Amazon Prime Day Hacks Every Savvy Shopper Should Know

Missing out on a deal doesn’t necessarily mean game over: there’s still a way to stay in the loop. By hitting “Join Waitlist,” you’ll be notified and in line to swoop in should the customer ahead of you have their transaction go south. Maybe they don’t pay for the item, or they simply change their mind about what they want. It’s easily done in the frantic Prime Day atmosphere!

If you don’t know what Lightning Deals are, you’ll soon get the idea. These limited-time offers can last for as little as 15 minutes or up to a few hours. And they’re limited to one for each customer. A great way to get shoppers clicking quickly, Lightning Deals require customers to be quick on the draw but steady of mind! Head to the Prime Day page to track them down.

It may sound obvious, but because Amazon sells a whole range of brands, it’s easy to forget about their own products. On Amazon Prime Day, it’s a surefire way of finding some great deals. Because it makes so many items, from Kindles to clothing, you have a lot to choose from.

The temptation with any product on sale is to go with brand new. You probably buy used a lot anyway, though, so it makes sense to take maximum advantage of low prices for untouched merchandise when the big sales roll around. Still, that doesn’t mean you can’t make additional savings by going with some refurbished hardware or general pre-loved goodies.

There’s one detail you probably overlook when it comes to hunting for bargains. What do we mean? The color. Often, brands will lower the price for colors that are less popular. If you really can’t handle the idea of a lime-green suitcase, then fair enough. But if you don’t mind it clashing with your wardrobe, then these items can come in a bit cheaper.

The Amazon app is a one-stop shop for all your bargain-hunting needs. You can compare and contrast prices and be kept up to speed with desirable deals. And the app creates shortcuts to everything for you from the comfort of your chair. Alternatively, if you’d rather swerve bleeping handheld devices and use your desktop, there’s the Amazon Assistant also.

We rely on virtual assistants for a lot of things these days, from ordering takeout to settling arguments about geography — well that’s what happens this end, anyhow. To save wear and tear on your poor, tired fingers, though, you can talk to Alexa about deals. Alexa then drops stuff in the basket for you, without all that frantic typing and swiping. What a time to be alive!

You might be forgiven for having your mind well and truly blown by the myriad products on offer, Prime Day-related or otherwise. But how do you know where the Prime Day deals are? For extra convenience, the company have pinned a Prime Day Badge to the listings. You simply need to spot it and click.

Back in July 2022 Amazon made the news not only through Prime Day, but also with a new Stampcard scheme to save customers some more money. The Stampcard enabled Prime subscribers to collect four stamps and to then get $10 in store credit. How do you get stamped? You basically have to access Amazon’s streaming and book-lending services and use its free shipping in order to collect them.  

Ordering through Amazon is fast and convenient, though it depends on what you mean by fast. For Prime Day it’s kind of a race to the finish. To get the jump on fellow buyers, you can activate 1-Click ordering and fly through the purchasing process at the jab of a button. Be vigilant about what product you’re buying, of course, though!

It’s great to shop at speed, but it can lead to pitfalls if you’re over-excited and your fingers are working faster than your brain. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there at some point! One way you can be super-prepared before Prime Day is by checking your shipping and billing information to make sure everything’s going to the right place. Panic. Over.

Cashback is essentially getting paid to shop by making your purchases via certain channels. And Amazon is offering Prime Day cashback through cards such as its Prime Rewards Visa Signature card. Use this piece of plastic and you can receive 5 percent back on what you buy. It’s just one of a number of perks offered by Amazon’s range of cards.

You’re interested in Prime Day, but you aren’t subscribed to Amazon? Not a problem, it seems. The corporation knows that the public can be indecisive, which is why it dangles a juicy carrot in the shape of a 30-day free trial. Be warned, though, you’ll need to cancel this before the expiry date, otherwise the everything store will happily take its regular monthly fee. 

Many aspects of Prime Day go by in a blur, so you need to be paying attention. Basic info like your shipping details must be correct, but you’ll also want to be alert once you’re in the thick of your shopping spree. It’s easy to say, but don’t buy stuff that you don’t really need, and shop around for the best price rather than just looking at Amazon.

Did you know you can shop on Amazon and donate to charity at the same time? There’s an alternative online destination called “smile.amazon.com” where a reported 0.5 percent of your item’s purchase price makes its way to a good cause. The best part is, you get to choose who it goes to. Feeling a little less guilty about Prime Day yet?

