How to shop Prime Day deals
Prime Day is a members-only event, meaning you'll need to be an Amazon Prime subscriber to make the most of the big sale. If you'd like to participate when it's expected in July, you can sign up and get a 30-day free trial, plus free and fast delivery on millions of eligible products, and access to a lot of other Amazon services, including Prime Video, Prime Reading and Prime Gaming (a premium experience on Twitch).
While Amazon is remaining tight-lipped about the next Amazon Prime Day, we think it’s fair to anticipate the popular sales event will return in July 2023.
If our estimated July date is correct, it could land soon after EOFY sales and be a great opportunity to shop more incredible deals. We’d expect devices such as Kindle ereaders, Ring home security gadgets and the Echo range of smart home speakers and displays to all be on sale during Prime Day 2023.
If you haven’t shopped on Prime Day before, you should know that Prime members are most likely going to get access to the best deals over the sales period. If you’ve never had an account, you can grab a 30-day free trial to be eligible for the Prime-exclusive deals – after that, a subscription costs AU$6.99 a month or AU$59 for a year – but you can cancel anytime. If you want to shop for free on Prime Day, we recommend holding out until closer to the date to sign up, which is likely going to be in mid-July.
When is Amazon Prime Day 2023?
Amazon has not confirmed an official date for Prime Day 2023, but going off dates from previous years, we feel quite confident the next Amazon Prime Day will arrive in the middle of July. In 2022, Prime Day ran from July 12 to July 14, and it also had a July date back in 2018 and 2019. There were two years where Prime Day did not occur in July, but that was during the height of the pandemic when global supply chain issues forced Amazon to change dates.
Now, however, all signs point to Amazon Prime Day sticking to its historic July time slot. We’re predicting it will arrive in the second week of July, though we won’t know for sure until about two weeks out from the event.
What is Amazon Prime Day?
Prime Day began as a 24-hour sale in the US in 2015 to celebrate Amazon’s 20th anniversary, and it quickly became a hugely popular sale event for the retail giant. With a higher volume of deals than in November’s Black Friday sales, and with bigger discounts on offer, it proved to be a money mill for Amazon, and the company has carried on hosting the big sale ever since.
The event has grown and is now held in several countries, and also runs for over 48 hours in many locations. In Australia, however, we get a whooping 65 hours to enjoy shopping. That’s because we get to purchase items that are imported from the US and the UK, so the sale carries on for us until it ends on the US West Coast.
The bulk of deals on Prime Day are available exclusively to Prime members, so to get the best savings out of this event you will need to be an Amazon Prime member. In Australia, Amazon Prime costs AU$6.99 per month, or AU$59 if you pay for an entire year upfront and is a decent saving too.
This small fee not only gives you access to great deals and savings, you also get free expedited shipping on thousands of eligible items, as well as free international shipping for items costing AU$49 and over. You also get access to other Amazon services including Prime Video, Prime Reading and Prime Gaming (a premium experience on Twitch).
How can you get a free Prime account for Prime Day?
So, we know that the best deals on Amazon Prime Day are likely going to be exclusive to Prime members, but there is a way to get a Prime account for free on Prime Day. The catch is, you can’t have had a Prime account before. First-time subscribers can get a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime, and still reap all the benefits of a paying Prime member.
That means you’ll get early access (typically 30 minutes before other shoppers) to popular Lightning Deals – which is when Amazon drops the price on a limited quantity of hot products for a set period of time – plus free delivery on hundreds of eligible items, and free access to the aforementioned Prime Video, Prime Reading and Prime Gaming.
If you decide to stick around after the free trial, Amazon Prime costs AU$6.99 a month, or AU$59 each year. Unlike in the US, Amazon Australia does not offer discounted student memberships or a family plan. We also miss out on some other US perks, like unlimited Amazon Photos storage and same-day delivery, but then we also pay less than half of what it costs our US counterparts.
When was Amazon Prime Day 2022?
Prime Day 2022 was held from July 12-14 in Australia. On the last day, the deals were exclusively available from Amazon UK and Amazon US (which can be found on our local Amazon AU site).
Having the sale in mid-July meant Amazon got back on schedule with its Prime Day events. They’ve typically been held during this time of year, but historically have kicked off on a Monday. So to start on a Tuesday like it did in 2022 was a little different, but not unheard of.
