Lowe’s Volume Savings Program (aka Lowe’s VSP, QSP or Bid Room): How it Works
I recently wrote an article about the Home Depot Bid Room and many found it helpful. As Lowe’s has a similar bid room-style savings option (officially referred to as Lowe’s “VSP” for “Volume Savings Program” and sometimes referred to by Lowe’s Pro Desk staff as “QSP” for Quote Support Program), I wanted to provide information about how to take advantage of this solid savings opportunity. I refer to it interchangeably in this article as Lowe’s VSP, QSP or the Lowe’s Bid Room (they all mean the same thing).
Lowe’s VSP (or QSP or the Lowe’s Bid Room) is a free volume savings program open to anyone, through which Lowe’s provides solid discounts on products throughout the store if your order is at least $1,500.00. You do NOT need a Lowe’s branded credit card to access Lowe’s VSP, but you do need to sign up for a free Lowe’s MVPs Pro Rewards account in the correct way as detailed (with pictures) below. Once you have the MVPs Pro Rewards account set up, simply put together a list of items equaling $1,500.00 or more, bring that list to a Lowe’s Pro Desk staff member, and ask them to run it through the Volume Savings Program to see your discounts.
I am not a contractor and I use Lowe’s VSP all the time on renovations. Below you will see actual Lowe’s VSP/QSP savings that I received on some orders, you will get details about using the Lowe’s Volume Savings Program for sizeable savings, and you will learn how to sign up for Lowe’s VSP even if you are not a contractor or real estate professional.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
(1) Lowe’s Volume Savings Program Overview.
(2) How Much Can You Save with Lowe’s VSP/QSP (aka Lowe’s Bid Room)?
(i) What Determines the Amount You Save with Lowe’s VSP?
(3) Lowe’s VSP Savings vs. Other Types of Lowe’s Discounts.
(4) What is the Lowe’s Volume Savings Program Minimum?
(5) Do You Need “Silver Status” with Lowe’s to Be Eligible for the Lowe’s Volume Savings Program?
(6) Signing Up for Lowe’s VSP Savings.
(7) Should You Add a Credit Card to Your Lowe’s MVPs Pro Rewards Account to Maximize Savings?
Lowe’s Volume Savings Program Overview.
The Lowe’s Volume Savings Program, QSP (Quote Support Program) or Lowe’s Bid Room is one of Lowe’s family of volume and special discount programs. Through Lowe’s VSP, you can expect to regularly receive discounts of 5-20% and sometimes much more on high profit margin items sold by Lowe’s (think flooring, faucets, lighting, cabinets, appliances, and more), and lower percentages off lower profit margin items like lumber.
Here is a real example of a VSP quote I received, offering 18.2% off of my order:
Scroll down to the last section of this article entitled, “Signing Up for Lowe’s VSP Savings,” to jump straight to getting access to Lowe’s VSP. In that section, you will see a step-by-step guide to signing up correctly for Lowe’s VSP/QSP/Bid Room access through the Lowe’s MVPs Pro Rewards Program.
Contrary to some of the confusion I see online about gaining access to Lowe’s VSP discounts, you do not need to be a contractor, you do not need to have a bustling real estate business (or even any formal business structure or company), and you do not need a Lowe’s-branded credit card to get access to Lowe’s VSP. All you need is a free MVPs Pro Rewards account and an order of at least $1,500.00 worth of Lowe’s products and you are set up to receive solid discounts on the products you are purchasing.
How Much Can You Save with Lowe’s VSP/QSP (aka the Lowe’s Bid Room)?
Here are a few examples of Lowe’s VSP/QSP savings I received. Yes it does say, “QSP,” on the quote, but this was quoted just a few months before “VSP” became en vogue. The first two are orders of luxury vinyl plank flooring (specifically, Smart Core), for rental properties I was renovating:
As you can see, I received around 20% off of these orders. These sizeable Lowe’s VSP discounts on individual orders have equated to tens of thousands of dollars in Lowe’s VSP/QSP savings over the course of my investing career.
This last example is an online order with Lowe’s newer VSP system. I discuss how to get access to online VSP savings (as opposed to needing to bring your list of items equaling at least $1,500.00 to a Pro Desk staff member in person) further below, but wanted to highlight the tremendous savings you can receive on more than just flooring:
As you can see, with Lowe’s VSP they offered me 49.5% off of a Delta kitchen faucet, 20% off of a Delta bathroom faucet, 12.5% off of luxury vinyl plank, and 20% off of a bath vanity.
