Amazon’s Prime Day is July 16-17, 2024: Here’s How to Shop (2024)

Amazon's 2024 Prime Day has been officially announced, starting at 3:01 a.m. EST on July 16 and running through July 17. I've covered Amazon's shopping holidays, including Prime Day since its inception in 2015 and have learned a lot about how to make the most of the sale to save big. Check out my top tips below and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and X, where our staff will be highlighting the best Prime Day deals. And don't forget: If you have the Amazon Prime Visa credit card you can take advantage of the 5% cash back it offers on Amazon purchases.

Here are some early Prime Day deals worth grabbing before the shopping event even begins. Check out our ongoing page for even more early deals.

Start your cart now

Are there products you know you'll want to buy? Put them in your Amazon cart and if the price drops during the sale, the discount will be automatically updated. During Prime Day you can simply check out without having to browse and hunt down all your items.

Compare historical prices

Sellers sometimes jack up prices before a deals event so that what you think is a sale price is actually the standard one, or possibly an even higher one. You can search for the item using a price tracker like CamelCamelCamel, which will show you what the price has been over time. Or, even easier: Download the site's browser extension and click it whenever you're on an Amazon listing to see a chart of past prices.

Sign up for invite-only sales

Recently, Amazon has introduced an invitation system to buy certain products. If Amazon chooses to do this for the Prime Day sale, you'll see items will have a "Request invite" button where you'd normally click "Add to cart," and there will be limited quantities. You'll get an email with a link to buy the product if you're selected, and you have to make the purchase during the Prime sale. Early deals in the past have been between 25% and 75% off.

Monitor lightning deals

Rotating lightning deals-sales that last only a few hours-run throughout Prime Day, and you'll need to be ready to buy right away as there are limited quantities. To see what's slated before these actually go live, click or tap "Watch this deal" to get notified when the discounts become available. If your item does sell out, you can get on the wait list, which will notify you on Amazon's site or in the mobile app if someone puts the item in their cart but doesn't complete the sale, so you can swoop in to buy it.

Pay with your Amazon credit card

The Amazon Prime Visa credit card offers hard-to-beat cash back rewards for die-hard Amazon Prime shoppers, and even products discounted for Prime Day are eligible for the rewards. In previous Prime sales, Amazon has offered at least 6% back as Amazon credit on everything you buy from the site and from Whole Foods Market, with an additional 10% to 20% back on select products. If you're not a Prime customer, the Amazon Rewards Visa still offers 3% back. Neither has an annual fee.

Keep in mind quality versus cost

It's easy to get caught up in the Prime Day fervor and to be enticed by a "good" price, but you may want to pause if the product isn't one that you would potentially buy at full price. Much like Black Friday door-busters, the items with the biggest Prime Day discounts aren't necessarily the best products. A $300 65-inch TV might seem like a worthwhile deal, for example, but if the TV's technology is older or the picture is a lower resolution, you could be better off paying more for an updated version. Researching products beforehand can help you home in on the smartest buys.

Optimize your recent purchases

Amazon doesn't offer price matching, but most products purchased from the site can be returned free within 30 days of receiving them. So if the Prime Day price on something you bought in the last month is significantly lower, it might be worth your time to purchase it again and send back the first one.

Compare sales on other sites

Although Amazon is the progenitor of Prime Day, it's not the only company offering up deals around this time. You may find items you're looking for on sale at Walmart, Target and other major retailers, who in the past have held their own sales on or close to Amazon's deal days.