How to find the best Amazon deals on Prime Day

Amazon’s October Prime Day starts in just a few days on October 8 and 9. Whatever you’re looking for, you can find a deal in the category of your choice. And we’re talking everything: books, e-readers, laptops, home appliances, fashion, you name it: Amazon has a deal for you. In fact, just about every Amazon category should have some fantastic price cuts in time for Prime Day.

To prepare yourself for a successful Prime Day, we’ve put together some tips and tricks to keep in mind during the two-day event. Some may seem obvious, while others you may not have thought of before. And let’s say we know our way around an Amazon sale.

To learn more, don’t miss these essential Amazon shopping tips you need to know.

Get a free trial of Amazon Prime

First of all, you need to make sure that you actually have an active Amazon Prime subscription. Without one, you won’t have access to all the exclusive Prime sales happening during the October sales events, so it should be an essential part of your Amazon shopping prep.

Fortunately, you don’t have to be a paid Amazon Prime member and you can actually join the Free Prime Trialas long as your 30 day period overlaps with the event days, which will be the case if you start your trial today.

Prime Day requires an Amazon Prime membership, although you don’t have to be pay member to take advantage of the savings. Start your 30-day Prime free trial now and you can get the best deals without paying for a subscription. Don’t forget to cancel the subscription before it renews.

Details

Start shopping early

Although the official Amazon Prime Day sale dates are October 8 and 9, in reality the savings are already pouring in, as is often the case with these shopping events. There are currently several deals available on Amazonso you don’t have to wait to save, although the discounts can be significant during the official event days.

Check this out: How to hack Amazon Prime Day: shopping advice and deals

04:03

Know your objectives

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the offers during sales like Prime Day, so it’s wise to decide ahead of time which products you want to try and grab on sale. Amazon makes it super easy to add products to your wish list or Save for Later section, making it much easier to check things off your shopping list once the sale starts.

Better yet, if you have Alexa devices you can even be alerted if a product you’ve saved goes on sale during the Prime Big Deal Days sale. We really live in the future.

Be open to alternative choices

Sometimes the price of the product you really want just won’t budge. Instead of staring at the Amazon listing and missing out on other great deals, you might want to keep a few backup choices in mind in case this situation arises. That way, you can still be sure you’re saving money on a product that’s right for you, even if it might not have been your favorite choice.

Think about what makes your top choice the most attractive choice, assess its pros and cons, and see if other products tick some of the same boxes. Chances are there’s an alternative product that can get you 90% of the way and save you a decent amount of money on Prime Day.

Don’t ignore anti-Prime Day sales

This sounds counterintuitive, but some of the best Prime Day deals don’t actually appear on Amazon. Walmart and Target have already launched their own anti-Prime Day sales, and if you’re specifically looking for electronics, gaming, TVs, or home appliances, Best Buy is also running its own anti-Prime Day sale.

Competition is good news for consumers, especially if you’ve been putting off major purchases until the fall sales season.

Check this out: Amazon Prime Day 2024: shopping tips and special offers

04:19

Keep coming back

Amazon deals are constantly changing, especially during events like Prime Day, so you’ll want to check sales regularly throughout the event to make sure you’re giving yourself the best chance to score the best deals.

As with previous events, we expect the first tranche of Prime Day deals to go live at midnight PT (3 a.m. ET) when the event officially kicks off on October 8, with a second batch launching simultaneously on Day 2. of the event. That said, super short lightning deals will pop up and expire over the two days, and Amazon will also do its best to match the great sales on offer at other retailers. There are a lot of moving parts and the prizes rarely stand still for too long during event opening hours.

Let us do the work for you

The CNET Deals team will be hard at work all October to surface the very best deals for our readers, so follow our coverage if you want to separate the signal from the noise during Amazon’s Prime Day sale.

Check out some of our coverage now with our guides to the best Prime Day deals under $100 and the best Prime Day headphone deals.