Get # Prime Time to Shop: Your Ultimate Guide to Navigating PRIME DAY Deals

It’s hard to describe how vast Amazon’s sales extravaganza known as PRIME DAY has become. The tide of ‘deals’ cuts across thousands of products and hundreds of categories. This year’s PRIME DAY was set for 14 October through 15 October. And this is your moment to arm yourself with best practices to make it through the deluge.

You must resist the urge to buy everything that takes your fancy, but with a touch of deliberation and smarts, you can ride the PRIME DAY tiger to a good end. Here’s how to calmly figure out which deals are the pick of the current day’s Amazonian crop.

PRIME Deals to Look Out For

PRIME Picks in Tech: Apple and Amazon Gadgets

If you’re a tech geek, there’s a lot to love about PRIME DAY. Historically, the pricing on Apple products is slashed, so if there’s an iPhone or MacBook you want to buy, PRIME DAY can be a can’t-miss event. Amazon products, too, are notorious for being cheapest at this time of year, and usually provide dramatic price cuts – for Echo devices, Kindles, and more.

PRIME Home Essentials

Beyond devices, PRIME DAY is an excellent time to build up your stockpile by buying everyday items at a discount. Keep watch when opportunities arise to purchase, at a fraction of their regular cost, everything from laundry detergent to paper towels.

PRIME Pet Supplies

Pet owners, rejoice! It’s PRIME DAY! Now is the time to splurge on your pets without feeling guilty or remorseful. The Amazon Basics brand – and others – slashes prices on food, toys and grooming products. In other words, it’s a prime time to spoil your pooch.

PRIME Opportunity for Smartwatches and TVs

And if you’re in the market for a wearable piece of tech – perhaps a smartwatch, or a brand-new television set – PRIME DAY will have you covered: expect big discounts on Apple Watches, Fitbit smartwatches and Garmin’s Forerunner line. Likewise, Fire TVs tend to be discounted heavily, which could be a great opportunity to upgrade your home entertainment system.

PRIME DAY Caveats: What to Avoid

Beware of Third-party Sellers

Not all deals are created equal, and some of Amazon’s best deals come from third-party sellers. To keep yourself from being duped by a knock-off, make sure to only purchase items that say ‘sold and shipped by Amazon’.

Think Twice About Ring

If you’re concerned about your privacy and security, then Ring devices might not be products you choose to install at your front door. Investigate some of their competitors and you might find a very similar deal – with none of the risks.

Avoid Impulse Buys

PRIME DAY can be the breeding ground of many impulse purchases. Sneak out of the madness and buy things only because they’re essential, or items you really need. That way, PRIME DAY will be far more useful and much less remorseful.

PRIME DAY Strategies: Making the Most of It

PRIME DAY requires a little preparation – here are some prime strategies to help you win:

• Make a Wishlist: the more specific you can be about what you want to buy before the deals start rolling in, the easier it is to keep your cool and stay focused in the midst of all those deals.
• Make sure it’s properly priced – Just because it’s $60 now doesn’t mean that this, or the exact same sweater, isn’t $50 at a different shop. Be sure to double-check the price to make sure you’re getting the best deal.
• Be Early (or Late): Certain deals are first-come, first-served, and if you wait too late you will miss out. Also, items that haven’t sold might get discounted even more if the event is winding down and the prices will likely be lowered to make room for inventory.

PRIME Insight: Understanding PRIME DAY

At its heart, PRIME DAY is not a sale at all but an annual exercise in promoting membership to Amazon Prime and increasing sales of Amazon inventory. As events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday have shifted more and more shopping to online marketplaces, PRIME DAY, for better or worse, offers savvy Amazon shoppers a chance to replenish their own Prime membership while saving on both small and large purchases.

Prime is Amazon’s premium, paid subscription service that gives members access to services and benefits such as free two-day shipping, streaming music and video, and much more. PRIME DAY (no holidays are off-limits) is an event for Prime members only, and the deals available cover a huge variety of product categories. It shows how Amazon has turned its marketplace into an annual shopping holiday to keep its members engaged.

But here’s to hoping this guide helped you prepare for PRIME DAY, and future sales too. Because the PRIME way to shop is to be cautious, compare, and consider. With a little bit of that uneasiness always on hand, you’ll stand a better chance of taking advantage of the sales without falling victi... 【Cut due to character limit】