Amazon Prime Day 2020: Confirmed dates, best deals & more

Amazon’s annual Prime Day 2020 event is now confirmed to be taking place in October following some COVID-related delays. Normally, Prime Day takes place mid-July each year, and this will be the first time since the event started a few years ago that it is being pushed back to the fall. Consumers have been affected by an economic slowdown and Amazon has suffered from product supply issues along with delays for fulfillment, making the delay a smart move.

If Amazon does indeed have Prime Day 2020 during October, that will likely be the unofficial kickoff for the whole 2020 holiday shopping season with millions of the best deals. It’s likely we will see Amazon go hard with the deals in an effort to gobble up some of the early shopping shares, and will carry the momentum through the month and into November ahead of Black Friday.

Let’s dive into everything we know about Prime Day 2020 now that we have an official announcement!

When is Amazon Prime Day 2020?

Amazon has now officially announced the date for Prime Day 2020. The event will begin on Tuesday, October 13 and run through Wednesday, October 14.

Similar to last year, Prime Day 2020 is a 2-day event spanning a full 48-hour period, giving you plenty of time to shop the best deals. The first deals will kick off just after midnight PT on October 13 and the event will end at midnight PT on October 14.

This is the first time we have seen a Prime Day sale in the fall months, so it remains to be seen exactly how the event will play out with a likely Amazon Black Friday sale following not too far behind.

Why is Amazon Prime Day 2020 being delayed?

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Amazon Prime Day 2020 is now taking place in the fall months for the first time. Amazon started the annual Prime Day event back in 2015, and since then it has always taken place in mid-July. With the COVID-19 outbreak, Amazon has faced issues with fulfillment, product availability, and workplace health concerns.

Delaying Prime Day until October gives the company a better chance at being able to keep up with orders, keep its workers safe, and give an overall better experience to everyone involved.

What are the best Prime Day 2020 deals?

As of right now, we aren’t exactly sure what products Amazon will be discounting on Prime Day this year, though there are a couple of early Prime Day deals that you can snag already. We can pretty much guarantee that all of Amazon’s devices, including the Echo, Echo Dot, Ring Video Doorbell, Blink cameras, Kindles, and more will all be on sale.

Based on the past few years, you can also anticipate items like DNA testing kits, Instant Pots, unlocked phones, and more to all be available at all-time low prices. We’ve already taken a look at five Prime Day deals we look forward to seeing.

There are already some nice early Prime Day deals taking place, and we’ve taken some time to round up all of the best Prime Day deals you can take advantage of today.

What deals do we expect during Prime Day 2020

There’s no easy way to tell what will be discounted on Amazon until we receive the official word from Amazon, but after all these years of covering the event, we have a few ideas. It’s nearly a guarantee that all of Amazon’s own hardware, like the Fire TV sticks, Echo line, Kindles, Ring gear, and more will be on sale. Prime Day tends to bring many of these devices to historic low prices. The best Prime Day deals are generally focused directly around these items.

Beyond the usual suspects, we’d imagine that popular electronics like the TCL Roku TVs and Sonos speakers will be on sale, along with kitchen gadgets from Instant Pot, Keurig, and more.

Should you shop Prime Day 2020 deals or wait for Black Friday 2020?

This year it seems as though Prime Day will be taking place about 12 weeks later than normal, which puts it only about six weeks away from Black Friday. We all know that Black Friday has gone from a one-day event into a month-long marathon of sales, so realistically Prime Day is only about two weeks before the kick off of November, which is pretty close with all things considered.

Odds are Amazon realizes that in order to capture the audience looking to spend money that’s potentially worried about this that it will need to bring some irresistible offers to the table. We’ve always been in support of shopping early instead of waiting, especially since Black Friday’s shopping season is a week shorter than normal (like it was in 2019), so product availability could be scarce during the holidays.

We’d imagine that Amazon will be bringing some competitive and enticing prices on hot devices, so you’ll likely want to be prepared to do a bunch of your holiday shopping during Prime Day 2020, even though that may not be what you are used to doing.

What were the most popular Prime Day deals in 2019?

Each year, Amazon announces the top-selling Prime Day deals, and in 2019 most of its own hardware topped the list. It’s not a huge surprise to see this, as Amazon tends to aggressively lower the prices for the big event. Aside from its hardware, SanDisk microSD cards, Instant Pots, and a few others made the list.

