There are multiple ways to purchase items in the Amazon mobile app: you can type the name of the product in the search box or you can scan the bar code. Now there’s another neat feature: snap a picture of a product using your iPhone’s camera (GeekWire)! How is this possible? I’m so glad you asked! Imaging Science is a  field concerned with analysis of images (ironically, I almost pursed a Masters degree in this field back in my Software Engineering days at Xerox).

You may think this feature is only valuable if you make purchases on Amazon but not so fast! It can be just as useful for price checks! If you’re in Best Buy looking for an iPhone charger, you can take a picture of it using Amazon Flow, see what the same product sells for on Amazon and invoke Best Buy’s Low Price Guarantee!

At the time of purchase, we will match the current pre-tax price for new, identical, immediately available products from a local retail competitor’s store or shipped from and sold by a designated major online retailers: Amazon.com, Apple.com, Bhphotovideo.com, Crutchfield.com, Dell.com, Frys.com, hhgregg.com, HP.com, HomeDepot.com, Lowes.com, Newegg.com, OfficeDepot.com, OfficeMax.com, Rakuten.com Shopping, Sears.com, Staples.com, Target.com, TigerDirect.com and Walmart.com. We will match prices between our stores and BestBuy.com®. We will also match prices post purchase if we lower our price within 15 days of your purchase.

That means upon request, you can purchase that same iPhone charger from Best Buy at Amazon’s price. Remember, they are not automatically adjusting their price, you have to ASK for the price match. So far, the jury is still out on whether or not Best Buy will modify their policy around this.