If you've got your eyes on something on Amazon, it's probably worth waiting until next week to see if you can save any money in the seventh annual Amazon Prime Day.
Despite the name, the sale is actually over two days, and if you're a Prime customer - or even if you're not - it's pretty difficult to miss.
So far, all we really know are the dates - July 12 and 13, next Tuesday and Wednesday - but tipsters, including Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis - have been quick to speculate what deals may be up for grabs and their strategies to get the best bargains. Here are our top six hacks to get ready for the event, with the help of Andrea Knowles, the budgeting expert at vouchers.co.uk :
1. If you're not an Amazon Prime member, sign up now
To buy an Amazon Prime Day deal, you need to be a member. However, if you've not had an Amazon Prime account before, sign up to a free 30-day trial here and you'll be able to get the Prime Day deals. Membership costs £7.99 a month or £79 a year after your free month is over, so be sure to remember to cancel it if you don't want to pay. Students get six months' free Prime and 50% off full membership.
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2. Don't get carried away
Remember, a bargain is only a bargain if you wanted it in the first place. It's a good idea to create a wish list prior to next week, and ask yourself which items are a ‘want’ and which are a ‘need’ and place them in priority order on a piece of paper. Besides each item, you should write down your maximum budget for each product so that you avoid any unnecessary spending.
5. You only need one Prime membership per household
A great perk of a Prime membership is that you can share the benefits within your household, which includes Prime Day shopping. A household is considered to be ‘up to two adults and four children’. To allow your partner to join your account, Google ‘Amazon Household’.
6. Research whether you’re getting a good deal
Before buying anything, make sure to check out the Amazon price tracker website camelcamelcamel. You can see a price history chart which highlights when the product was the cheapest and by how much. Use this chart to uncover whether you’re getting a good deal as sometimes, the product has been cheaper on a non-discounted day and, therefore, may be worth holding off purchasing.
7. Get to know Amazon’s Lighting Deals
Amazon hosts flash sales, otherwise known as Lighting Deals, when products are available at heavily discounted prices for just 30 minutes, or even less if they sell out. To find these deals, you should check out the ‘Today’s Deal’ page but bear in mind that products aren’t kept aside for you when they’re in your basket. You must check out for it to be yours.
8. Want to buy an Amazon product? You're in luck
The best deals on Prime Day and Black Friday are are always those that are Amazon’s own-brand, such as the Amazon Echo, Kindle, and more. So, if you’ve been after one of their products for a while, then now is the time to pounce.
Amazon is always tight-lipped about exactly what's going in to the sale, but Money Saving Expert has looked at previous years' deals to try to predict this year's bargains. The website is predicting up to 50% off these and, based on other years, around 30% of Fitbit fitness trackers. Amazon has started that it will have offers on toys, TVs, electronics, fashion, beauty, kitchen, and home products and MSE is predicting brands likely to be included are GHD, Shark, Philips, Braun, Lego, Samsung and Bose, based on previous year's deals.
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