How to shop Prime Day deals
Prime Day is a members-only event, meaning you'll need to be an Amazon Prime subscriber to make the most of the big sale. If you'd like to participate, click on the link below to sign up and you'll get a 30-day free trial, plus free and fast delivery on millions of eligible products, and access to a lot of other Amazon services, including Prime Video, Prime Reading and Prime Gaming (previously called Twitch).
Sign up for Amazon Prime now (opens in new tab)
The official Amazon Prime Day 2022 date is no doubt already on secret internal calendars at Amazon HQ, but what we do know for sure is that it's going to be some time in July. And that's just two months away – time to get started on that wish list!
During its first-quarter results announcement earlier in April, Amazon released a statement confirming "Prime Day will take place in July", but stopped short of actually announcing a specific date.
It's possible to speculate, though, especially since we've been covering the Prime Day sales in Australia for a while now. Speculations aside, another certainty we have for Prime Day 2022 in Australia is that it's going to be another whopper 65-hour deals bonanza, with massive savings across practically every category of products listed on Amazon... spearheaded by the company's own hardware like the Echo speakers and Kindle ereaders.
When is Amazon Prime Day 2022?
Predicting the Amazon Prime Day 2022 date used to be easy: some time in mid July, as it was in 2018 and 2019. But the game changed in 2020 due to the ongoing pandemic – Prime Day moved to October to counter the economic downturn and the supply issues. In 2021 Amazon again moved Prime Day, this time to June – earlier than it hosted the sale before – kicking it off on Monday, June 21 and officially ending it on Tuesday, June 22. In Australia, though, we enjoy an extended Prime Day sale that typically lasts for a whopping 65 hours. That’s because we’re able to shop US and UK deals via the ‘global store’ section of the online shopping site, so the deals keep flowing till Prime Day actually ends in the US West Coast.
Despite the ongoing global situation, it looks like Amazon is going back to its July schedule, as announced in April. Actual dates are still elusive, but considering Prime Day has traditionally been held mid-July, always starting on a Monday, there are two possible options this time.
The first, and most likely, scenario would be Prime Day 2022 kicking off on Monday, July 11. How can we say this? Because a recent report posted on Digital Commerce 360 claims that Amazon (in the US) has given sellers a cutoff date of June 20 to submit their Prime Day inventories. And the sale typically kicks off a few weeks after that.
If July 11 is indeed the actual date, then expect the offers to start flowing in from 12am AEST on the day and stop at 5pm AEST on Wednesday, July 13. Not that the extended day is exclusively for items listed on Amazon US and Amazon UK – the official Amazon AU offers will stop at 11:59pm AEST on July 12.
The second possibility for Prime Day 2022 is July 18-20, giving Amazon an extra week to prepare, in case it's necessary.
Either way, we know it's coming in a couple of months, so it's time to get a wish list ready.
What is Amazon Prime Day?
Prime Day began as a 24-hour sale in the US in 2015 to celebrate Amazon's 20th anniversary, but it quickly took a very different role for the retail giant. With a higher volume of deals than on the corresponding Black Friday and with bigger discounts on offer, it proved to me a money mill for Amazon, and the company has carried on hosting the big sale ever since.
It has, of course, grown. It's now held in several countries and over 48 hours. In Australia, however, we get a whooping 65 hours to enjoy shopping. That's because we get to purchase items that are imported from the US and the UK, so the sale carries on till it ends on the US West Coast.
It’s worth reiterating that the bulk of the Prime Day deals are exclusively available only to Prime members, so to get the best savings out of this event you will need an Amazon Prime membership (opens in new tab). In Australia, Amazon Prime is billed at just AU$6.99 per month, or AU$59 yearly. This small fee gets you not only access to great deals and savings, you also get free expedited shipping on thousands of eligible items, as well as free access to Amazon services like Prime Video, Prime Reading and Prime Gaming (aka Twitch).
Amazon Prime Day 2022 deals to expect
Prime Day always offers incredible savings across tens of thousands of products from beauty to consumer electronics, fashion, home improvement and tools, luggage, pantry food and drink, toys, video games and more.
