In the same vein as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Amazon.com will be celebrating Prime Day on Tuesday, July 11 (7/11 -- get it?), offering prime deals on hundreds of thousands of products.
It's Amazon's third year in a row to hold their big online Prime Day sale, and it's only available to Amazon Prime members. But signing up for a free 30-day Amazon Prime trial is simple enough (and you can always cancel it before the trial expires, without penalties). This is how Prime Day works. Beginning Monday, July 10, at 7 p.m. (MST) and lasting through Tuesday, July 11, into the wee hours of July 12, online shoppers can peruse advertised deals on all kinds of items at Amazon.com. In fact, the website states that "new deals start as often as every 5 minutes for 30 hours straight," and many will sell out quickly, so you'll want to stay handy and plugged in.We want Prime Day to be one of the world’s best days to shop, with awesome prices on everything you’re into," the website says. "We’re bringing you hundreds of thousands of deals ... and special offers across everything included with Prime — from music and video to reading and voice shopping."From technology to pet items, deals will be easily categorized by theme. And, get this: if there's a specific product you're hoping will be discounted, Amazon has made it easy to make a wish list in advance, and you'll receive a notification if/when that item becomes a Prime Day deal. And, if you have the Amazon mobile app on your smartphone, you can see deals up to 24 hours before they go live; when you're interested in one, simply select "watch this deal" to be notified when the sale starts.
Though no actual deals have been released as of yet, Forbes has put together a helpful list of items expected to be included in the extreme discounting, as well as the projected price (based on past years) and a comparison to Black Friday prices, for reference. And they offer some great advice:
Avoid Gimmicky Sales -- Be sure to only consider items you actually need or desire. Amazon is notorious for impulse buys so make a point to avoid the rolls of toilet paper and giant gummy bears that prompted the #primedayfail hashtag Consider Competitor Deals -- With Amazon's growth over the last two Prime Days, expect competitor deals from the likes of Walmart, Best Buy and eBay to be better than ever."Esquire also seems to have some inside scoop on the expected deals. I can personally attest to the fact that it's important to do your research and not get sucked into the impulse buying on Amazon Prime! Last year on Prime Day I scored this Instant Pot pressure cooker, regularly priced at $99.95, for $69.99. It sounded like a great idea at the time (I got caught up in all the excitement), and it was indeed a really good deal. But do you know where it is today? On a shelf in the garage. If I'd researched in advance and understood how much work the product was going to be, I probably wouldn't have spent the money.
Either way, be ready for deals of epic proportions! Get your Prime membership in place (if it's not already), and set yourself up for online shopping success. You might just snag the deal of a lifetime.
Have you gotten a great deal on Prime Day before? We'd love to hear about it in the comments!
