Prime Day Deals! How Much Can You Save? Curious about all the cool stuff you can get today at a cheaper price? Here's a starter list.
By Thomas Smale Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Amazon Prime Day 2017 began last night (Monday, July 10) at 9 p.m. EST. Besides the winter holidays, this is their biggest sale of the year. This year's Prime Day represents the third sales event of its kind, and it will last for a full 30 hours.
Related: The Best Amazon Prime Day Deals You Can't Afford to Miss
During Prime Day, you can find great deals on various electronics, gift cards, household items, supplements, beauty and fashion, fitness and health, gardening, outdoor products and much more. Amazon has gone on record to say this will be the biggest Prime Day yet, with hundreds of thousands of items going on sale.
So, how does this year's Prime Day compare to the last two? What deals are worth your time? How should you approach your shopping during this frenzied sale?
Deals on Amazon exclusive products, devices and services
For this year's Prime Day, Amazon will be offering many of its exclusive products at a significant discount.
Whether you've had your eye on the Amazon Echo, the Kindle Paperwhite or Fire 7 tablet, you can expect to see some great deals on Amazon tech and subscription programs during the 30-hour sale.
You can get: $30 off the Kindle Paperwhite, 18 percent off the Amazon Echo, $15 off the Echo Dot and $40 off the Fire HD 8 Kids Edition; and you can buy the Fire 7 tablet for just $29.99 -- among the many deals.
To be fair, these deals are a lot like last year's, where you could get $50 off the Echo, $30 off the Fire TV, $30 off the Paperwhite and so forth. The main difference this year is that you can expect to pay even less for the same products.
Prime members can also get great deals on the following programs, even before the Prime Day launch:
- 40 percent off a Kindle Unlimited membership
- 40 percent off your first six months of an Audible subscription
- Four months of access to Amazon Music Unlimited, for only $0.99
- 35 percent off coupons for select food and household items on Prime Pantry
Prime members get $10 to spend on Prime Day when they stream a Prime video for the first time; and they can also get 20 percent off brands like Sonos, Le Creuset, Crock-pot, Samsung and Amazon Tap, plus discounts on Fire HD tablets and other Amazon Warehouse Deals.
It shouldn't come as any surprise that Amazon is promoting its own products and services, but it's nice to know you can get great deals on them during Prime Day.
Deals on electronics and entertainment products
Consumers can expect to save on all manner of electronics and entertainment products, from video games, movies, Bluetooth speakers, computers, to TVs, routers, headphones, VR headsets and more.
On Prime Day, you can expect to get up to 25 percent off the Samsung Galaxy S8; $100 to $200 off MacBook Pros; 30 percent off the Reprap Guru Prusa I3 V2 3D printer kit; $150 off the Element Electronics EL4KAMZ5517 55-inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV with Amazon Fire TV; $199 off the Oculus Rift Touch Bundle, $50 off the August Smart Lock and more.
Related: 14 Amazon Prime Day Deals You Can't Afford to Miss
During past Prime Day promotions, you could find equally great deals on all manner of electronics, including smartphones, headphones, laptops, memory cards and the like. Basically, the best deals depend on whom you ask and what you're presently looking for. But if you've been holding off on certain electronic or entertainment purchases, now might be a good time to look over the deals.
Deals on other products
Technology and electronics are often a big focus for Prime Day. But this isn't to suggest that you can't find deals on other products, whether home and garden deals, toys for the kids, accessories, sporting goods or fitness and health products.
If you're interested in finding other deals and want to keep an eye on them, download the Amazon app, find products you're interested in and add them to your list. It's easy to miss deals during Prime Day, so this can help with your shopping.
Is it worth paying attention to Prime Day deals?
This is the third-ever Prime Day sale. Because it's a new promotion, many people are still wondering if it's worth their time.
With hundreds of thousands of products going on sale, there are opportunities to save money on products you want or need, but there's no way you can look through them all. There simply isn't enough time.
One way to navigate this challenge is by downloading the Amazon app, which will let you know what products will be going on sale a day in advance. Amazon also has a Prime Day Insider Guide, which tells you how to watch for deals you might be interested in.
Free giveaways are another major attraction of Prime Day, though they won't stay open for long. Some lucky winners have already claimed a MacBook Pro, Samsung Home Theatre System, Apple iPad mini 4, PlayStation 4 Slim, Nintendo Switch and Amazon Echo, among other prizes.
One of the main downsides of Prime Day is that you probably will miss some deals unless you can stay awake for the full 30 hours. New deals are posted every five minutes, which means it's virtually impossible to stay on top of.
Additionally, you aren't guaranteed the best deals on Prime Day. You may find the same products at cheaper prices elsewhere. It may be worth doing a bit of comparison shopping before you commit to a purchase.
Ultimately, you'll need to make up your mind whether to participate. If there aren't products you're interested in right now, or you simply don't have the budget, you can always check in at the next sale.
Final thoughts
With over 100,000 products going on sale, Prime Day is sure to prompt a feeding frenzy.
If you have a bit of extra time to keep an eye on all the activity, you may have the chance to snag some great deals.
But even if you don't, if you're a Prime member, there are always great offers you can take advantage of, particularly on Kindle, Audible and Amazon Music Unlimited subscriptions.
Related: How Much Did You Spend on Amazon Prime Last Year?
There is something for everyone, assuming you have a bit of time and the money to spend. It will be worth keeping an eye on future Prime Day sales as this event continues to evolve.
