Whether you loved Amazon Prime Day last year, hated it or simply didn’t experience it, it’s that time of the year to gear up for the sale once again. Last year’s sale provided a lot of love and hate responses, so you can probably assume that this year Amazon will step it up a notch based on that feedback. Of course, this doesn’t mean you need to go into red alert. Amazon Prime Day shouldn’t send your bank account into the red or force you to push your budget a little too far. With a few simple tricks, you should be able to maintain your cool during Amazon Prime Day, so you won’t feel flustered when you see all of the lightning deals flash on the screen.
1. Consider a Free Trial
There’s only one thing you have to have in order to enjoy Amazon Prime Day. That is, you have to be a member of Amazon Prime. This service costs you about $100, unless you qualify for one of the discounted accounts. If you don’t have $100 to throw onto another subscription service right now, then don’t fret. You can always give Amazon Prime a try for absolutely free. In order to draw in new customers, Amazon Prime offers a monthly free-trial, which will allow you to explore all of the features it offers. As long as you sign up for your free pass before July 14th, you should be able to check all of the Prime Day deals without having to stress over the extra cost. Of course, getting a taste of Amazon Prime may have you holding onto your subscription, so you may want to ease up on the spending in case this does happen. Of course, if you aren’t impressed you can always cancel without worrying about losing a penny.
2. Use Your Shopping Cart
When it comes to Prime Day, the lightning deals are sure to get the adrenaline pumping, especially if you see something you’ve wanted for an incredibly long time. However, the rush of shopping like this often doesn’t give you enough time to weigh your options or shop around like most online shopping allows. In this case, simply add the item you want into your cart. You will have a total of 15 minutes to choose whether or not you’d like to buy this item. This will help prevent you from missing out on the item completely, especially if it’s popular and sells out in mere minutes. During the 15 minutes, take some time to check out reviews, look up other prices and generally think over whether or not you really want the item. As long as you check out of the shopping cart before the 15 minutes are up then the item is all yours and you can feel satisfied that you did some research before taking the leap.
3. Follow Social Media
In this day and age, you don’t really have to spend every waking hour checking out the sales. When it comes to things like Prime Day, social media is pretty much going to be your best friend. Luckily, Amazon has quite a few social media pages to follow so you won’t miss a beat if you’re really looking to score a big deal. Generally, Amazon will announce their bigger deals on the social media pages so that fans can have their apps or the website up and running when the item is revealed. You may want to pay attention to social media sites a few days prior to the sales too, this will come in handy because there will be announcements and hints as to some of the sales that will be happening. This will give you a better idea of if you really want to shop or not.
4. Look for Coupons
Believe it or not, but you can and absolutely should use coupons on Amazon Prime Day. If you can find a coupon that can make your already cheap purchase any cheaper then go for it! You may want to spend some time looking for coupons before the big day though as if you leave it too long you may end up empty handed. Manufacture’s websites as well as rebate sites may be two of the prime places to look when you find out the type of items that will be on sale. If you can find a rebate for your new television set, then you’ll be in great hands as you check out and save a whole lot of money. Amazon itself will have some coupons going on, especially when it comes to the whole subscribe and buy options they offer, so don’t skip out on this option if it’s something you regularly purchase.
5. Gift Cards
If there’s one thing you’re going to want to go after during this time of celebration, it is definitely the gift cards. During this time, Amazon offers you a $10 credit when you buy a certain dollar amount in gift cards. This is practically giving you money in the long run. However, this reward is mostly for tangible gift cards, so you won’t be able to spend money on gift cards and turn around and spend the gift cards on your purchases for the day. All the same, you can always give out your gift cards for birthday and holiday presents, which will probably save you a whole lot of money in the long run anyway. Plus, if you buy enough gift cards, you’ll have some pretty amazing credit to enjoy on sales later in the year, perhaps even for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
6. Don’t Overdo it
One problem many people face when they see a flash sale like this is they shop just because there’s cheap items to buy. This won’t do you any favors, especially if you buy into some of the sales that Amazon used last year. For instance, many people felt the need to buy a chef hat, just because it was pretty cheap. Even if there is a lot of items you love on the deals, you should still pace yourself and not buy too much. After all, your budget will still be in play for household goods and other bills. One tactic here is to not buy items within a couple of hours of one another. This will get you off the site so you don’t look at everything that is on sale, which should help you cut back on the spending even more. Once you begin to shop in spurts instead of checking out every deal, then you should be able to calm down over the prices and make choices that will actually benefit you. Of course, another problem here is many people will go off and buy an item just because they think they need to participate in the sale. There’s never a need to do this, especially with sales like this. If you don’t see something you like, then move the budget you allotted over for another sale.
7. Enter Contest
You can be a big winner on Amazon Prime Day without even spending a penny, which is pretty awesome. One way to do this is to stream music from Amazon Prime on Prime Day. This won’t cost you a cent and will allow you to explore the library the service offers. You may even get really into it and switch to Amazon Prime as your daily streaming network. Of course, if you don’t really have time to do this, all you have to do is stream a single song on the day and you’ll be entered into the sweepstake without having to sign up for anything. Another contest going on is a Photo Contest. Basically, all you have to do to enter is post a picture on Prime’s photo storage of an image that shows how Prime makes your life easier. Equip the photo with the proper hashtag and you could be well on your way to winning!
8. Make a List
One of the quickest ways to get in trouble on Prime Day is to sit around and browse the sales with no rhyme or reason. This allows impulse buying to kick in, which could mean spending a lot more money than you’d ever expect to. One remedy for this is to make a list. Simply write down the items you’d like to buy if they go on sale. This will allow you to look through the categories for specific items, which will make temptations easier to bypass. If you really want to keep it simple, then go through Amazon and add items you’d like to buy onto a wish list. You can surf the list throughout the day to see if any ended up getting a price reduction. This will prevent you from even looking at the lightening deals, which could be a good thing.
9. Set a Budget
Another major no-no when it comes to sales like Prime Day is pulling out your credit card without ever working on the budget. This can be pretty dangerous and may force you to spend way more than you would have ever imagined. So, before Prime Day rolls around, make sure you sit down and work on your household’s budget. This will give you a grand idea of where your finances stand when it comes to splurging on frivolous things. You should also take into consideration your credit card’s payments and interest when you choose to shop with plastic. If you’re sure you have the money to spend then have fun, but you’ll be glad you took a quick break to make sure the numbers all checked out before you started your shopping excursion. Of course, if you have unlimited spending power, you may want to put a cap on the amount you can spend, just to play it safe.
10. Amazon Products
Needless to say, with Amazon Prime hosting a sale, you can pretty much count on any and all Amazon products enjoying a decrease in price during this time. Luckily, there’s lots of amazing Amazon products to check out when you’re shopping and many can replace some of the other big name brands that cost nearly double the price. The Kindle will probably see a wide variety of discounts during the sale from the oldest to the newest of models, which may be something you might want to stock up on, especially if you have book worms on your holiday list. Another great Amazon item this year is the Amazon Fire Stick, which allows you to use all of your favorite streaming services without forcing you to use a computer or gaming console. That’s only just the beginning when it comes to Amazon products though, so make sure you look around to see if there’s a match for you.
Amazon Prime Day can really spice up a summer that leaves you longing for the holiday madness. Of course, the one-day sale can also leave you scrambling with your finances. With these simple tricks, you should be able to make the most out of the sale without going too far with your wallet. Just keep in mind that not all sales are worth the high credit card bill, especially when the items are merely so-so.
