Amazon Prime Day. Love it, hate it, don’t give a shit about it.
For the most basic of us, Amazon is a blackhole we lose our credit cards to because, well, shit happens. My most recent almost purchase was a little edamame looking bean thing that’s an alternative to a fidget cube.
How could you not want to play with this, right? Sadly it never made it to my purchases, but I think of it fondly in my “saved” list. Anywhoo, you’re probably here asking what all the buzz is about this “Prime Day.” Honestly, I don’t think anyone can give you a straight answer to that. It’s a great sale for some things, other items I’d give it a big fat “MEH.” There’s a cauliflower tool that showed up in my suggested items…I don’t even like cauliflower, so lord knows how that ended up there…or why it’s even on sale.
Do people like cauliflower that much?
The short and skinny of it is Amazon puts on this show once a year, each year for a little bit longer. The first time it happened three years ago, it was a 24 hour shindig…now it spans over three days (30 hours to be exact). It started last night at 6pm PST and goes until tomorrow night at midnight PST.
There are two kinds of deals happening on the site. Prime Day deals last the entire duration (or until sold out)…things like Amazon’s Alexa and the infamous roomba fall into this category. Then you’ve got Amazon’s lightning deals, which last up to five or six hours, but realistically, some have only lasted a matter of seconds (rip IHOP giftcard that soldout before I could get my paws on it).
Personally, I think the lightning deals are the best “deals” because they’re limited in quantity and often have the most reduced pricing. To find these deals, click on the Amazon homepage and scroll down to “upcoming deals.”
Then you’ll come to a list of departments that look like so:
My favorite departments thus far have been: Books, Beauty, Home, and Kitchen. Is that any surprise given my “books, beauty, and bullshit” slogan? Nah.
So the lightning deals are fun (if you get them), but they’re also a bit stressful if you set your heart on just one thing. I’d suggest having a variety of things that’re spread out in when they go live…otherwise you might get distracted clicking and adding one item (that won’t sell out, hello book I’m glad I didn’t wakeup at 3am for), while another sells out (I’m looking at you, pretty three-piece immersion blender).
The other downside to lightning deals is you don’t know how much of a discount they’ll have until they go live…so for some books I was looking at, it was a matter of $2-3. BUT, if you are looking to buy books, use the code “PRIMEBOOKS17.” You get $5 off an order of $15. That’s a pretty good deal, in my not so humble opinion.
If you’re looking to order from PRIME NOW, there’s also a code for that: 10PRIMEDAY. That gets you $10 off your first order and $10 off a future order (although I’m not sure if that second discount expires at some point).
The biggest piece of advice I’d have about Prime Day is to do your research-either ahead of time if you have something on a wishlist that you’re considering buying, or after it goes on sale and it’s in your cart. Amazon lets you keep something with a lightning deal in your basket for 15 minutes before the discount expires, so you can price check elsewhere on the interwebs.
While I think Amazon’s tried to do a really good job of making it’s Prime Day specials actual “specials,” not all of the items are great bargains. If you click “see all sellers” on an item listing, some items are offered cheaper (sometimes even with free or Prime shipping). Also, when in doubt, you can always return purchases…but unless they arrive damaged or defective, Amazon sometimes charges restocking fees and/or doesn’t reimburse return shipping.
I’ll put together a mini haul of my finds once they arrive later this week (thank you, Prime shipping…although it might be closer to the weekend because of how high the volume of orders are right now).
SO, shop smart and share your best finds (or worst ones) below in the comments!
Until Soon,
kissed.with.a.quip.
