that if they improved their toy shopping experience and lowered the price to be more competitive they might be okay. Right now their toy aisles are in such disarray all the time (and it’s only worse around Christmastime) I won’t go in there at all. If they focused on having fewer but higher-quality toys at a more reasonable price and the area expanded and cleaned up, I would be willing to overlook the lack of coupons on toys. Also, if they put out toy-specific coupons, like $10/50 toys or 30% extra off toys for x day, they would probably balance out.
Dang! I agree with the above comments. Hey, KOHL’S… are you reading this feedback??
I stop shopping there over a year ago when they gave me hassles over stopping a shipment that was directed to the wrong house. Their customer service was atrocious and downright nasty to me. I used to purchase Black Friday deals from them and Christmas gifts were almost all Kohl’s before this. I didn’t miss them at all last Christmas and won’t this Christmas either.
I personally love Kohl’s. I have the credit card and follow most of the deals Hip2Save posts. I have saved a fortune. While it does stink that they change things here and there, I personally feel like there are still great deals to be found, excellent return policy and exceptional customer service. I feel like more and mores have to compete and change to stay open now days.