Amazon Prime Day means big savings if you know how to spot the best discounts.
Prime Day will take place from July 11 to July 12, and this year, members will be able to sign up for “invite only” alerts on some of the top items most likely to sell out.
“It prevents that crazy rush and that feeling of ‘I’ll never get it,'” said Bridget Carey, a senior editor and technology expert at CNET.
You can go online, click the “invite only” button and request to be a part of the sale.
Carey said she thinks the new feature is “a test” for Amazon, helping the company gauge whether it will offer this for more items in the future.
Once you’ve got your “invite only” alerts set up, some of the best items to look out for will be electronics, including TVs and headphones. Carey says Amazon’s branded items will also see some steep cuts.
Prime Day buyers should be wary of items on Amazon that are already marked down because they aren’t typically sold at the normal price.
“If you approach something on Prime Day that looks like a really big discount, you have to do a little homework,” said Carey, adding that shoppers can use her favorite price tracking site, camelcamelcamel.com, to plug in the Amazon item and see if it’s always sold at that price tag.
With the Fourth of July weekend here, the holiday also brings its own sales at major retailers — and no membership is required to score big, so be sure to shop around.
“It’s a great time to go hunting for things you need but because of Prime Day everyone is just scattering their sales and calling them different things,” Carey said. “Don’t go too crazy thinking it’s something that will only happen once.”
If you don’t have an Amazon Prime account, Carey said now is a good time to sign up for a trial, but be sure to cancel your free trial if it’s not something you decide to keep.
“Free trials are usually only a month long so don’t be caught by surprise and auto-renew if you don’t really want it,” she said.
