We are all better off being more savvy consumers. When Amazon’s big shopping holiday, Prime Day, rolls around—now twice a year—we’re doubly incentivized to not fall for any bad deals. Prime Day is routinely subsumed with dishonest sales exacerbated thanks to a heavy dose of FOMO, or “fear of missing out.” Getting an honest deal this Prime Day means dragging your finger away from the big, yellow “buy” button and taking the time to comprehend each product’s price and discount compared to its recent past.
Last week, Amazon added several more features to its Amazon app for phones, including AI-based “Amazon Lens” capabilities that allow for image searches. There’s even a new “circle to search” function that works similarly to Google’s own Android-based feature.
Unfortunately, none of those new capabilities help users tell whether or not that product they’ve had their eye on is a good deal or not. For that, you have to turn to 3rd-party apps and sites. Actually, let me rephrase that. You absolutely should turn to 3rd-party apps and sites when shopping on Amazon or really any other big online retailer.
Always, Always Compare Past and Present Prices
This should be your routine even when you’re not shopping on Prime Day. Amazon’s big holiday is full to the brim with puffery and claims of “biggest sale ever.” You look at slashed prices and think they seem like great deals, but too often, those same products linger at that sale price for months on end, even without Prime Day.
If you’re looking for a place to see past prices on Amazon products, my personal favorite is Camelcamelcamel. It’s simple and easy to have as an extra browser open when shopping on Amazon. Another option that offers more pricing specifics is Keepa. It’s a free application you can get as a browser extension or as an app on Android and iOS. Keepa uses a more interactive graph that also shows prices on each Amazon store page’s used items if there are any. You can also use it to track prices on specific products over time.
Either way, the process is simple. Just copy and paste your Amazon link into the site or extension and see when the product was last on sale. If the item has gone on sale for the same price or less recently, you shouldn’t feel pressured to get it at that very moment.
There are occasions when products do go on sale at or lower than they have previously. For instance, last Prime Day, Meta sold the 128 GB Meta Quest 3 for $430, which at the time was its lowest price yet. However, what that underlined was the inevitable release of the $300 Meta Quest 3S. The headset maker is now going to be selling the previously $650 512 GB Quest 3 for $500. New Quest 3s with 128 GB of storage are now selling for $430 while supplies last. If you went for the Quest 3 during July’s Prime Day, you may be feeling cheated.
That’s why I advise shoppers to understand the companies they’re buying from. If an item goes on sale a few months before the expected launch of a new product, you may be better off waiting to see if the company that makes it drops the price at or below current discounts.
If a Prime Day Deal Seems Too Good to Be True, It Is
One of the most routine ways brands try to scam customers on Prime Day is by jumping the base price of their product and then setting a larger sale, all to make it seem a better deal than it is. During the last prime day in July, we saw packs of six dry-erase markers from major brands claim they went for $30 with a 72% discount. We saw a big plastic ice bath claim it goes for $1,000 with a 90% discount. The bath normally went for $120, so you were actually only saving a mere $20.
Again, this is where the price tracking sites we mentioned before come in handy. Amazon sellers will do whatever it takes to get you to smash the buy button without thinking. Sometimes, the most consistently fair price drops are on Amazon’s own items. The online retail giant normally puts big discounts on its own Amazon Basics products. Amazon also uses this opportunity to slash its Echo or Fire TV products, like this year’s Echo Spot, down from $80 to $45.
There’s only so much a consumer can do to make sure they get a present and future deal without some kind of crystal ball. However, it helps if you start thinking like a company. Ask yourself why is that product you’ve had your eyes on for so long going for such a deep discount? Is it because that same company may be planning to debut a newer, better option in the near future?
Don’t Get Swept Up in FOMO
Sales exist because they incentivize consumers to buy a product now rather than wait and consider their options. For instance, this popular Ninja Air Fryer is going for $80 for October Prime Day. That product has been slightly cheaper in the past for single-day flash sales. The air fryer has sat around this price periodically over the last year. Remember, just because it’s on sale now doesn’t mean it won’t in the future.
Let’s consider that the Acer Predator Triton Neo 16 laptop is on sale for $1,500, down from $1,900 (it was last on sale for that price last month as well). Acer may decide to debut a new version early next year with Lunar Lake Intel Core Ultra 9 rather than the last-gen Intel Core Ultra 9 185H. The 288V is a much better chip in pure CPU benchmark scores, and it may make the machine more future-proof.
Still, the $1,500 laptop still seems like a solid deal, just not something you should immediately jump on without a second thought. There are more enticing deals for products revealed earlier this year, like an unlocked Motorola Razr+ and Razr flip foldable, going for $200 and $100 off MSRP, respectively. It’s a fair deal, considering how previously the Razr+ has so far only gone down to $800. But first, ask yourself if that is the type of device that will fit your lifestyle. A flip-style phone is cool and good for cutting down on excessive size and screen time, but I know from experience they’re certainly not for everybody.
Prime Day is also an incentive to get customers hooked on a Prime account. However, before you drop close to $140 on an annual subscription, you should also check brands’ various websites. For instance, Amazfit told Gizmodo its watches and smart rings are available for the same price on their website as they are on Amazon, though you won’t get Amazon’s touted two-day shipping. Ask yourself, is getting your package this week really so important?
Just because you pay annually for a Prime membership does not require you to buy your products purely from Amazon. Walmart and other big box stores normally put products on sale around the same time for the same or less than Amazon. If you want to check deals across sites and use a Chrome browser, you don’t even need to get an extension like Honey. You can simply bookmark a product to your shopping list, and when it goes on sale, the browser will notify you.
