3 essential tips to help you shop smarter this Prime Day

The Amazon sale is on, but before you get carried away by the discounts, these shopping hacks will save money and time

Amazon Prime membership
(Image credit: Amazon)

It's hard not to get over excited by the frenzy of discounts on Amazon during Prime Day. Percentages and money are thrown in your face from every angle, and all you can think about is hitting that buy button.

But as Vanilla Ice once said, stop, collaborate and listen. There are ways to be smarter in your deals choice that will not only save you time, but also help you search out the very best deals.

Here are my very quick tips to achieving the perfect Prime experience.

1. Make a list

Failing to plan is planning to fail. If there are things you are looking for this Prime Day, put it down in a list. Even better, use the Wish List function in Amazon to create your list. That way, when the deals rolls in, you can just access your list and see which of your items is on sale.

Having items in your wish list will also help Amazon recommend similar products to you that might be on sale – which can be good and bad. Either way, it's a perfect starting point for your deal shopping and potentially a good way to keep you on track.

2. Use a price checker

All of the discounts you see on Amazon are based on the list price, but that doesn't mean that the product was at the list price last week. It could be that it's actually only dropped a smaller amount recently, or even that it's been at an even lower price in the past.

The best way to be sure is to use a price checker. There are a few sites, like CamelCamelCamel that allow you to track the price history of Amazon items, to see the lowest and highest it's been in recent months, or even longer.

My favourite, though, is a Plug-in called Keepa, which adds a price graph onto your Amazon page, so you can see all the information right there.

3. Get membership

The Amazon Prime sale is a members-only event, so you'll only get the savings if you're a Prime Member. You can join Prime a pay a monthly or annual fee. If you shop from Amazon regularly, you'll make the fee back in free shipping. Plus, you get access to Prime Video and the basic Prime Music.

If you haven't joined yet, you can get a free trial membership which is still valid for the sale, or if you're a student, you can even get a reduced-price membership.

Amazon Prime display

(Image credit: Amazon)

More tips from Amazon

As part of Amazon's Get Prime Ready with Me campaign, it's offering a few tips of its own on how to get the most of Prime Day. These are:

  • Sign up to Prime: Your readers can become a Prime member or start a free trial at amazon.co.uk/primeday to participate in this summer’s shopping event and enjoy fast, free delivery along with all the money-saving benefits Prime has to offer.
  • Rufus AIRufus, Amazon's AI shopping assistant, helps your readers shop smarter and plan better by providing product details, expert advice, and personalised suggestions. Whether they’re exploring a new hobby, comparing products, or checking on an order, Rufus AI offers quick, helpful guidance.
  • Today’s Big Deals: New for Prime Day 2025, Amazon will introduce 'Today’s Big Deals', featuring daily themes curated exclusively for Prime members, including limited-time ‘New Deal Drop’ deals launching at midnight every day throughout Prime Day.
  • Personalised deal notifications: Prime members can set up personalised deal notifications to be alerted when their recent product searches go on sale or have new offers available. 
  • Create or update your Wish List: Your readers can add must-have items to their Wish List ahead of time, and if they’re on sale, they will be among the first to know.
Mat Gallagher

As T3's Editor-in-Chief, Mat Gallagher has his finger on the pulse for the latest advances in technology. He has written about technology since 2003 and after stints in Beijing, Hong Kong and Chicago is now based in the UK. He’s a true lover of gadgets, but especially anything that involves cameras, Apple, electric cars, musical instruments or travel.

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