Amazon often celebrates its version of “Black Friday” with Amazon Prime Day. For the past several years, there have been two chances to save: Once in the summer and once in the fall. This year, the fall event, called Prime Big Deal Days, falls on Oct. 10 and 11, 2023. These deals are for Prime members only. In addition, Target is offering its own competing sales during this time; see our article for all the details.
To get the Amazon deals, you need to sign up for Amazon Prime before you go shopping. But what if you don’t want to pay full price for a Prime membership just to go shopping? You have options!
Get a free trial
If you aren’t a Prime member, don’t despair. You can sign up for a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime and you’ll have access to all the deals.
Get a discounted rate
Are you a student? You can get a free 6-month trial to Prime Student. (That’s around 180 days if you do the math, and since you’re a student you probably already did.) After that, you also pay only half price to keep your monthly subscription.
But wait — before you go sign up for classes to get your discounted Prime membership, you should know there’s another way to get 50% off Amazon Prime. If you participate in a qualifying government assistance program (such as EBT), you can get Amazon Prime for just $6.99 per month. And you can still start with a free trial to make sure it’s going to be worth continuing.
How to prepare for Prime Big Deal Days
Before the sales even start, you can get ready to make the most of the bargains. Here are some key tips:
If you are already an Amazon Prime member, start your shopping list and set up notifications in the app so you’ll know when things go on sale.
Make a note of the prices you would normally pay for the items on your shopping list. Camelcamelcamel.com is a website that tracks Amazon’s prices over time. Use it to recognize a smoking hot deal when you see it… or to identify a meh deal when that comes along.
The Prime Day deals usually begin at midnight. As often as every five minutes, for 48 hours, new deals will become available.
Set up an Amazon gift registry beforehand
Expecting a baby or planning a wedding? Set up your Amazon wedding registry or baby registry right now and give your friends a chance to save on their gifts to you by purchasing them on Prime Day! And read our article about 8 reasons to choose an Amazon wedding registry.
You don’t need a Prime membership to set up a wedding or baby registry at Amazon. However, if your friends or family are Prime members, they may have an opportunity to get some deep discounts on the gifts they were planning to purchase for you.
Best bets for Prime Big Deal Day deals
Although we don’t know all of the deals will be until Big Deal Day happens, they almost always have the deepest discounts on Amazon devices like the Echo and Alexa, FireTV and Fire Tablets, and Kindle E-readers.
But you’ll probably find deals across almost all categories — TVs, smart home, kitchen, grocery, toys, fashion, furniture, appliances, gifts — and even be able to stock up on everyday items. Prime members also get exclusive savings at Whole Foods Market.
Due to the nature of these deals, many will have limited quantities and could sell out fast, so Prime members should come back frequently to view new deals launching throughout the 48-hour event.
Early deals in October 2023
You might actually find the best deal on the items on your wishlist before the official sales begin. Here are some of the highly rated early deals that are available now. For some early deals, once they sell out, they’re gone, so if it’s something you really want, don’t wait.
- A fast wireless charger for Apple electronics products.
- An electric space heater with remote and timer.
- A cordless leaf blower.
Gift card with credit card approval
If you are looking for a new credit card, last year there was an instant $50 Amazon gift card upon approval for the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa. Think about it though: if they can afford to give that much to everyone who gets approved, how much do they plan on earning from you? So proceed wisely – and don’t do it unless you were planning to get a new card anyway.
Shopping smart on Prime Day
My recommendation for getting these free credits for Amazon Prime Day is to buy something you were planning to buy anyway, and don’t get anything just because it’s on sale, because that’s not cheap! However, you could really save some money if you’re sharp and shop carefully.
Shop competitors’ sales
Shh! You didn’t hear this from me … but other stores often have sales to compete with Prime Day. We don’t know for sure yet which ones they are yet, but usually the big box stores — the same ones with fabulous Black Friday deals — will compete for your business on those days. We already know that Target has announced its early holiday sales, but be sure to check other big box retailers to see how their deals compare.
Why else should I get Amazon Prime?
Amazon Prime members receive many more benefits, including unlimited access to award-winning movies and TV episodes with Prime Video, ad-free listening of 2 million songs plus thousands of stations and playlists with Amazon Music, unlimited access to more than 1,000 books and magazines with Prime Reading, free in-game content and games with Prime Gaming and more.
Year-round Prime members can also get deep discounts on select best-selling foods at Whole Foods Market plus an additional 10% off hundreds of sale items.
In addition to more than 10 million items eligible for FREE One-Day Delivery coast to coast, Prime members in thousands of cities and towns across 47 major metropolitan areas have access to millions of items with FREE Same-Day Delivery.
Plus, you have the option to pick up and return Amazon packages for free through Amazon Hub, a contactless, click and collect service at no additional cost.
Prime members also have access to free and fast grocery delivery from Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market in more than 2,000 cities and towns.