There is simply no good reason to miss out on these types of discounts.
What Determines the Amount You Save with Lowe’s VSP/QSP?
While not officially stated by Lowe’s, if you talk to folks at the Pro Services desk who you are friendly with they may tell you (like they have told me) that Lowe’s VSP savings are at least in part dependent on (i) the profit margin Lowe’s has built into the particular products you are ordering and (ii) the need to get specific items off of the shelf (e.g. items that that are going out of season). That first point is something that I have experienced in practice as well.
So, for example, a high end sink faucet has a lot of profit margin built into it and you might get a large Lowe’s VSP/QSP discount like the 49.5% off that Lowe’s offered me on the Delta faucet above. Similarly, on flooring and transitions you might get between 10-20%. I have received 15-20% off of flooring many times.
On the other hand, on lumber you might not receive any Lowe’s VSP/QSP discount because there is often a much smaller profit margin on lumber.
There may be other factors involved in determining how much you save using Lowe’s Bid Room, but the two items mentioned above have been disclosed to me.
Lowe’s VSP Savings vs. Other Types of Lowe’s Discounts
Comparing Lowe’s VSP/QSP saving with other Lowe’s discounts that customers search for more frequently highlights just how important it is to get access to Lowe’s VSP.
For example, using shopping portals Like Rakuten and Capital One Shopping I can reliably get anywhere from 1-3% (sometimes as high as 5%) off of everything I purchase online from Lowe’s.
If I search for Lowe’s coupons online, I can sometimes find solid discounts only because I have a Lowe’s Advantage Credit Card, but I will often have to purchase these coupons and will inevitably be worried about scammers.
I can always find coupons and “deals” online for discounts off of “select items,” but those are often items that I don’t want or need.
With Lowe’s VSP however, I can reliably expect to receive discounts on items I always need for a renovation, like flooring, bath vanities, kitchen and bath faucets, lighting, appliances and other high margin items. These are products that you will use in almost every renovation, so it is always worth it to at least check out the potential Lowe’s VSP savings before buying these items at shelf prices.
For the above reasons, after I have completed my first round of material shopping for any new project at my local Habitat Restore locations (more on that in an upcoming post), I will always be looking to run a Lowe’s order through Lowe’s own version of the Home Depot Bid Room (aka Lowe’s VSP or QSP) to see what kind of discount I might score.
What is the Lowe’s Volume Savings Program Minimum?
There is some misinformation online about the minimum purchase required to be eligible for Lowe’s VSP/QSP savings. While Home Depot recently increased their minimum to $2,500.00 for the Home Depot Bid Room, Lowe’s has not changed their minimum (yet).
Your purchase must be a minimum of $1,500.00 to be eligible to have your Lowe’s order run through the Lowe’s Bid Room (aka Lowe’s VSP) and receive Lowe’s VSP discounts. $2,500.00 was the minimum several years ago, but if you call around to any Lowe’s Pro Desk these days, they will confirm that the Lowe’s VSP minimum is currently $1,500.00. This is also currently stated as the minimum on the Lowe’s website.
Do You Need “Silver Status” to Be Eligible for Lowe’s QSP Savings?
When Lowe’s recently updated their loyalty program, they added a proviso that once you attain “Silver Status” (which is the first step up in Lowe’s loyalty tier and is attained after spending $2,500.00 at Lowe’s as long as the purchases were tracked to your MVPs account, meaning you either scanned your MVPs account bar code at check out in store, purchased online when logged into your account, or used a credit card linked to your account), you would then be eligible for volume savings discounts whenever you spend at least $1,500.00 at Lowe’s. However, this is the requirement for accessing the Volume Savings Program online, not a general requirement for accessing Lowe’s VSP savings if you walk up to a Pro Desk staff member with a list of items you want to purchase.
To confirm that anyone with an MVPs account (even if not “Silver Status”) can use the Volume Savings Program on orders of at least $1,500.00, I double-checked with not one, not two, but three separate Pro Desks at three separate locations and with the Pro Desk hotline (1-844-569-4776), and they each separately confirmed that even if I did not have my Silver Status, I could run any order of at least $1,500.00 through their quoting system in store with a Pro Desk staffer and receive QSP or Volume Savings Program discounts. I simply would not have access to the admittedly very convenient online VSP program without my Silver Status.
If you ever receive any push back on this in store, please make sure you speak with someone who is knowledgeable about the Volume Savings Program. I have spoken to staff sitting behind the Pro Desk in the later hours of the day who know very little about the QSP/VSP program. I recommend going to the Pro Desk with your list of items you want quoted no later than 1:00pm, and more ideally in the morning if you have questions.
