You probably remember that Amazon invented their own holiday, Prime Day, last summer. You might also recall a whole lot of snarky articles and #PrimeDayFail tweets highlighting the garage sale-like nature of some of the deals. We’re here to tell you that while that reputation wasn’t entirely unwarranted, the second iteration of the event on July 12 is absolutely still worth your attention.
You don’t need to take Amazon’s word for it, or even mine; the numbers speak for themselves. Kinja Deals readers bought more items on Prime Day 2015 than any other day in our site’s history: More than any Black Friday, more than any Cyber Monday. The upshot is that, amidst the thousands of Diane Keaton t-shirts, bars of soap, and VHS rewinders, there was still a ton of stuff worth buying. Highlights included $50 off the Amazon Echo, $25 gift cards with the purchase of grooming items, an extra 30% off basically all the clothing Amazon sells, $10 in Amazon credit with a $75 gift card purchase, and 15% off already-discounted Amazon Warehouse items. Those are all amazing deals, and that was only a small fraction of the best stuff we saw.
Now, we don’t know much about what 2016 has in store, but Amazon’s promised to stock twice as many TVs as they do for Cyber Monday and Black Friday combined, which sounds like a pretty good start. They’ve also teased a 32-inch TV and Fire TV Stick bundle for $120, 40% off Kindle Unlimited, and deals from twice as many small business sellers as 2015. In addition, they’re rolling out a “Watch-A-Deal” feature in the Amazon app, new sorting tools to cut through the crap, and even mysterious bonus incentives for Amazon Echo, Tap, and Dot owners. I have no doubt that there will still be a lot of junk mixed in, and #PrimeDayFail will be back in full effect, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a ton of great deals as well.
So, what do you need to know to be ready to sort through the deluge?
Get Amazon Prime
This one should be obvious, but Prime Day deals are only available to Prime members. If you still don’t have a membership (and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t), you can sign up for a 30 day trial here.
Apply For an Amazon Rewards Visa Card
Amazon Rewards Visa card members will have an opportunity to save $30 on almost any $150 order on Prime day. You can find more details here.
Follow Kinja Deals on Twitter
A lot of the best deals last year were Lightning deals that sold out within minutes, or even seconds, but we were still able to find and share the best ones instantly on Twitter over the course of 432 tweets. We’ll still post everything we can to Kinja Deals, but we expect Twitter will once again be the true home to our coverage.
Enable 1-Click Purchasing, and Check Your Settings
In case I haven’t been clear, a lot of these deals will sell out incredibly quickly. If you want an edge, turn on Amazon’s 1-Click feature, and make sure your payment and address information are up to date.
Set Your Alarm
Nobody wants to hear this, but a lot of the best deals went live promptly at 3AM ET/12AM PT last year, and were sold out by the time many people were waking up. If you’re serious about snagging the best stuff, it might be worth waking up early (or staying up late), rolling over to your nightstand, and checking your phone for anything you may want.
Of course, the entire Kinja Deals team will be working around the clock to sort through the mountains of products to find the things that are actually worth your money. So polish up that wish list, prepare your Prime account, and we’ll see you on the 12th!
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