Amazon will do tons of thinking for you. On the one hand this is perhaps worrying, but on the other it makes the business of shopping more streamlined. Filters are a lifesaver on Prime Day, when people are doing the online equivalent of trampling over each other in the quest for deals. Narrowing down is essential in this situation.  

You’ve bagged a dream item for a knockdown price. Congratulations! But perhaps there’s a small issue: it hasn’t arrived when they said it would. Should you be in the mood to save even more money, you can ask for a refund on shipping. That said, it’s always worth considering the quite-possibly-overworked delivery driver, who’s busting a gut getting the product to your doorstep. 

The days of ordering a product and waiting around for delivery are still with us. It can be a lot more precise now, though, thanks to Amazon. Amazon enables you to select a specific day of the week when all your outstanding deliveries can be dropped off at once. Definitely worth it for Prime Day purchases, which may otherwise arrive in dribs and drabs over days and weeks.

A 30-day free trial is certainly welcome. Yet if you find the prospect of enjoying a trial irritating, due to having to remember to cancel it at the end, you can also opt for a “Flexible” membership. This takes things on a month-by-month basis. It works out pricier in the long term, but is good for opting out when finances grow tighter.  

Students can actually get a six-month trial to Prime for free. The access to books alone surely makes this worth it. With regards to Prime Day, subscribing to Amazon delivers the best results. Ultimately, though, you don’t actually need to be signed up in order to take part. You’ll just be at a disadvantage compared to Prime-subscribed shoppers.

Feeling overwhelmed and looking for help? You don’t have to rely on Amazon alone: other apps out there can also assist with Prime Day. The Camelizer extension, for example, shows you the price history of Amazon products. Slickdeals is another destination that can help with what can be an exciting, yet daunting, experience. It pays to do your research!

Gaining an overview of Prime Day is important. So in addition to browsing Amazon and taking advantage of its discounts, you can access other sites to stay in the know. Aside from our pretty comprehensive guide to Prime Day hacks, you can visit Google for a catch-all search of what product you need and how much it’s on the market for.

You can never do enough advance planning when it comes to major shopping events like Prime Day. Don’t leave it to Amazon to steer you in the right direction. Think about this away from the keyboard. You may even want to go totally old school and pick up a pen and paper so you can have some notes available and to hand.

The Amazon Prime Rewards Visa card offers cashback at a rate of up to 5 percent, but when you sign up, you’ll also receive a voucher worth $200 once you’re approved. So you can splash the virtual cash a bit more during Prime Day if you want. Not that the Rewards Visa is the only game in town…

New opportunities pop up constantly and prepay cards as well as credit cards are a key fixture of Amazon’s business model. As reported during the run-up to July’s Prime Day in the U.K., a £60 — roughly $68 — gift card could potentially get you an additional 10 percent. And prepaid cards certainly make sense for those wanting to avoid randomly sticking things on credit.

You know the drill when it comes to online shopping. You see something you like, check the price, pick it up and put it in your basket. Yet have you thought about ignoring the price and skipping straight to the basket part? By having the item there on Prime Day, you’ll be poised to check out fast if it suddenly drops to the price you want.

Arguably the quickest way to access great Prime Day deals is to have them in the palm of your hand. Downloading the app means you get notifications as often and as loud as you need them. Your noisy presence may not be welcome on, say, a crowded train, but at least you’ll be on top of those essential bargains.

What’s better than grabbing a purchase during the organized chaos of Prime Day? Having it delivered that very same day. Regular customers will know that this involves spending a certain amount. If you can find a few lower-priced — and desirable — items to bump up your spend to the required total, then go for it and wait for that knock on the door.

Why search for Prime Day prizes alone when you can form an online search party? Amazon offers access for more than one person to a Prime account. It could be family members, friends… as long as it’s someone you trust, it’s all good. It also potentially turns an eye-strain-inducing activity into a more social interaction. Amazon purchasers assemble! Or just log on, whatever works.

You don’t necessarily need to be a Prime member to enjoy Prime Day. That said, one big advantage of being one is that you have free access to the Amazon Hub. The click-and-collect service makes it faster and easier to send something back if it’s not right. Gone are the days of lugging bulky items around to return them in the hope of a refund.