For those who want access to online VSP savings, it is worth noting that as soon as you have spent a total of $2,500.00 at Lowe’s after signing up for the free Lowe’s MVPs Pro Reward Program (detailed below), you will have Silver Status with Lowe’s and will have access to the online VSP platform.
Signing Up for Lowe’s VSP Savings
Accessing Lowe’s VSP pricing is suprisingly easy.
To gain access to the Lowe’s Volume Savings Program, you will need to first sign up for the Lowe’s MVPs Pro Reward Program. To do that, go to https://www.lowes.com/l/Pro/pro-benefits. Note that there is absolutely no requirement that you be a contractor or other real estate professional, nor is there any requirement that you have a Lowe’s branded credit card to sign up for and access Lowe’s VSP or QSP savings.
When you click, “Join Now,” from the link above, you will be prompted to create an account and will be given a choice to select a “Personal Account” or a “Business Account.”
You must select “Business Account” to gain access to Lowe’s VSP/QSP/Bid Room savings. To reiterate, you do not need to be a contractor. You do not need to have a big real estate business. You do not need a Lowe’s-branded credit card. They do not require you to have a corporation, LLC or other business entity to set up a business account. Anyone can be approved for a business account with Lowe’s.
If you own a home and plan to do some renovation to improve the home’s value for a sale many years from now, you can apply for and be approved for a business account. If you think you might sell things on eBay or Facebook marketplace in the future and need something from Lowe’s in connection with those things you might sell, you can be approved for a business account with Lowe’s. Lowe’s wants as many people as possible to be part of this program.
Once you have selected Business Account, you will then be prompted to enter your email address and can continue to create an account.
The next page will ask for some basic information. When I signed up for a business account, I simply used my initials for the business name, my home address for the business address, and my personal cell number for the business phone.
Where they ask for your, “Industry,” you have the option to select “Not Defined,” but as I manage my own rental property I selected, “property management.”
Keep in mind that if you call the Lowe’s Pro Desk staff, they will encourage you to sign up like this even if you are not a contractor or real estate professional. Many people run their businesses as sole proprietors under their personal name, and the reality is that you don’t need to have a formal business to set up this account and access Lowe’s VSP/QSP/Bid Room discounts.
Should You Add a Credit Card to Your Lowe’s MVPs Pro Rewards Account to Maximize Savings?
After submitting the simple requested information, your new Lowe’s MVPs Pro Reward Program account will be set up and you can immediately (i) put together a list of items equaling at least $1,500.00, (ii) bring your list to a Pro Desk staff member in store, (iii) get special pricing and (iv) start enjoying your savings.
It is worth covering one last item, however. After setting up the account following the steps above, you will be prompted to add a payment method to your new account. This is not required but I do recommend it. Here is why:
Adding a credit card to your account allows all Lowe’s expenses placed on that credit card to be automatically tracked to your Lowe’s MVPs account. This automatic tracking will directly impact how quickly you reach “Silver Status” (which provides that super convenient online access to instant VSP savings on orders over $1,500.00, and starts to earn you 1-1.5% discounts on all future purchases, which I know is a pittance, but it is something).
The alternative to adding a credit card to your account is remembering to open up the Lowe’s app and scan your MVPs QR code at the register every time you shop in store. If you are anything like me, you will not infrequently find yourself at Lowe’s or Home Depot because you need to get materials to an active job site. In that scenario, it is often a “get in and out as fast as you can” situation. You do not want to be fiddling around with a cell phone app, hoping the cell service is good in the store, etc.
For that simple reason, I recommend adding whichever credit card(s) you are most likely to use at Lowe’s to your MVPs account so that you don’t have to think about it. Your Lowe’s spending will automatically track to your account, and you will increase the benefits of having the account, which was the whole point of signing up in the first place.
Signing Up for Lowe’s VSP (aka QSP or the Bid Room) is a No Brainer
Lowe’s QSP/VSP, sometimes referred to as the Lowe’s bid room (as it is not unlike the Home Depot Bid Room), has been a tremendous tool for me to save on my renovations and improve my return on investment.
By simply signing up for Lowe’s rewards program as detailed above, I have been able to save tens of thousands of dollars on renovations over time. As it is free to join, you don’t need to be a contractor, you don’t need a Lowe’s credit card and the savings can be so substantial, it is in my opinion a no-brainer.
I hope you enjoy the savings as much as I have.