AMAZON has announced that Amazon Prime Day will go ahead this year after delays due to coronavirus.
The annual bumper sale is scheduled to take place from October 13 – 14, but how can you make sure you get the best deal?
2
The tech giant will be slashing prices on a million different products during the event, so shoppers can get a bargain in the run up to Christmas.
Household brands Brands taking part in the sale include Philips, Toshiba, Nescafé, Lego, Nintendo, Shark, Samsung, Under Armour, Sony and Le Creuset.
But as with all sales, it’s really important to make sure that you’re actually getting a bargain price.
Here’s our top tips for making the most of Amazon Prime Day and getting great value for money on your purchases.
Research in advance
If there’s something you know you’ve got your eye, make sure you prepare in advance of the deal.
Check online to see who is selling the item and how much for – you might find that the Prime Day sales aren’t as good as you like.
Websites like PriceSpy, PriceHistory and CamelCamelCamel will give you historical data on prices so you can see how much you should pay.
You can also set up price alerts to let you know when the cost of an item drops.
2
Be prepared to walk away
If the item you want isn’t a great price, be prepared to walk away.
It may be that you can find the item cheaper elsewhere, or that it’s the wrong time of year to pick up a bargain.
For instance, research from Idealo found that the cheapest time to get the iPhone XR from Amazon last year was July, the latest PES video game was in August and for Samsung Fridge Freezers it was June.
Equally, the same data showed that Amazon was only the cheapest retailer for phones 8% of the time, for fridges 1% of the time and for prams 19% of the time.
If your research shows that you aren’t getting a bargain then walk away. There’s no point spending in the sale if you’re paying more than you need to.
Search online before you buy
Even if your research shows you are getting a good price, do a quick search online to see if anyone can beat it.
You might find that a competitor actually has a better sale price at the time.
It should only take you five minutes, but you’ll be safe in the knowledge you’ll have the best deal on the day.
Check you are buying the real deal
Use FakeSpot to check whether the item is genuine or not.
The site scans the reviews to see if they’re “reliable” or not so you can decide whether you trust the seller.
Look at reviews to help decide if a product is worth it
It’s also worth checking Amazon’s reviews to see whether people like the product.
You can see the star rating and also read some of the best and worst reviews for yourself before you buy.
But be aware, consumer rights website Which? has carried out several investigations highlighting the prevalence of fake reviews on Amazon.
This means that while reviews can be a useful indicator, you need to be wary when deciding whether to trust them.
How to spot genuine reviews
Which? shares its top tips to help you avoid getting stung:
- Read the comments: Do they seem genuine? Does the language seem natural? Are specific details about the product mentioned?
- Check the dates: If a large number of reviews were posted at the same time, this can be a red flag.
- Look at the reviewer: See what else they have bought – do these seem like plausible purchases, or could they be being paid or incentivised to review products?
Consider an Amazon Prime trial
If you don’t have Amazon Prime already you can sign up for a month long trial and still take advantage of the sale day.
You’ll even get access to the lightning flash sales.
The service generally costs £79 per year or £7.99 a month. It’s cheaper to buy annually but you’ll have to pay in one go.
As an Amazon Prime member, you get free deliveries, access to the video, photo, music services and also Kindle books.
If you’re a regular Amazon user, it might be worth buying for the free delivery alone, but you want to make sure you’re getting good value.
If you do sign up for a trial but don’t want to keep the service – set a reminder to cancel within 30 days or you’ll have to pay for the year.
Claim your £10 voucher
To support local businesses, Amazon is offering £10 Amazon Prime day credit to any users who spend £10 or more with an independent seller.
To get the voucher you need to spend the £10 between now and October 12. You’ll then get your credit ready for the sales.
Check for sales in the run up to the event
Even though the sale doesn’t start until October 13, Amazon has launched some deals early to kick start the event.
Some of the deals we’ve seen so far include:
Keep checking back daily to see what new deals are being launched.
You can view all of the early deals here.
Shop now to save time
Put any items you want in your basket ahead of Black Friday so that when the deals drop on October 13, all you’ll have to do is pay.#
Make sure you go through your basket with a fine toothcomb before you check out though, as not everything will be included in the sale.
You want to make sure you get the best possible deals, so if something hasn’t dropped in price you might want to wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday to see if it does.
See if you’re eligible for any cashback
Cashback websites allow you to make money as you shop.
At the moment TopCashback is offering 2.5% cashback on Amazon products such as Kindle Readers, Kindle Tablets and Fire Sticks.
Quidco is offering up to 2.42% on selected Amazon devices.
That means you could get some decent chunks of money back on top of any savings.
For instance a Kindle Paperwhite is currently listed as costing £199.99 – with the TopCashback deal you would get £5 back in cashback.
Of course, if prices drop in the sale you’ll get less of your money back, but it’s still worth checking before you buy.
If you’ve got a cashback credit card, it might be worth paying on that to take advantage of any cashback.
But make sure you can afford to pay it off or you’ll spend more in interest than you make in cashback.