In the U.S. Amazon said the highlights included:

• A record number of Prime members shopped during Prime Day in the U.S.
• Prime members purchased more than 100,000 lunchboxes, 100,000 laptops, 200,000 TVs, one million headphones, 350,000 luxury beauty products, 400,000 pet products, 650,000 household cleaning supplies, and more than one million toys.
• Prime members purchased more than 200,000 LifeStraw Personal Water Filters and 150,000 Crest 3D White Professional Effects Whitestrips Kits.
• This year, Prime members in the U.S. received tens of millions in Prime Day savings when they shopped at Whole Foods Market. The best-selling Prime Day deals were organic strawberries, red cherries, and blueberries.

When will Amazon Prime Day 2020 deals begin?

Amazon kicked off a few early Prime Day deals alongside the announcement of the Prime Day 2020 dates, so you can already shop those. The deals will really start flowing during the actual event, though, which is slated to start at midnight PT on October 13. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on the very best Prime Day deals as they appear.

What type of Prime Day deals will there be?

Amazon will have a few different deal styles running on Prime Day. There are a few different types of deals you can expect to see during the event, including Gold Box deals, Lightning deals, Coupon deals, and direct price drops. Each of these is a little different, so here’s what you can expect from each type:

• Gold Box Deals of the Day: These are Amazon’s daily deals, and generally for these, the company has plenty of stock to fulfill orders on it all day long. We have seen Gold Box deals sell out in the past, but it’s far less often that these sell out than the other types of deals.
• Lightning Deals: Like an actual bolt of lightning, these deals will come and go fast. On an average day, Lightning deals tend to last for around six hours, but on Prime Day it’s likely that the most popular deals will go in the blink of an eye. You can generally join a waitlist if it sells out, but that won’t guarantee that you will actually get the product.
• Coupon Deals: Many sellers will be offering coupon codes as a way to help people save on Prime Day, and these require a little more work. Some will offer landing pages that automatically clip the coupon code for you, and others will require you to manually enter them during the checkout process. The few seconds of extra work can sometimes save you big, though.
• Direct Price Drops: For a vast majority of deals on Prime Day, you’ll visit the page and the price will just be reduced.

These price drops span all of the categories that Amazon covers. Whether you’re in the market for kitchen appliances or knives, or happen to need a new TV, computer, clothing, or even a new mattress, odds are it will be on sale during Prime Day.

Will USPS shipping delays affect Prime Day?

It’s a little too early to tell at this point, but it does indeed seem likely that Prime Day could suffer some delivery delays because of the USPS backlog. As of right now, USPS performs about 30% of Amazon’s deliveries, which is quite a large number. Recent changes at the Post Office have led to delayed packages, mail sitting in locations for long durations, and more.

Hopefully, things turn around or Amazon is able to offset the delays with more in-house shipping this year.

What is Amazon Prime Day?

Underneath all the advertising and marketing jargon you’ll read about Amazon Prime Day is a rather large shopping event that kicks off on in the middle of July each year. It used to be a one-day event, but Amazon has since expanded that. In 2018 the company ran it for 36 hours, and in 2019 it expanded to 48 hours. Amazon claims that Prime Day is bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and basing it off of what we saw last year, it is entirely possible that the company can pull that off this year.

The shopping event is exclusive to members of Amazon’s Prime service, which offers free 2-day shipping on millions of items, access to Prime Video, photo storage, and much more. An Amazon Prime membership now costs $119 a year, but you can get a free 30-day trial to get all the benefits without shelling out any cash. Yes, that means that you’ll be able to shop all the Prime Day deals, get the free 2-day shipping, and all without paying anything for it. Keep in mind that after the 30 days Amazon will charge you for the year in full, so you’ll want to set a reminder to cancel if you don’t want to keep it.

Prime Day Concert, explained

This is a bit of an odd one, but two years ago Amazon started a new tradition with a Prime Day concert. The first one was headlined by Ariana Grande, and last year Taylor Swift hit the stage to perform. The 2020 Prime Day Concert has yet to be made official, but we can expect that Amazon will indeed offer one with a large headline act.

We will keep you posted as Amazon announces more information on the Prime Day concert for this year’s event.

Will other retailers try to participate in Amazon Prime Day?

With certainty we can say yes. Other retailers like Walmart, Target, Best Buy, eBay, Newegg, and plenty of others will be joining in on the fun. Some will launch sales aimed directly at competing with Prime Day offerings, and others will simply match the deals and discounts from Amazon.

