Some big changes are happening to Amazon Prime Day this year.
The fifth annual Prime Day will start at midnight (PT) on Monday, July 15, and will run for 48 hours – the longest in its history. This will also be the first time that free one-day shipping will be available to members without a minimum purchase amount, CNN Business reports.[1]
The hype may be the reason why more U.S. Prime members say they’re hitting up Amazon this year than before.
Seventy-six percent are planning to shop, up 13 percent from last year, says a study from e-Commerce analytics company Profitero.[2]
Last year Amazon shattered records, selling 100 million products – growing sales by more than 60 percent, according to CNBC.[3] Amazon Prime users jumped in on deals to the point where the website crashed for an hour.
Before going too far into the changes of the sale, here’s a breakdown of what it is and how it started…
What is Amazon Prime Day?
Every July, the e-commerce giant holds a day where it drastically cuts prices on products. The discounts are so significant, some refer to it as Black Friday in July.[4]
Amazon originally started the summer sale in 2015 as a one-day event to celebrate its 20-year anniversary.[5]
Here’s a short video breaking down all you need to know about Amazon Prime Day…
Here’s what to know about Amazon Prime Day this year. If you don’t love the hustle and bustle of Black Friday, then you should know that in 2018, 76 percent of Prime Day deals beat Black Friday prices. And it’s rumored that deals on some of the same items will be even lower in 2019.
For Prime members, the sales begin at midnight on Monday, July 15. After that, deals flood in for a full 48 hours. If you’re not a Prime member you can get a free 30-day trial to take advantage of the sales. That is, if you’ve never had a trial before.
To take full advantage of the sales you need to do five things…
- Create or update your Amazon wish list with things that you need. With so many sales it’s easy to miss something you would end up ordering soon anyway. If an item is on your Amazon wish list, you’ll get an alert if it shows up during a Prime Day sale.
- Watch Amazon’s Prime Day Hub online. It’s a one-stop-shop with updates throughout the sale.
- Through Alexa’s voice shopping, you get access to exclusive deals only for voice shoppers. Some lucky voice shoppers will also get a two-hour head start on the other sales.
- Make sure you’re actually getting a deal with third-party apps to check the item’s price history. CamelCamelCamel is a good service to use.
- Prime Day is so big other brands can’t help but get in on the action. Whole Foods, Best Buy, and Newegg are a few places you can expect to find deals the same week.
Amazon Prime Day is a great way to save but it’s also an easy way to overspend. Debt.com tells you how to spot the deals without blowing your budget.
How does Amazon Prime Day work?
You need a Prime membership. You can get a free trial if you want in on the discounts, but don’t have one. Being in the club opens you up to exclusive deals. But the deal shopping doesn’t work the same as going to a brick and mortar store.
There’s no wandering the aisles in search of sales with time to mull over making a purchase.
Some promotions will run every six hours, media outlets have reported.[6] That’s compared to last year when batches of deals were released in three-hour increments.
Best deals to look out for on Amazon Prime Day 2019
Deals are going to be updating quickly. Although no one knows what deals will be until Prime Day, we can make predictions based on what items have sold for in the past.
Here are 10 of the best predictions we’ve compiled through our research scouring the web for last year’s best Prime Day and Black Friday prices compared to what they normally cost…
Is Amazon Prime worth it?
Amazon Prime has its perks — like free two-day shipping — and its drawbacks. It costs $119 a year for an account, but you can get your money’s worth with these tips.
But be careful, Amazon knew what it was doing here. Studies show that once you’re a member, your spending increases. So the first question to ask yourself: “Do I shop enough — and fork out enough in shipping — that spending $119 will save me money?”
From binging free movies and TV shows to buying your groceries, here are all the services to take advantage of with Amazon Prime.
1. Amazon coupons and discounts
Much like your local grocery store, Amazon has screens full of coupons to click — a buck off paper towels, a quarter off dish-washing soap. Coupons add up.
Keep in mind: Amazon’s coupons might not always make products cheaper than what you can get in the store down the street. But consider this: If you order it online, you won’t have to walk into the store, and if you don’t walk into the store, all of those impulse buys won’t land in your cart. Just stick to your shopping list while online.
