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)
Amazon Prime Day 2022 is just days away! Starting at midnight on Tuesday, July 12, the massive members-only sale will kick off with thousands of offers on all kinds of goodies. Whether you want to stock up on some pantry staples or you're after some high-end tech going cheap, or anything in between, there'll be plenty to shop as the sale end only at 5pm AEST on Thursday, July 14.
We say 'members-only' because, as the name of the sale suggests, the discounts are all Prime exclusive. Some offers tend to bypass the paywall, but the best deals will be for Prime members only.
If you haven't tried the service yet, you can do sign up now and you'll even get a 30-day free trial (opens in new tab) that includes the sale period. If you don't want to continue with the subscription, you can cancel any time. A Prime subscription has some pretty decent benefits for regular Amazon shoppers, like free and fast delivery, free international shipping for items valued at AU$49 or higher, plus access to other Amazon services like Prime Video, Prime Reading and Twitch.
Prime Day typically brings record low prices on a wide variety of items across several categories, including clothing and fashion, tech and pantry. So it's definitely a good idea to become a Prime member if you're looking to save a pretty penny.
In fact, you can start shopping right now as Amazon has already started releasing some early Prime Day deals. We've selected some of our favourites and listed them below.
Early Prime Day 2022 deals
Gaming
Phones & tablets
Personal audio
Wearables
Smart home
Personal care
Appliances
PCs & peripherals
When is Amazon Prime Day 2022?
Prime Day typically kicks off at midnight on a Monday in the middle of July. So we were expecting the 2022 edition to begin on July 11.
We weren't far off the mark with that prediction as Amazon has announced that Prime Day 2022 will begin 12am AEST on Tuesday, July 12. Local Aussie deals will end in 48 hours, i.e. by 11:59pm AEST on Wednesday, July 13. But hold on, we still get more! With some items available locally from Amazon US and Amazon UK, our deals don't end till Prime Day finishes on the US West Coast. So international deals will continue until 5pm AEST on Thursday, July 14.
Your credit cards can take a breather after that.
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.