Costco Sells Popular Vacuum Cleaner Brands, But Are They Really A Better Deal?
We've recommended that you should be buying multiple types of home products at Costco, like mattresses, furniture, and kitchen appliances. Buying food items (especially organic food) and garden plants at Costco are smart choices too. You may assume that the best-name vacuum brands are also a better deal at Costco than anywhere else. TikTok user CostcoHotFinds agrees with that idea. They made a video that claimed Costco had the best price on a Tineco iFloor 3 Ultra Cordless Wet/Dry Hard Floor Vacuum, and it was offering a $50 discount on top of its low price.
But is Costco always the lowest price — with or without any extra discounts that may expire by the time you're ready to make the purchase? We researched the prices on some of the most popular vacuum cleaner brands — namely Bissell, Dyson, Shark, and Tineco — to see if you are receiving a better price here versus other retailers. We also compared Costco's vacuum prices with other large retailers like Home Depot, Lowe's, Walmart, and Amazon, and the answer is that it depends. Some vacuum models are less expensive at Costco while other retailers can beat the price.
Before we go any further, it's important to note that you must purchase a membership to shop at Costco either in person or online. The other retailers we looked at do not require a membership. If you're only buying a vacuum, add the $60 or $120 cost of a membership to the cost of the appliance at Costco.
Comparing costs for wet/dry vacuums at Costco to other retailers
We'll start our comparison with the same model TikTok user CostcoHotFinds selected: the Tineco iFloor 3 Ultra Cordless Wet/Dry Hard Floor Vacuum. This model costs $249.99 on the Costco website, but at the time we checked the price, it still had the $50 discount mentioned on the TikTok video, making it available for $199.99. In our comparison, Amazon actually beat the lowest Costco price, offering the Tineco model for $199.90, but it was offering a 29% discount at the time we checked the price. At Home Depot, we found this Tineco model for $259.99 (on sale from the usual price of $307.82), while Lowe's was offering it for $349.99. Keep in mind that some retailers may offer a slightly different accessory package, which could affect the cost.
Another wet/dry vacuum we wanted to compare was the Bissell ProHeat 2X Revolution Pet Pro Carpet Cleaner. At Costco, the Member Only price was $179.99. Costco again provided a $50 discount from the list price of $229.99 at the time we compared prices. Costco's price — with or without the discount — was significantly lower than the other retailers we researched. Amazon offered it for $269, Walmart had it for $249 (with a $60 discount), and Lowe's offered it for $269.99. Sometimes, Lowe's has discounts you may not know about, but even those discounts wouldn't allow it to match the Costco price.
Does Costco have a lower price for other popular vacuum brands?
One high-end vacuum that you may want to consider buying at Costco because of the cost is the Dyson V15 Detect Total Clean Extra Cordless Stick Vacuum. At Costco, you receive a Member Only price of $699.99 for this model. At Home Depot, you'd pay $749.99, while Amazon offers it for $745. This high-end model is not available at places like Home Depot or Walmart, so having the opportunity to purchase it at Costco can be a significant benefit of purchasing a membership.
Our final comparison model is the Shark Cordless Pro Vacuum with Clean Sense IQ. It costs $279.99 at Costco with the Member Only price. Amazon's price for the Shark model was $319.99 (including a 20% discount). Walmart had the Shark model for $299, while Lowe's had a price of $319.99 (on sale from the listed $399.99 price).
In three of our four comparison models, which we selected at random, Costco had the lowest price, sometimes before applying any extra discount the warehouse offers. A couple of the comparisons were close enough that when you add in the cost of the Costco membership, you might find a better price at one of the other retailers, though. Of course, if you're going to use the Costco membership for weekly shopping, you'll be able to spread the cost of the membership over far more products than just your favorite vacuum.