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Amazon Prime Day 2019: Leaked Dates and Best Deals
Amazon Prime Day 2019 is a massive retail holiday with sitewide discounts, Lightning Deals, and price drops on Amazon services.
Now in its fifth year, the self-proclaimed holiday offers particularly good deals on Amazon hardware. Although shoppers must be Prime members to participate, anyone can sign up for a free 30-day Prime membership trial.
Amazon hasn't announced an official date for Prime Day 2019 yet, but website RealHomes reports that Prime Day may begin on July 15. Based on previous Prime Day dates, the rumor has some legs to it. (We've reached out to Amazon for comment and will update our story accordingly).
So what can you expect from Amazon Prime Day 2019? We're here to break down Amazon's upcoming holiday.
What is Amazon Prime Day?
Prime Day began in July 2015 when Amazon decided to celebrate its 20-year anniversary with 24 hours of deals exclusively for Prime members. The event was a hit, so the following year Amazon branded it as a "deals holiday" comparing it to Black Friday. In 2017, Amazon expanded Prime Day from 24 hours to 30 hours. In 2018, Amazon expanded Prime Day again adding six hours for a total of 36 hours of deals. The retailer doesn't provide specific numbers, but in 2018 it sold more than a million products. If you're wondering what were the top-selling devices — naturally, they were Amazon's own Fire TV Stick and Echo Dot.
When is Prime Day 2019?
In 2018, Prime Day was expanded to 36 hours running from Monday, July 16 at 3pm ET through end of day Tuesday, July 17. Amazon Prime Day is typically held the second week of July, but last year — perhaps due to World Cup semifinals — Prime Day was held on the third week of July. An early leak indicates that Prime Day 2019 could run from July 15 to July 17.
When will Amazon announce its official Prime Day dates?
Amazon usually waits until late June or early July to confirm its Prime Day dates. Following its announcement, it begins a week-long series of Prime Day "preview" deals. Already, we're seeing an influx or Amazon deals and we expect these price to dip even further come July.
I'm not a Prime Member. Can I still shop Amazon deals on Prime Day?
To participate in Prime Day, you'll need a Prime membership. If you're already a subscriber, you're good to go. Otherwise, wait until mid-June to early July to start your free, 30-day Prime membership trial. After your trial is up, you'll be charged $119 for a full year of Prime unless you cancel. (Or you can opt to pay $12.99/month for Prime membership with no commitment. Just keep in mind, paying monthly for a full year is pricier than doing an annual payment).
Are Prime Student memberships valid on Prime Day?
Amazon Prime Student is an budget version of Amazon's traditional Prime membership. To qualify, you must be enrolled in college and have a valid edu-based e-mail address. Prime Student members get six free months of Prime (instead of the usual 30-day trial) and they only pay $59/year for membership, which is 50% cheaper than a full Prime membership. Prime Student members benefit from many of the same Prime perks such as speedy, 2-day shipping, Amazon Video streaming, and the ability to shop Prime Day deals.
What's on sale during Prime Day?
The best Prime Day deals are — not surprisingly — on Amazon's own devices. This includes gadgets like the Echo Dot, Fire Tablet 7, and Fire TV Stick 4K, which typically sell at their lowest (or second-lowest) price of the year on Prime Day. Unfortunately, components such as video cards, SSDs, and CPUs generally don't see amazing discounts. That's not to say you won't see any deals on components, but you'll just have to shop cautiously. We recommend using tools like Camelizer to research a product's price history and avoid being swept up by Amazon's Prime Day hype.
Will any Amazon services be on sale for Prime Day?
In addition to devices, we expect to see deals on select Amazon services like Music Unlimited and Free Time Unlimited. If you live in a Prime Now city, you can also expect to see discounts on Prime Now deliveries. (Currently, you can use coupon code "SAVE10WF" to take $10 off your first order, but we'd wait till Prime Day when we'll likely see a deeper discount). Last year, Whole Foods also played a huge role on Prime Day. (Prime members who spent $10 or more at Whole Foods received a $10 Amazon Prime Day credit). We expect a similar promo for Prime Day 2019.
Where else can I find deals?
Prime Day has caused other retailers to hold sales of their own. Best Buy and Newegg have tried to steal a piece of the Prime Day pie with their anti-Prime Day sales. From a shopper's point of view, this is great because it means you'll find better-than-average deals than you typically would for mid-July. Will they be better than Black Friday? Probably not, but you'll still be able to save a reasonable amount of cash.
What pre Prime Day deals can I buy now?
Amazon is already offering solid discounts on some of its gear. Today's best bargains include:
Echo Input for $19.99 ($15 off)
Echo Dot for $29.99 ($20 off)
Echo for $79.99 ($20 off)
Echo Show w/ Echo Dot + Philips Hue Bulb for $229.99 ($64 off)
