3 Things Not to Buy at Walmart
You can save money on plenty of items at the world's largest retailer--just not these.

Walmart is known for saving shoppers lots of money. You might even find that it’s tough to beat the retailer’s prices on everything from food to clothing to electronics. However, we were able to identify a few products that can be purchased elsewhere for less. Here are three of them:
You’ll typically see gift cards for a variety of restaurants and retailers at the checkout in Walmart stores. If you’re looking for a particular type of gift card, however, do some online research first to see if you can’t find a better deal. For example, a $50 Olive Garden gift card was recently selling for 15% off face value through GiftCardGranny.com, a Web site that rounds up the best deals from several gift card brokers. Shipping was free, so the savings added up to more than $7.
Supermarkets tend to have high markups on batteries and so does Walmart. You’ll do better by buying batteries in bulk at warehouse clubs. Duracell AA batteries cost nearly twice as much per battery at Walmart than at Costco, for example. You can buy a 40-pack of batteries for $14.99 at the warehouse club versus paying $10.97 for just a 16-pack at Walmart.

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Amazon beat Walmart’s prices on all but one of the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Xbox 360 video games we checked--and the price difference was significant in some cases. For example, “Call of Duty: Ghosts” for Xbox 360 was $17 less on Amazon than at Walmart. Although Xbox One and Xbox 360 consoles were the same price at both retailers, the PlayStation 4 console was $50 less on Amazon than at Walmart.
Looking for more smart shopping tips? Check out our complete lists of the worst things to buy at Walmart, Trader Joe's, Amazon and warehouse clubs.

Browne Taylor joined Kiplinger in 2011 and was a channel editor for Kiplinger.com covering living and family finance topics. She previously worked at the Washington Post as a Web producer in the Style section and prior to that covered the Jobs, Cars and Real Estate sections. She earned a BA in journalism from Howard University in Washington, D.C. She is Director of Member Services, at the National Association of Home Builders.
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