As with previous Prime Days, Aussies got to bargain hunt over 65 hours. That’s because, as we just mentioned, we get to shop some products shipping in from Amazon UK and US. So Australia’s Prime Day goes on until it ends over on the US West Coast.
What deals can you expect on Amazon Prime Day?
Looking at last year’s Amazon sales is a good indication of what to expect from their future sale events, such as Prime Day and Black Friday. At any time of year, Amazon always has deals available sitewide on a range of products in its 'Today’s Deals' section.
We consider ourselves experts on big sales events at T3, so by looking for patterns in Amazon’s previous sales, we can make a few predictions for what we expect to see in 2023.
First up will be discounts on Amazon’s own hardware. We’re talking Amazon Echo smart speakers or smart displays for a fraction of their RRP, plus Amazon’s Fire TV streaming sticks and Ring home security devices for much less than what it would normally cost you.
If that’s just one too many 'smarts' for you, Prime Day is a great time to pick up a Kindle. And, more importantly, there’s a very good chance Amazon will either discount Kindle Unlimited or offer an extended free trial of three months to new customers. Don’t like to read, but prefer to listen? You could even score a discounted Audible subscription or an extended free trial too.
Prime members will also be able to access deals across big brands such as Bosch, Calvin Klein, Fitbit, Lacoste, Lego, Lenovo, L’Oreal, Nintendo, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Yamaha and more.
Other Prime Day regulars we’ve noticed in recent years include electric toothbrushes, wireless headphones and speakers, cameras and so much more, so expect discounts from brands such as Bose, Philips, Sony, Samsung and others.
Amazon now has an Apple Store on its site and, as of December 2021, iPhones are available as well. Prime Day 2022 saw discounts on the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 models but not the 13. So perhaps there will be deals on the iPhone 13 this Prime Day. Apple Watch 7 got a rare discount last year, so here’s hoping we see more of that.
What were the best Prime Day deals in 2022?
Are Prime Day deals worth it?
The question of "Are Prime Day deals worth it?" gets asked quite a lot around this time, and quite frankly there’s a yes and a no answer to this one. Depending on what exactly you’re hoping to buy, Prime Day could be the perfect chance to get the best discount, while it may be more beneficial to wait until the Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales when the same or similar product could see a bigger discount at a different retailer.
That said, Prime Day deals are definitely worth it when it comes to electronics, smart tech and, of course, Prime services. Most Prime services, including Kindle Unlimited and Amazon Music Unlimited get some pretty sweet offers for newcomers and Prime members alike.
How to find the best Prime Day deals
Shopping on Amazon Prime Day can be an exhausting and overwhelming experience if you aren’t prepared for what’s ahead – and trust us, there will be thousands of deals landing on the site, with new ones added throughout the duration of the sale.
While Prime Day is a great chance for deal hunters to snag some of the best discounts of the year, it can easily go wrong if you aren’t sure what to look for, or how to look for it. With that in mind, here’s our expert advice for shopping on Amazon Prime Day, and how to save the most money this year.
Don’t just shop at Amazon: This one may surprise you, but hear us out. Since Prime Day has gotten so popular over the years, many retailers have begun trying to get in on the action by running their own Prime Day-like sales alongside Amazon. Stores such as JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys and even eBay Australia are ones to watch, so don’t be afraid to shop there as well. You could be surprised by what kind of discounts you can find.
Trust your gut on reviews: Amazon’s review system isn’t very good at filtering out useless and unhelpful feedback. If you head to almost any major product released in the past year, you might see one-star reviews with a single sentence clearly expressing dissatisfaction and nothing else. You may even find "fake reviews" to help deter you from a good product or even steer you towards buying a bad product. If it’s something you truly want and it’s on sale, you can use free services like Fakespot to make sure the user reviews are genuine.
Compare prices: This applies to everything. Clothing, electronics, pet supplies, you name it. If it’s on sale during Prime Day, chances are most major sellers stocking it are dropping their prices, and they are all competing against each other. What you may not know, however, is that it may be cheaper at alternative sellers, so don’t be afraid to click that "see other buying options" button from time to time.
Stick with us: If you don’t want to spend too much time and energy on bargain hunting during Prime Day, then bookmark this page as we’ll be doing just that for you. T3’s deals team will be on hand to pick out the juiciest offers on a wide variety of tech and lifestyle products, and we’ll list them right here in an easy-to-navigate page.
