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Amazon Prime Day: How to spot the best deals
The battle for your bucks kicks in to high gear Tuesday. That’s when this year’s Amazon Prime Day begins, and their competitor’s own special sales are not far behind. In a special money saver report, we got some tips on how to tell if it’s a deal or no deal.
CHICAGO - The battle for your bucks kicks in to high gear Tuesday. That’s when this year’s Amazon Prime Day begins, and their competitor’s own special sales are not far behind.
In a special money saver report, we got some tips on how to tell if it’s a deal or no deal.
"What I am expecting and anticipating is that there’s going to be a wider selection of sales and a lot of those third-party retailers really also promoting heavy discounts," said consumer finance expert Andrea Woroch.
That’s what Woroch says shoppers can expect to see just on Amazon thanks in part to consumer spending recently taking a slight dip due to inflation.
"So retailers, Amazon specifically, are ramping up those sales to get people out shopping," Woroch said. "Competitors don’t want Amazon to be the only one taking a bite of all the shopping action, so competitors over the last few years have launched their own concurrent sales."
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Woroch says that adds up to you having a bigger selection of brands to choose from that Amazon might not even sell.
Woroch offered another benefit to shopping a competing sale.
"You don’t need a membership. You’ll get access to all of the savings without a Walmart+ membership, but if you do have one, you’ll get early access to some deals ahead of it opening to the general public. And the same goes with Target. You don’t need a membership to shop these sales," she said.
Woroch says you can also expect to see stores like Best Buy, Sur La Table and Wayfair doling out the online deals.
"Another benefit to be shopping these competitors is sometimes you can find coupon codes because we know you can’t find coupon codes at Amazon. But at these other stores, you might be able to price match or cut Amazon’s price," Woroch said.
With multiple sales going on at the same time, Woroch says it can be overwhelming trying to keep track of all of those deals, which is why if you think you’ve found a good one, look again.
"When you’re comparing prices, make sure you see all the sellers who are selling that same item because there could be someone offering a better deal and that could be buried in your search results," she advised.
Woroch says there are a few online tools that can help you keep track of who’s got what on sale and for how much.
"Number one, download a price comparison browser extension. PriceBlink does a great job. They’ll alert you if something you’re looking at on Amazon or any other retailer is available for less at another site," Woroch said.
"Retailers want you to think this 40% savings is the best you’re gonna get and they want to get you to buy right then and there. But if you do a little bit of research, you can make better buying decisions."
That’s why Woroch says you can make better buying decisions if you check an item’s price history on different sites.
"CamelCamelCamel.com tracks prices of items sold specifically on Amazon. This can tell you if the deal you are looking at if it’s the lowest selling price. If it was available for less last month or the month before," she said.
Worch says that should let you know if you are better off buying now or later.
If you do wind up waiting, there are different browser tools where you can set an alert to let you know when your item’s is on sale again and where.
"Some of these hot deals are going to sell out quickly. So you want to do a little preparation to make sure you don’t miss out on the deals, but also to make sure you are not buying things you don’t need," she suggested.
Woroch says the trick to that is to prep your virtual shopping cart.
"Add items you want to your cart. This will make it easier to watch those deals. You also want to add your payment details and store your shipping information. This way when the deal launches all you have to do is hit buy and you don’t miss out on the savings," Woroch said.
If you are wondering what are some of the hot deals coming up on Prime Day, take a look at some of Amazon’s own electronic devices.
Woroch says you will see the biggest discounts on their video doorbells, wireless headphones and speakers, laptops and TV’s.