Are you excited for Amazon Prime Day?
The original Amazon Prime Day kicked off on July 15, 2015, as a 24-hour sale. Each subsequent year through 2019, Prime Day occurred in the second week of July and the sale grew from 24 to 48 hours.
Then the Pandemic hit in 2020, flipping retail on its head in myriad ways. Prime Day 2020 was postponed until October and occurred over 48 hours, serving as an unofficial start to the holiday shopping season that year.
These days, there are two annual Prime Day sales; one in early summer and one in late fall, and the dates are often a mystery until a couple of weeks before.
With this summer’s Prime Day just a few days away, we wanted to share some savings tips for shopping this sale.
The Amazon Prime Membership
Prime Day sales are for Amazon Prime members only. If you are not a member, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial, after which you pay $14.99 per month or $139 for the year.
If you don’t intend to continue after the trial, remember to cancel within that 30-day window. And if you’ve done a free trial before, don’t worry – you’re eligible for a free Amazon Prime trial every 12 months!
The membership includes access to Prime sales, Amazon Video, Amazon Music, one free Kindle book per month, exclusive Amazon discounts, a free Grubhub+ membership ($120 value), and unlimited fast shipping.
18-24 year-olds can try Prime for Young Adults with a six-month $0 trial at amazon.com/youngadult, then pay a discounted rate of $7.49 per month or $69 for the year.
If you are on public assistance and can provide an EBT or Medicaid card, you can get Amazon Prime for $6.99 per month.
What will be on sale
During the Prime Day sale, millions of items across more than 35 categories will be on sale.
The deepest discounts are typically on brands Amazon owns, like Amazon Basics, Amazon Essentials, Kindle, Ring, Fire, etc.
We also see discounts on electronics, small tech, like headphones and smartwatches, fashion & accessories, beauty products, back-to-school supplies, and small home appliances, like air fryers and robotic vacuums.
If you don’t have the budget for discretionary spending, you’ll also find sales on basics for the home and groceries.
Regular shopper? Consider an Amazon credit card
If you are a frequent Amazon shopper, consider applying for the Amazon Prime Visa or the Prime Store Card. Both cards have no annual fee, and you can earn 5+ percent on Amazon and Whole Foods all-year-round. During the Prime Day sale, you can earn 10+ percent on Exclusive Deals and 7 percent on eligible Amazon.com purchases if you choose no-rush shipping.
The Amazon Store Card is a “closed loop” card, meaning that it’s for use only on Amazon.
The Amazon Prime Visa is an “open loop” card, meaning that you can use it anywhere and earn 1-2 percent that you can redeem on Amazon. From June 11-July 9, you can receive a $200 gift card upon approval!
There are also benefits for foreign travel, like no transaction fees and travel insurance. Like many store cards, these cards have a fairly high APR, so ideally, you should only buy what you can pay off each month.
Compare Prices & Save Even More
Heads up. Amazon Prime Day is not the only game in town. There are competitive sale events from retailers, like Best Buy, Walmart, and Target, so it’s important to compare prices.
You can do this by using a tool, like Yahoo Shopping or Google Shopping.
Amazon also offers a “Price History” feature to see up to a year or pricing intel. This feature is available on product detail pages or you can also ask Alexa.
Another way to save on Amazon is with coupons. Sometimes coupons are right there on the product page, but sometimes, they are more of a secret. So you don’t miss out, visit DealSeek.com for verified, hidden coupon codes with the highest-value discounts.
Tips for Deal Spotting on Amazon
USE ALEXA. With the “Alexa for Shopping” feature on Amazon.com and the Amazon app, you can ask Alexa (or click the + icon) to set up deal and price alerts. You can also request a personalized Prime Day guide based on how you’ve shopped on Amazon.
USE LISTS. Once you have added items to an Amazon List, you can peruse the List for deals, and/or ask Alexa to notify you if it’s going on sale (you can also ask Alexa to add an item to a List).
AS YOU SHOP: When you add something to your cart, you’ll see “Deals on items viewed in the last month,” which is an easy way to see sales for items of interest.
FINDING TOP DEALS. Click “Today’s Deals” on the site, or “Deals & Savings” in the app for deal intel during the Prime Day event. Some items will be on sale before Prime Day, so visiting this page before the sale could be a good move. Scroll for Amazon’s “Lightning Deals,” which come and go quickly.
SAVE FOR LATER. Another smart thing to do is add things you want to your cart before Prime Day and click “Save for Later.” That way, on Prime Day, you can easily view all those items in one place and see if they are on sale.
What kind of extras can we expect?
EARLY DEALS. Some deals will be available before Prime Day. Head over to Amazon.com or the app for early savings.
QUALIFY TO WIN FREE GROCERIES. Leading up to Prime Day, if you spend $15+ on a qualifying grocery order on Amazon.com, you could win free groceries for a year.
QUALIFY TO WIN A $1,000 GIFT CARD. 100 people who set a deal alert with Alexa will win a $1000 gift card prior to Prime Day. Or, visit the Alexa Sweepstakes page to enter for free.
$5 PIZZA, 5X. Between June 15 – 26, Prime members can get a cheese or classic large pepperoni pizza for $5. Order from the Little Ceasars page on Amazon. This perk can be used up to 5 times on different days.
SEE SPIDER MAN EARLY. Prime members can see Spider-Man: Brand New Day on July 29 in select theaters—two days ahead of its wide release. Sign up for the early screening ticket alerts on Amazon.
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