CLARK HOWARD

4 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT AMAZON PRIME DAY

Amazon Prime Day 2018 is around the corner. The annual shopping extravaganza will once again offer hundreds of thousands of deals that are exclusively for Prime members.

How big is it? Prime Day was the online retailer’s best sales day in history last year, surpassing Black Friday.

1. What exactly is Amazon Prime Day?

Prime Day dates back to 2015 and is the summertime equivalent to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It gets bigger every year and expanded to 13 countries in 2017.

New deals go live as often as every five minutes on Prime Day, with a few deals offered the week before.

If you find a Lightning Deal that you like, do a quick price comparison and order it before it’s gone. These deals are available in limited quantity for a short period of time.

Pro tip: Use the Amazon App to watch deals and get notifications when they start.

Amazon says tens of millions of Prime members made a purchase on Prime Day 2017, more than 50 percent higher than the year before. It was also the best single day for new member signups.

2. When is Amazon Prime Day this year?

Amazon hasn’t officially announced the date for Prime Day 2018, but TechRadar reports the news was leaked in a banner that was published on the Amazon UK website and later taken down.

Deals will reportedly start at midday on July 16 and continue all day July 17 — 36 straight hours of deals.

3. What are the best Prime Day deals?

You can expect plenty of discounts on Amazon devices for Prime Day 2018. The most popular purchase last Prime Day was the Echo Dot, which was on sale for $34.99.

Amazon said in a news release that there were also record sales for Echo, Fire tablets and Kindle devices.

Looking for a new TV? You may want to wait for Prime Day.

4. Do I have to be an Amazon Prime member?

As the name of the shopping event indicates, you do need an Amazon Prime membership to take advantage of all the great deals on Prime Day 2018.

If you’ve never been a member, it’s a great time to sign up for a 30-day free trial to experience all the perks.

The annual cost of a Prime membership recently increased to $119, but there’s also a $12.99 monthly option that you may want to consider if you don’t need it yearround.

Discounted Prime memberships are also available for students and lowincome households.

Because one of the main benefits of a subscription is free two-day shipping on millions of items, everything you order on Prime Day should arrive at your door quickly.