Forget the Fourth of July and Labor Day – the most anticipated shopping holiday of the summer is Amazon Prime Day. The online retailer's two-day shopping event that comes around every summer, Prime Day offers major discounts, deals, and limited-time flash sales for Amazon Prime members.
Sales aren’t limited to Amazon devices and products either. Shoppers can find Prime Day deals on a range of products, including Fire TVs, laptops, gadgets, and so much more across the site.
When Is Amazon Prime Day?
Dates of 2024's Prime haven't been announced yet but it will likely fall on a Tuesday and a Wednesday in the second or third week in July, as it has before. The start time of Prime Day is 3:00 am, Eastern time, though some deals have been known to appear earlier than that. You'll have 48 hours to shop some of the best deals available on the site until the holiday season. Fortunately, if you happen to miss the designated sale days, there will still be deals on Amazon throughout the week.
Amazon also usually holds a second two-day sale event called Prime Early Access Sale, which takes place on the two-days before the big event. The Prime Early Access Sale may return this year, but we won't know for sure until Amazon officially announces it.
What Is Amazon Prime Day?
Amazon Prime Day is an annual two-day sale that takes place on amazon.com. It started in 2015 as a single-day sale to celebrate the online retailer’s 20th birthday and boost revenue during the summer slump in sales. Since then, Prime Day has grown to a nearly week-long event with millions of discounts on everything from Fire TV sticks to coffee makers.
Last year was the biggest Prime Day yet with more than 300 million items purchased and more than $1.7 billion saved by shoppers – the most savings of any prior year, according to Amazon. The most popular items fell into these categories: Amazon devices, consumer electronics, and home products.
The discounts are only available to Amazon Prime members, so you’ll need to sign up for a Prime membership to access the exclusive deals.
If you don’t have a Prime membership, you can still score major discounts on Prime Day at other retailers. The sale has become quite popular, so other retailers like Walmart, Target, and Macy's now offer their own sales during Prime Day to compete with Amazon.
What Do I Need To Do To Shop on Amazon Prime Day?
To take advantage of this year’s Amazon Prime Day deals, you must be an Amazon Prime member. It costs $14.99 per month or $139 per year for a regular membership, and $7.49 per month or $69 per year for students. Prime memberships also include dozens of perks, such as access to exclusive movies and TV shows on Prime Video, free two-, one-, and same-day delivery on qualifying items, and more.
Shoppers who aren't Prime members can sign up for a free 30-day trial membership. This will give you access to Prime Day deals without having to pay the monthly or annual membership fee, so long as you cancel the membership before the trial ends. A student Amazon Prime free trial lasts six months.
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