It’s almost time for everyone’s mid year online bargain extravaganza – Amazon Prime Day. This year Amazon Prime Day is actually Amazon Prime Day-s: July 15 & 16. There are two days of deals and two days of special offers for those who have an Amazon Prime Membership. There are a lot of details to wade through, but I’m here to help. Here’s what you need to know PLUS the deals I have my eye on this year.
1. It’s Not Just Amazon
Once again this year, other retailers will be vying for your dollars while Amazon does its thing. So if you’re not a Prime member (more on that in a minute), it doesn’t mean you might not benefit. Be sure to check out the following retailers for their own bargains:
- Target Deal Days run on July 15th and 16th, too. You won’t need a special membership, just the ability to shop online to save. And you pick up those bargains on the day you shop thanks to Shipt, Drive Up, and Order Pick Up. You’ll need to do your shopping through Target.com or the Target App though. Most offers won’t be available in the physical stores.
- eBay’s Crash Sale takes a crack at Amazon’s inability to keep up with traffic last year when everything went to the dogs and the site went bonkers last year. The actual Crash Sale takes place on July 15, but you can find the special deals eBay is beginning on July 1 here.
- Walmart is having a three day event July 14th – 16th which will definitely feature deals on electronics, video games, household goods, and more.
- Kohl’s is running special Doorbusters on July 14th, too!
If you have a favorite online shopping site, odds are good they’re running sales this week.
2. You Need Amazon Prime for the Deals
So don’t read me wrong. You don’t need Amazon Prime to survive. However, if you want to have access to the Amazon Prime Day deals, you do need a Prime Membership. Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial
3. Is a Prime Membership Worth It?
This is certainly a household by household determination that depends heavily upon your expenses and budget. But, Amazon Prime has yearly increased the services offered to you. With Prime you can now:
- Take advantage of FREE 2 Day Shipping and sometimes even 1 day shipping.
- Amazon Prime Now: Free 2 hour delivery in specific geographic areas (includes Indianapolis)
- Access Prime Instant Video – a service similar to Netflix that grants access to thousands of movies and TV shows
- Listen to thousands of songs and albums for free through Prime Music, a streaming option similar to Pandora and Spotify.
- Store Your Photos for free. You can store an unlimited number of photos as a part of your membership.
- Borrow one of over 800,000 books for FREE per month thanks to the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. You don’t have to have a Kindle to access one, just any device with the FREE Kindle App. (FYI Slaying the Debt Dragon is is in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library).
- Amazon Family: 20% off diaper subscriptions and 15% off eligible baby registry items
- Prime Wardrobe gives you the ability to try before you buy on thousands of clothing items.
Coming in at $119 per year, it really might be worth the cost for your family. For instance if you cancel cable and or Netflix, the expense works out to be roughly $9.92/month which is much more affordable than cable and around $3.07 less than the cheapest Netflix option at $12.99/month. Adding in the extra benefits, it just makes sense. The same goes for using Prime Music over Spotify ($10 per month) or Pandora ($4.99 per month). The unlimited photo storage is yet another one of those benefits most people don’t take advantage of and might be paying for through Dropbox or another Cloud storage program.
3. Is a FREE Trial Really Free?
I am the Queen of Free; however, I am ALWAYS skeptical of any sort of FREE trial. Oftentimes, you end up paying a pretty penny for something that wasn’t worth it after all. That being said, you may qualify for a 30 Day Free Trial of Amazon Prime. If you’re interested in shopping on Prime Day at all, you need to go ahead and sign up for that right now if you can. In 30 days, you don’t have to continue your membership; but you will need to manage your account so that it doesn’t automatically charge you when the trial period is over. You can even have it set a notification to send you an e-mail right before the membership is about to expire (that includes folks who pay for their membership because I just did that!) so you can alter the settings later.
Are you a college student or know one? You can get a free six month Amazon Student account to get the deals, too. Join Prime Student FREE Two-Day Shipping for College Students.
4. Where are the Deals?
You can already see some of the deals listed when using the Amazon App but not their specific prices yet. So if you’re in the market for specific products, you can browse through the Amazon Prime Day Page and mark deals you’d like to mark. Just be careful you don’t fall down the rabbit hole. In the past, Amazon has made the deepest discounts on their own products like Fire Tablets and Echo. We won’t see those specific prices until the day begins though. See all Amazon Device Deals herehere.
You’ll also want to follow Amazon on Facebook and Twitter for more deals. It wouldn’t hurt to check out the #PrimeDay hashtag either. The deals begin at 12 AM on Monday July 15th and run until 11:59 PM on Tuesday July 16th.
Right now, I see a humdinger of a deal on a 43″ Toshiba 4K Smart TV for only $179. We’re likely to see many more TV deals, too. And I ALWAYS love the Amazon Unlimited Music membership which you can score for the first time for $0.99/month for four months. A few other deals I’m excited about:
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- Ring Video Doorbell Pro with a FREE Amazon Echo Dot $169 (price only available on Prime Days)
- Fire TV Recast $129.99
- 30% Off Back to College Items
- 65% Off New and Poplar Movies
- $5 eBook Credit when you spend $20 in eBooks
- Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote, streaming media player (Includes $45 Sling TV credit) $14.99
- Echo Dot (3rd Gen) – Smart speaker with Alexa – Charcoal $22
- Apple Watches and iPads Up To 40% Off
- Amazing Toy Deals as Low as $10
- Men’s & Women’s Clothes 50% Off (I love the 2 for $12.95 Women’s Ts)
- Adidas 30% Off
5. Use Amazon Assistant
Looking for deals on specific products? Consider downloading the Amazon Assistant tool bar. You’ll be able to set up shortcuts and monitor prices on your favorite items.
6. Download the Amazon App
You don’t have to stay planted at your desk all day to get great offers. Consider downloading the Amazon App to save money on the go. It will be one of the very best ways to monitor deals right from your own smart phone.
7. Don’t Forget Prime Now
Amazon’s Prime Now service will also be participating in all of the great fun. You can search for deals that will be delivered within an hour’s time.
I’ll do my best to share some of my favorites in The Queen of Free’s Favorite Bargains, too. But this year we’ll be traveling so it might be a little more tricky for me to be near my computer on the 15th and 16th.
Our new book Your Money, Your Marriage is now available! Be sure to check out videos on managing money together on Facebook.
My book is now available: Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After. You can also check out The Debt Free Devotional
This post contains an affiliate link. That means when you get a great deal, learn about a way to save, or maybe even something for free, I may end up making a small commission. All prices are subject to change.
