Strategies for Scoring the Best Prime Day Deals

Amazon's Prime Day begins early in the morning at 3 AM on Monday, June 21st this year and you don't want to miss it. Last week, I discussed what deals to watch for on Prime Day – and the savings day's competitor sales. Prime Day lasts between June 21 – 22. Let's discuss the best strategies for scoring top Prime Day Deals.

Make Sure You're a Prime Member

You must be an Amazon Prime member in order to participate in Prime Day. Not only is Amazon Prime an amazing deal year round that I highly recommend investing in, but you can also get a 30-day free trial that you can cancel after the sale ends if you wish to participate but don't want to keep the membership. 

Make sure to get your membership lined up accordingly if you haven't already. Inputting your payment information and address ahead of time and saving it will also secure a speedy check out. 

Be There Early

Obviously, Prime Day is virtual, which means “being there” entails being awake at 3 AM and having a good internet connection.  

Make sure to look at the deals they're teasing ahead of time and be ready right when the sale starts to make your top purchases. Most of the best deals are on Amazon's own products. These products will run out fast and deals will change minute-by-minute based on their stock. Being there early gives you a better shot at scoring those short-lived doorbuster deals that everyone is aiming for. 

Know The Sales

There are three types of sales going on for Prime Day items; Spotlight Deals, Goldbox Deals of the Day, and Lightning Deals. 

Spotlight Deals will likely be in stock longer than any other items, so those are a strong bet.

Goldbox Deals of the Day last for 24 hours before being cycled out for new items. These items can run out quickly, so be ready to jump on them if you see deals you're interested in. 

Lightning Deals are specific, limited, and usually short-lived. They can pop up and only last a few minutes or a couple of hours. These tend to run out the fastest, so watch closely for them and be ready to strike if an item you want is part of a Lightning Deal. 

If you have an Echo smart speaker, Alexa has access to exclusive deals only available by asking. Ask Alexa, “Alexa, what are your deals?” to find out what these exclusive deals are. 

Best Practices 

Make sure you have your browser pulled up and ready with Amazon's website pulled up, or install the app on your smartphone or tablet.

You can also utilize one-click purchases to make buying limited items quicker, which is definitely a strategy to practice with Lightning Deals. 

There is also a waitlist feature for hot items that go out of stock quickly – this is especially helpful for when those shoppers whose carts expire after 15-minutes due to inactivity briefly put an item back in stock. Watch your email and app notifications to see if your waitlist items come back in stock momentarily. 

Make sure to shop competitively! As I mentioned last week, other big box stores are hosting their own competitive sales that will last even longer than Prime Day. Price compare where you can and always be a diligent shopper so you can score the absolute best deals. 

As a reminder, those sales and their active dates are:

Walmart’s Deals for Days: June 20 – 23

Target’s Deal Days: June 20 – 22

Best Buy’s June Sales Event: June 14 – 22