5 Tips for Amazon Prime Day Shoppers (#4: Shop Somewhere Else)

How to make the most of the online retailer’s two-day summer sale

Beth Braverman,

AARP

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En español

Published July 10, 2024

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Move over, Memorial Day and Labor Day. While those three-day holidays have traditionally offered the most high-profile sales of the summer, the rise of Amazon Prime Day (and competitor sales) over the past decade has made mid-July a contender.

More than 80 percent of consumers told RetailMeNot that they planned to shop Prime Day sales this year, and shoppers expected to spend an average $300 each on the online event.

This year, Prime Day will run July 16-17, and the retailer promises to offer deals on millions of products in dozens of categories, including electronics, clothing and kitchen products. Last year, the first day of Prime Day was the largest shopping day in the company’s history.

“Prime Day is that second big sales event that really competes with Black Friday,” says consumer savings expert Andrea Woroch. “Although you may be a little bit more limited on the types of brands that you’ll find on sale, oftentimes the savings are the same discounts that we would see on Black Friday.”

The deals are exclusive to Amazon members, but if you’re not a member, you can get a free trial membership for 30 days. If you don’t want to keep the membership, be sure to set a calendar alert for yourself to cancel it before that promotional period ends.

Here are five tips for shoppers on how to make the most of the Prime Day sale:

1. Make a shopping list

Given the wide range of deals available, it’s easy to get overwhelmed or to make impulse purchases that can push you over your shopping budget. To be more mindful about shopping during the sale, think about the purchases that you want or need to make before you even log on to the site.

If you’re making a big-ticket purchase, spend some time now doing research to determine which specific model you want to purchase. Woroch says she spends some time ahead of Prime Day looking around her home for broken items that may need replacing and thinking about upcoming events like a wedding, for which she may need both a dress and a gift.

2. Focus on Amazon-branded products

Well-known Amazon-owned brands, such as Kindle e-readers, Ring video doorbells and Alexa devices, tend to see the biggest discounts during Amazon Prime Day. But other Amazon-branded items also go on deep discount during the sale. So it’s a great time to stock up on nonperishable items under the Amazon Basics brand, which includes everything from batteries to bathroom towels.

Woroch suggests looking at items that you purchase regularly to see if they’re on sale. “Last year I bought a year’s worth of mascara and dry shampoo,” she says.

3. Don’t assume you’re getting a deal

Not every item marked down during the Prime Day sale is a great deal. Do some comparison shopping yourself or install a browser extension like Honey or Shoptimate that will do it for you. You can also use the website CamelCamelCamel to see a specific Amazon product’s price history. That can give you a sense of whether you’re really seeing a better-than-usual deal, or if it’s one that comes around often.

4. Shop somewhere else

In the decade since Amazon launched its first Prime Day sale, other retailers have increasingly tried to get in on the action with their own high-profile mid-July sales events. Consumers told RetailMeNot that they expected to spend an additional $221 on other stores during the Prime Day sales.

Prime Day “is not the only enticing shopping situation savvy buyers should know about,” says Bella Gerard, shopping trend adviser at Rakuten. “There are a number of great sales happening right now at major retailers, and some will even continue through the rest of the month.”

Notably, Walmart Deals runs July 8-11 and Target Circle Week is July 7-13. Meanwhile, Nordstrom’s annual anniversary sale runs July 15-Aug. 5, although some card members got early access to sales starting July 9, and Kohl’s is running its Summer Cyber Deals promotion July 8-11.

5. Know the return policy

Most products purchased directly from Amazon are eligible for a return within 30 days. Typically, you have the option to either box up and return the item via UPS, or use Amazon’s box-free option, through which you can leave the return at participating Amazon and Whole Foods stores as well as Kohl’s stores. Keep in mind that some purchases made from third-party sellers using Amazon’s platform may have different policies.

Popular Prime Day Deals in 2023

In 2023, Prime members worldwide purchased hundreds of millions of items during the two-day shopping event in mid-July and another in mid-October, according to Amazon.

Among the most popular purchases:

Fire TV Stick
Laneige Lip Glowy Balm
Apple AirPods
Bissell Little Green Portable Deep Cleaner
Crest 3D Whitestrips
Squishmallows
Barbie Toy Boat Playset
Clean Skin Club Clean Towels
Hula Home Spray Bottle
e.l.f. Cosmetics Brow Lift
Stanley Classic Legendary Camp Mug

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Beth Braverman is a contributing writer who has covered shopping and personal finance for more than a decade. Her work has appeared in Consumer Reports, CNNMoney.com, CNBC.com, and dozens of other outlets.