First and foremost of the discounts will be on Amazon's own hardware. You can pick a smart speaker or smart display for a fraction of their RRP, throw in a few smart lights to kickstart your smart home setup. If that's just one too many 'smarts' for you, and you prefer a good story to get lost in, Prime Day is a great time to pick up a Kindle. And, more importantly, there's a very good chance Amazon will either discount Kindle Unlimited or offer an extended free trial of three months to new customers.
Prime members will also be able to access deals across big brands such as Bosch, Calvin Klein, Fitbit, Lacoste, Lego, Lenovo, L’Oreal, Nintendo, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Yamaha and more.
Other Prime Day regulars are electric toothbrushes, wireless headphones and speakers, cameras and so much more, so expect discounts from brands including Bose, Philips, Sony, Samsung and others.
The important bit here is that Amazon now has an Apple Store on its site and, as of December 2021, iPhones are available as well. While there have been no significant iPhone discounts yet, we’re hoping Prime Day 2022 sets a wonderful precedent.
Popular Prime Day deals from 2021
Looking back, what did you buy during Prime Day 2021? We went back and checked out our list of top deals from last year and found, as expected, gaming gear hit the mark. But that was closely followed by fitness wearables and big-brand headphones. Below is a small taster of the top Prime Day deals we saw in June 2021.
Is Prime free on Prime Day?
If you have not had an Amazon Prime account before then, yes, you can get a free Prime trial for Prime Day (or for any other day). Amazon offers all customers a free 30-day trial of Prime. You can cancel at any time during the trial and you won't be charged a thing.
If you decide to pay for Prime once your trial ends, that'll cost you AU$6.99 a month or AU $59 a year. Unlike in the US, Amazon Australia does not offer discounted student memberships or a family plan.
Click here to sign up for an Amazon Prime membership (opens in new tab).
How to find the best Prime Day deals
Shopping Amazon Prime Day can be an exhausting and overwhelming experience if you aren't prepared for what's ahead. While Prime Day is some of the most fun deal hunters will have all year, it can easily go bad if you aren't sure what of to look for – or how to look for it. Here are some helpful suggestions to shopping Amazon Prime Day and tips on how to save the most money this year.
Don't just shop at Amazon: This may be a weird one to hear, considering this is Amazon Prime Day we're talking about, but hear us out. Since Prime Day has gotten so dang popular over the years, many retailers out there are trying to get in on the action by running their own Prime Day-like sales alongside Amazon. If you've got a favourite store you like to shop at, don't be afraid to shop there as well. You'll be surprised what kind of discounts you can find.
Trust your gut on reviews: Here's the thing with Amazon's review system, it's not very good at filtering out useless and unhelpful feedback. If you head to almost any major product released in the past year, you'll see one star reviews with one sentence clearly expressing dissatisfaction and nothing else. You may even find "fake reviews" to help deter you from a good product or even steer you towards buying a bad product. If it's something you truly want and it's on sale, reviews may help but at the end of the day it's your money!
Compare prices: This applies to everything. Clothing, electronics, you name it. If it's on sale during Prime Day, chances are every seller who has it is dropping their prices. What you may not know, however, is that it may be cheaper in some cases to check out alternative sellers. Don't be afraid to click that "see other buying options" button from time to time.
Stick with us: If you don't want to spend too much time and energy in bargain hunting during Prime Day, then bookmark this page as we'll be doing just that for you. T3's deals team will be on hand to pick out the juiciest offers on a wide variety of tech and lifestyle products and we'll list them right here in an easy-to-navigate page.
Are Prime Day deals worth it?
The question of "Are Prime Day deals worth it?" gets asked quite a lot around this time, and quite frankly there's a yes and a no answer to this one. Depending on what exactly you're hoping to buy, Prime Day could be the perfect chance to get the best discount, while it may be more beneficial to wait until Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales when the same or similar product could see a bigger discount at a different retailer.
That said, Prime Day deals are definitely worth if when it comes to electronics, smart tech and, of course, Prime services. Most Prime services, including Kindle Unlimited (opens in new tab) and Amazon Music Unlimited (opens in new tab) get some pretty sweet offers for newcomers and Prime members alike.
