Amazon Prime Day is arguably one of the most confusing shopping holidays in existence: It’s not even a “day,” as the event spans 48 hours; it includes some great deals—Amazon promises “millions of deals”—but the displayed discounts are often misleading; and while it’s advertised as a members-only event, some deals are available to people who don’t subscribe to Prime. Add in the frenzy of limited-time Lightning Deals and you’ve got a recipe perfect for spending too much money.
Fear not! We’re here to help. WIRED’s Gear team is familiar with common shopping pitfalls, and I’ve been a deals writer for nearly a decade. What time do sales start and end? How do you tell whether a deal is actually a deal? We pooled our collective knowledge to get you prepared for Amazon Prime Day.
When Is Amazon Prime Day?
Amazon’s second Prime Day sale—officially called Prime Big Deal Days—will be held on October 8 and 9, 2024. This preholiday event is a spin-off of the better-known Prime Day sale in July each year.
When Do Prime Day Deals Start?
The event officially begins at 3 am Eastern time on October 8 and runs for 48 hours. WIRED will cover the best Prime Day deals from both Amazon and retailers that have competing sales. Some deals and sales will begin ahead of the official start time. (We’ll be covering those too.)
Are Prime Day Deals Only for Prime Members?
Officially, yes. You must be an Amazon Prime member to shop for Amazon’s Prime Day deals. There is a free 30-day trial available for new accounts. (Prime membership comes with a lot of perks, and we’ve rounded up all of them here.) The trial will let you get in on the sale—just remember to cancel your membership to avoid any subsequent renewal charges.
There are some discounts available if you’re not a subscriber (those deals might not be that great). But other major retailers like Best Buy and Target usually hold concurrent sales during Prime-exclusive sales events. Their prices are often close to what Amazon is offering on the same products, and sometimes they match the price. This is a good way to take part in the sale if you object to shopping on Amazon.
Is Prime Day Worth It?
It depends. For some items, Prime-exclusive event prices tend to be among the lowest we see all year. That’s especially true for Amazon hardware, like Kindles, Fire Tablets, Fire TV Sticks, and Echo devices. For many items, though, prices fluctuate throughout the year, and some products are discounted quite often. Even if the price is good, a deal on a product that goes on sale all the time diminishes the overall quality of that deal.
The sheer volume of deals promoted by Amazon during sales like Prime Day is a blessing and a curse. The truly good discounts can be difficult to pinpoint—there’s so much stuff on sale that the overall selection can feel overwhelming. But there’s a good chance the item you want will be on sale. We’ve seen some fantastic Prime-exclusive discounts in the past, ranging from dirt-cheap Kindles to elusive price drops on the Nintendo Switch. The tricky part is to find the diamonds in the rough.
There’s another important thing to note regarding Prime Big Deal Days (or Prime Day 2). It happens right before Black Friday, which means if you wait a little longer, you’ll likely be able to get the same deals if not better during late November. If you plan on buying something like an Amazon device, the prices likely won’t be all that different, but for big-ticket items, it may be smarter to wait and see what the prices are like on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
