How to get the best Amazon deals
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The summer sale season is here.
It’s the time of the year when retailers, especially those in fashion, give their coffers a little boost by offloading last-season items.
The biggest sale of the bunch is perhaps Amazon Prime Day, which usually takes place across a couple of days in mid-July.
There are some great deals to be found, especially across electronics, though the best offers will be for Amazon’s own products.
Whether you’re planning to shop the sales or not, there are plenty of other ways to spot a bargain on Amazon.
With that in mind, here are some of the best ways to get an Amazon deal any time of the year.
Before you start…
If you’re planning to shop on Amazon Prime Day, you’ll need an Amazon Prime membership.
You can get a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime by signing up here*.
Just make sure you cancel it before the 30 days are up if you’re not going to benefit from a membership during the rest of the year.
Don’t worry if you’ve had a free trial before. Amazon will let you have another free trial if your last one was a while ago.
On top of benefits like free one day delivery and access to Prime Video, Amazon Prime members also get special discounts throughout the year.
Plus, you can share your membership through Amazon Household*.
Remember: a sale doesn’t guarantee a good deal, so you should still shop around.
My guide to making the most of Black Friday sales has some great tips around this.
In the case of electronics, also check whether there are extra benefits by shopping elsewhere, such as free additional warranty.
Check your promotions
Amazon likes to tailor their promotions to the buyer so of course it has a landing page just for that.
The promotions vary from person to person, and throughout the year, but it will usually be for things like discounts on its subscription services (Audible for example).
Occasionally it can also include promo codes and cashback when you buy an Amazon gift card.
Shop Today’s Deals
Amazon has a well-advertised Today’s Deals* landing page with a list of items that are discounted for just 24 hours.
Most of these are electronics from unknown brands, which can be hit or miss, but it can also be a great place to find deals for household items.
Make sure you use the filter panel on the left hand side of the page to drill down the list so you’re not sifting through items that you have no interest in.
Also check the different tabs on this page – one of these is for discount vouchers.
The vouchers change regularly and will give you money off specific items that are not currently on sale.
Choose second hand
Don’t mind pre-loved items? Then head to Amazon Warehouse*.
It’s a treasure trove of used, returned, pre-owned, or open-box products with a discount applied.
There’s also Amazon Renewed*, which is specifically for refurbished electronics.
Amazon tests all of these items before selling them, but there may be cosmetic damage so do read the descriptions carefully.
Also make sure you know what your rights are when it comes to returns and refunds.
Browse overstocked items
Amazon Outlet* is your place to browse for items that are discounted because there’s an overstock.
That means they’re new, but there’s just too much of the item in stock or the product is in clearance.
The items are split into different categories but it can still take a while to trawl through the list.
Note that the discounts applied here might not be as much as during sales or even at competing retailers so definitely do a price comparison before you buy.
Compare prices with CamelCamelCamel
Want to know whether your Amazon sale item really is the cheapest it’s ever been?
Check on CamelCamelCamel.
It will show you the highest and lowest the item has ever been sold for so you can decide whether the current price is a good deal.
It will also let you set up price alerts so you can buy items at their cheapest.
Before you splash out though, do a quick compare with other sites just to make sure you’re getting the cheapest offer.
Take advantage of Subscribe & Save
Amazon generally offers great discounts via its Subscribe & Save scheme*, where it delivers the items you choose at set intervals.
Ironically, you might not actually save if you subscribe as the prices can change over time.
It means the same order might cost significantly more by your next delivery.
That doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of the scheme though – you can cancel your subscription as soon as you’ve received your first order.
It’s also worth bundling your subscribe and save items. If you’re ordering five or more items at the same time, you’ll save up to 15% on the advertised rate.
Discover Amazon’s best sellers
The Amazon Best Sellers* list is a great way to find the most-sold item in just about every imaginable category.
It means the best rated, but also often the best priced items.
While picking an item from this list isn’t always going to get you a great deal, it is a great way to benchmark your search.
Because let’s face it, quality is as important as price when it comes to value.
