Amazon Prime Day 101: Everything You Need To Know To Shop The Major Sale

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The first step in shopping the mega-savings event is to know when you can actually hit ‘checkout’ and score deals on low prices. Unfortunately, poor timing is the biggest demise to customer's expectations when shopping Prime Day, especially when it comes to lightning deals. Stay ahead of the game by keeping track of your calendar and timing your shopping day accordingly.

One of the most confusing aspects of Prime Day is simply determining whether or not you’re allowed to shop. To clarify, Prime Day exclusive offers, lightning deals and two-day shipping are only for Amazon Prime members. Perks of being a Prime member are enjoyed year-round, like fast and free shipping and entertainment exclusives, as well as free books on Kindle. However, Prime members really see the fruits of their labor every summer come the big sale event. You can sign up for a membership before or during the event, although it’s recommended you sign up ahead of time so you don’t miss out on any offers.

The next crucial Prime Day shopping detail to keep in mind is what types of deals will be available. Of course, the Prime Day sale event will feature some of the lowest prices of the year, plus free two-day shipping that members know and love — but lowered prices are not the only way to take advantage of discounts. Keep an eye out for Lightning Deals, which are exclusive, limited-time offers that can be claimed by only a select number of members. These deals are some of the hottest of the promotion and due to their strict guidelines, are the most timely to watch for and require quick decision making. These picks are often featured on the home page of Amazon but can also be found in their product description under normal pricing and product details.

While the big event doesn’t kick off for another few weeks, members can shop early access Prime deals now! These special offers give a taste of what’s to come later on while giving shoppers the chance to claim deep discounts ahead of the frenzy. Clothing, tech items, baby and child products, plus outdoor and home essentials, are just a few examples of categories included in the massive site-wide promotion.

Now for the fun stuff, like how to maximize your savings when shopping on July 12 and 13. A shopping tip we always like to share with Squeaky Deals readers is to first download the retailer’s app for convenience. Here, you can input your payment and shipping details to make checkout seamless.

Next, we always like to encourage savvy shoppers to utilize features that allow you to "like" or "favorite" specific products or that let you add to a wish list. Amazon enables users to make wish lists, which comes in handy when trying to remember which products you’re on the hunt for or have been waiting for prices to drop.

By creating a Prime Day 2022 wish list, you’ll be able to quickly navigate to products you’ve been eyeing and add them to cart in just a click if they’re on sale. This is the most efficient way to track your favorite items throughout the sale and never miss an opportunity on a limited time deal.

Creating a wish list of favorited items doesn’t just guarantee that you’ll be able to purchase products at the best price, but can also mitigate unnecessary spending. Amazon is notorious for enabling excessive purchases due to convenience (and maybe even by mistake with 1-click order options). Nonetheless, even with low Prime Day prices, shopper’s guilt is a possibility due to the urgency to check out as soon as possible so you don’t miss out on a good thing. While we certainly acknowledge this is a reality when shopping the sale, it can lead to overspending and under satisfaction from being swept up in the chaos.

Taking time to inventory your current possessions and note what needs replacing or an upgrade can guide you to spend your money on quality products you actually need. Furthermore, by creating a list or outline of where you envision your money being spent during Prime Day, you have the luxury of time to mull over favorited items to determine if they’re really favorites or just caught your eye.