In what many consider the “Black Friday” of the summer, Amazon Prime Day will happen on July 12 and 13, offering sale prices on thousands of items.
Amazon Prime Day is an exclusive shopping event for the site’s 200 million Prime subscribers worldwide. Amazon Prime’s biggest benefit might be the free one-day/two-day and expedited shipping options, but it also includes a ton of other freebies like monthly free games and digital books, video and music streaming and preview access to various forms of entertainment.
With Prime Day around the corner, here’s how you can get the most out of Amazon’s premier service.
Get Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime costs $139 per year or $14.99 per month. Students get a discount at $7.49 a month or $69 a year. It might seem like a lot, but if you regularly order things from Amazon and use the entertainment perks, it easily pays for itself.
Free Trial Access to Prime Day
If you’ve never had Prime, or haven’t had it for at least a year, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial and enjoy Prime Day deals and other Prime benefits. You’ll be charged the price of the membership unless you cancel before the 30 days are over.
Amazon App
Although there is no difference in prices between the site and the app, getting the application on your phone undoubtedly makes it easier to shop — and snag lightning deals. Lightning deals are offers that are available for only a short amount of time and in limited quantities, so they get snagged up quickly. Having an alert sent to your phone and storing your card information on your account can make it easier to grab the deal.
Wish Lists
Amazon wish lists are a great way to prevent impulsive buying and are also a useful tool to see when prices have dropped so you can strike when the time is right. Amazon will notify you if items on your wish list have increased or decreased in price and by how much. It’s a good idea to get a wish list started now, and then on Prime Day, see if any of your items have dropped in price.
Complete Pre-Prime Day Activities for Cash
A cool way to earn some Amazon cash before Prime Day is to use Prime services. New this year, Amazon is introducing the Prime Stampcard promotion. You’ll get $10 for taking four actions, three of which are free. The actions are to stream a show on Prime Video, listen to a song with Prime Music, and borrow an ebook on Prime Reading. The last stamp is earned by purchasing a Prime-eligible purchase that’s $5 or more.
You can get more credits, but it costs more, too. There are two $5 credits for buying a Lightyear movie ticket and purchasing Lightyear merchandise. You can also get a $20 credit if you buy $75 worth of Procter & Gamble products.
Access Sales Early
Some items have had Prime Day prices since June 21. A lot of deals will be available the day before Prime Day starts, so keep your eye out for the items you want the most, as they might drop in price sooner than you think.
Amazon Prime Store Card
The Amazon Prime Store Card is a credit card offered by Synchrony bank that offers 5% back on purchases or six-month 0% financing on purchases of $50 or more. In promotion of Prime Day, you’ll get 20% cash back on certain purchases if you sign up for the card. Additionally, Amazon will drop a $60 gift card in your Amazon account when you’re approved.
Amazon-Specific Brands
Amazon has already released sales on some of its own branded products like Echo speakers and Fire devices. If you are looking to snag one of these products, you can start now to look for the best deals ahead of Prime Day. Amazon brands are also known to offer the best deals on Prime Day.
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Brooke Barley contributed to the reporting for this article.