We’ve seen eBay go all-in on its own promotions in years past, and with the state of everything right now we wouldn’t be surprised to see more competition do the same.

What is the history of Amazon Prime Day?

To help celebrate its 20th anniversary, Amazon kicked off Prime Day back in 2015. Since then, the company has grown the event, making it a little bigger each year. 2020 will mark the sixth anniversary of Prime Day as we know it. The event started as a one-day thing that had a random mix of things on sale, and has evolved into what was a 48 hour event last year that offered well over 1 million deals.

Beyond just discounting its own hardware, Amazon features discounts on popular products from Bose, Instant Pot, TCL, KitchenAid, and many other big brands. The growth hasn’t been flawless for Amazon, though. Last year, the company experienced nearly two hours of downtime at the beginning of the event due to the extra traffic. The site had immense troubles loading listings, showing updated pricing, and getting through the checkout process. Once this was resolved, the rest of it went pretty smoothly.

How does Amazon Prime Day work?

Prime Day is not as straightforward as some other big shopping days, and that’s not such a bad thing. There are some things that you’ll want to keep in mind, especially if you are looking for deals on specific products. Last year, Amazon released deals in batches every three hours. This year, some of the promotions are based around six-hour blocks, so it’s possible the company has extended the times each deal will be available to accommodate for the longer event.

Who is Prime Day for?

Only people who are Amazon Prime members will be able to participate in Prime Day. You don’t have to be a long-standing member. Even if you just use the 30-day Prime Day free trial for the event you can shop the sales.

You should also be able to participate if you’re part of Amazon Household, Family, or using the student-discounted Prime membership.

Amazon Prime Membership

Start your free trial at Amazon

You can sign up for a free 30-day trial of Amazon’s Prime service so you can still take advantage of all the great Prime Day deals without paying anything extra.

So, do I need to be a Prime member to get Prime Day deals?

The short answer: yes. Sign up for a free 30-day trial if you aren’t already one so you can still take advantage of the great deals we will see.

Should I sign up for an Amazon Prime trial now?

Amazon offers a free 30-day free trial of its Prime service and, since Amazon Prime Day 2020 is officially set for October 13 and 14, you can snap up that free trial now to ensure you get in on the savings.

Why should I care about Prime Day?

Most people shop all year, not just around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Odds are there is something that you’re looking to buy, and who likes to pay full price for the items they want the most? Whether you’re heading off to college this year and need some essentials for your dorm room, or you’ve just been putting off a purchase of new luggage, cell phone accessories, headphones, and more, Prime Day may just offer the deal you need to own that new gear.

On Prime Day, Amazon doesn’t have deals in only one or two categories, it’s basically across everything that the site sells. This means there is literally a deal out there for everyone. Seriously. From Echo devices to Amazon services like Kindle Unlimited, Instant Pots, DNA test kits, and almost anything else you can think of, you’ll probably see a discount or ten on some of the most popular products.

How do I prepare for Amazon Prime Day?

There are lots of little things you can be doing now to prepare yourself for Prime Day. Some may be obvious and others you may not have considered. Let’s review some Prime Day tips to ensure that you’re ready for maximum savings on the big day.

Begin with your Amazon account. Check to ensure that your Prime membership is in good standing and won’t be up for renewal before mid-July. You’ll also want to make sure that your billing address is correct and that your credit cards aren’t expired. It may seem silly now, but those extra few seconds you save during checkout could be the difference between scoring a sick deal and missing out on it.

Keep an eye on Thrifter’s Twitter account to find out exactly when the event will be taking place so that you can begin your 30-day free trial at the right time, and it won’t expire before you get to use it.

You’re going to want to get yourself an Alexa-enabled device. The Echo Dot is only $50 and often on sale for less than that, including an early Prime Day deal going on right now. This may enable you to get deals exclusive to voice shoppers, deals even other Prime members won’t be able to get first like it has in years past.

The Amazon Prime Rewards credit card is for the hardcore people. You need an eligible Prime membership to get the most benefits out of this card. Signing up for it gets you a $70 Amazon gift card you can spend on Prime Day. Plus, you can get 5% back on Amazon from whatever you spend. If you plan to go all-out on Prime Day, this is a no-brainer.

Which countries participate in Amazon Prime Day?