2. Subscribe to save on essentials
Get non-perishables, toiletries, and cleaning supplies delivered to your door. Gather at least five of these items and put them on a subscriber list that arrives at the same address at least once a month, and Amazon gives you a 15 percent discount. Prime members also save 20 percent on diapers and baby food on those subscriber lists.
3. Take advantage of lightning deals
Prime Day is like Black Friday for Prime members. It comes around once a year, but the company runs “lightning deals” year-round when a certain item goes on sale for a limited time until time’s up or they run out of inventory. Some discounts are north of 50 percent.
Keep in mind: You can find these on the Today’s Deals page, aka The Gold Box. Sign up for a daily deals email, and when you see something you want, you can have Amazon send alerts to your phone or desktop.
4. Use CamelCamelCamel
Not sure if what you’re seeing is a deal? Check out the camelcamelcamel website to track product price history — not just on Amazon, but eBay and everywhere else.
Keep in mind: Create a free account on camelcamelcamel and tell them the item you want to buy. They’ll send you an email or Tweet when the price drops.
5. Request free Prime extensions
If your purchase lands on your doorstep after the guaranteed delivery date, you can ask for a one-month free extension to your Prime membership. Don’t have a membership? Get your shipping fee refunded.
Keep in mind: You can request a Prime extension up to 12 times a year.
6. Get free shipping without a Prime membership
Some items will ship for free with a minimum $25 purchase and a bit of patience — typically 5-8 business days.
Keep in mind: You can use a pre-order item to qualify for the minimum purchase.
7. Buy used or refurbished
In Amazon’s world, these are items from Amazon Warehouse. Or if you’re eyeballing electronics it’s Amazon Renewed. Typically, if you’re searching for something on Amazon, these cheaper alternatives pop up somewhere. But if you don’t see them, seek them out.
8. Prime movies, music, and books
A Prime membership opens the door to buying a monthly selection of Kindle books for up to 80 percent off — under $3. You can also tap Kindle Unlimited for $9.99 a month and get access to a million electronic books, magazines, and audiobooks.
The Prime membership also gives you a wide range of free movies, TV shows, and music with Amazon Video and Amazon Music.
Keep in mind: Many public libraries offer their membership movies music and eBooks for free. Check your library to compare selections.
9. Part-time Prime
Maybe you don’t need Prime year-round, but that free shipping could come in handy when the holidays roll around, or in a month filled with birthdays and anniversaries. Consider paying by the month and only for the months when you shop a lot.
Monthly Prime members pay $12.99 in the U.S. So, it’s still a deal if you’re in for only a month or two, but if you stick with it all year it’ll add up to nearly $156 a year.
Prime for college students is $6.49 a month, and they can renew at $59 per year.
Keep in mind: If you fail to cancel, you could wind up paying a lot more for what you could’ve gotten for $119.
10. Discounted Prime
If your income is so low you qualify for federal assistance, you also qualify for a discounted Prime membership.[11] If you’re a college student, you qualify for free service for six months. Amazon also launches college graduates into the world for the first several months at a discount.
Keep in mind: The student membership doesn’t get free streaming until after the six-month trial.
11. Share the Prime
The rules of what’s called Amazon Household have gotten tighter — the days of flying on your dad’s Prime membership even though you’re grown and live in another city is no longer an option. But Prime will cover two adults in one home and up to four teens and four children under 13 as long as you agree to share payment methods.
Keep in mind: The sharing includes free deliveries, 2 percent rewards on Prime Reload (more about that further down), and streaming access with parental controls in play.
12. The Amazon credit card
If you’ve shopped at all on Amazon, you’ll have seen the pitch for Amazon Visa. You get $70 for signing up and 5 percent back on all Amazon purchases.
Keep in mind: How much shopping on Amazon do you really do? Some credit cards offer 1 percent back on everything, others 5 percent back on all travel. Only you know how you spend. Also, rewards won’t offset the interest if you don’t pay off the card every month.
13. Prime Reload
If you have a Prime membership and an Amazon gift card, you get 2 percent rewards every time you reload the gift card.
Keep in mind: You have to give them a debit card linked to your bank to get the points. You can reload with your Amazon Visa, but then you don’t get the 2 percent for reloading, just the 5 percent you’re spending.
Keep an eye out for more deals leading up to the epic, 2-day event!