In 2019, Amazon offered Prime Day in 17 countries, and it’s likely that more will be added this year. The countries that participated include: Australia, Japan, Singapore, China, India, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Mexico.

How do I stay on top of Prime Day deals?

Amazon Prime Day 2020 is likely to be the biggest one yet, with over a million deals that cycle through the course of it. Luckily, there are a few great ways to stay on top of the deals, and some of them you can do right from your phone. If Amazon continues some of what we’ve seen in the past few years, you’ll be able to look forward to the following.

First up is the Amazon app. You’ll want to make sure you have it downloaded and installed on your phone. First-time users will actually even get a $10 credit to use on Prime Day for signing in the first time, so don’t miss out. In the Amazon app, you’ll be able to set alerts for upcoming Lightning deals, watch deals that you’re interested in, and quickly check out when they go live.

If using your phone during the workday isn’t permitted, Amazon’s Assistant browser extension may be a better bet for you. You can install it for free, and as a Prime member, you’ll get $5 off your next $25 order for goods sold and shipped by Amazon. You will need to use the Assistant extension to find the deal, but it’s a small trade-off for the additional discount.

Our pals over at Thrifter will also be covering all of the event. When it comes to big events like this that are full of deals, the team just doesn’t sleep. From deals that are likely to sell out quickly to coupon codes you may not have uncovered on your own, Thrifter will be the absolute best place to look for a Prime Day deal that you may be interested in. You’ll want to make sure that you are following them on Twitter.

Will there be Prime Day exclusive products that launch?

In 2018, we saw something new from Amazon. The company used its Prime Day event as a time to unveil a bunch of new products for different brands, like an Alexa-activated faucet, Bluetooth soundbars, Crayola crayon sets, and much more. These weren’t the highlight of the day, but it could be a step towards a bigger vision for Amazon. On Black Friday, we tend to see a lot of companies release specific models that are only sold during that time frame, and if Prime Day continues to grow we could see the same for the mid-summer event.

The same carried true in 2019, and we expect Prime Day 2020 will bring even more new exclusive product launches though that could be dialed back depending on how supply chains recover for companies looking to launch new products.

What else should I know?

So, now that you know the basics about Prime Day, here are a couple of pro tips to help you get the absolute most out of the big event that you can. Our first words of advice are “Buy now, think later.” Seriously, some of these deals will sell out in just seconds, and the last thing you’ll want is to miss out on a great price because you were thinking too much about it. Amazon allows you to cancel an order before it ships, and on most items, the company even offers free returns. Instead of missing out, buy the deals that you’re most interested in, and then do your research on the product and such after you’ve completed the checkout process.

With such a wide variety of products being on sale during the event, it’s often times helpful to have some sort of game plan ahead of time. Think about the things you want to buy and need the most. Jot them down, mark them in the app, and be ready to buy them when you see the deals hit. If you go in blind, you’ll either come out having purchased way too much (which is still a win when it’s discounted) or with nothing at all. The old saying “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail” definitely applies here.

As mentioned above, you do 100% need to be an Amazon Prime member in order to get in on the Prime Day action. Get yourself the free 30-day trial to help save you money without costing you anything.

Is everything that’s discounted worth buying?

Without knowing the deals ahead of time, it’s hard to say which exact models and items will be worth buying or not. Generally, gaming consoles, Alexa devices, TVs, and other miscellaneous items are available at some pretty great prices. Some items, like laptops, are not as smart of a purchase on Prime Day.

Last year we saw some great deals surface on things like the Echo Dot, Instant Pot, DNA testing kits, and more. In 2020, we anticipate that Amazon will up the anty a bit and offer even more knockout deals.

Just remember, not every deal is actually a deal so be sure to keep it locked to Thrifter for all the best deals you should *actually buy** on Prime Day.

Let Thrifter help you

Prime Day just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and it’s really hard to maximize your savings during these big events. The team over at Thrifter is full of professional deal hunters who will literally be providing around the clock coverage of everything on Prime Day. From the best savings, as they hit to roundups of what you should be buying, the team will aim to make it as easy as possible to find the best deals that are available from the first to the last minute.

Give them a follow on Twitter to keep up-to-date on all the best deals as they happen in real-time.

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Amazon Prime Day 2020

Amazon Prime Day 2020

• Prime Day 2020 may happen in September
• How to prepare for Prime Day 2020
• How to track Prime Day Deals in 2020