7 On Your Side: Amazon Prime Days deals vs. duds
Amazon Prime Days runs July 11-12
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Tuesday marks the start of Amazon Prime Day, 2 days, and 48 hours of, hopefully, great deals offered on Amazon.
But how do you separate the deals from the duds? And, how can we get great deals locally?
"What are you shopping for on Amazon Prime Days?" 7 On Your Side's Nina Pineda asked.
"A watch, electronics, and gift for my mother," said Marvin Rosa, a Prime member.
Rosa is primed for Prime Days, which promises epic deals from now until July 12.
At the New York Times's Wirecutter testing studio, they've sorted through hundreds of items before recommending Prime Picks.
"We want to make sure you're getting things that will last a while," said Ignacia Fulcher, Supervising Editor, Wirecutter.
Fulcher says their deal hunters like the Echo portable Bluetooth speaker.
"We like the Echo Dot because you can hook it up to Bluetooth to your phone, you can play music while you're getting ready and it even has an alarm clock function," Fulcher said.
Amazon's own slew of products should be slashed for the two-day sales event, like the Amazon Fire 43-inch TV, Kindle tablet reader, all models of portable audio, and Smarthome devices.
Apple products, cheapest on Black Friday usually, see markdowns during Prime Days. Look for price drops on the iPad and Apple Macbook Air, and the Apple Watch, but inventory will be limited.
"I would suggest to go and lean on lightning deals which would give you more of a chance to get the product that you want," Fulcher said.
Click on "watch" for lightning deals or get alerts through the Amazon shopping app.
You'll get notified the second the deal goes live.
"A lot of what we see is prices that are the same as you'll see throughout the year," said Samantha Gordon, Consumer Reports.
Gordon says Amazon Prime Day duds are on mattresses and large appliances, stick to big holiday weekends for the best prices on those.
But, strollers and grills are two big Prime Day deals.
Small kitchen gadgets like air fryers, blenders, and rice cookers will be heavily marketed as markdowns so use a tool to price compare before adding to cart.
"Don't just buy something because it looks flashy, make sure you're reading the reviews on products to make sure that they're actually good products and you're not just getting swayed by a really good price," Gordon said.
Other retailers have rolled out their sales to compete with Amazon Prime Days.
Find and compare deals here: https://blackfriday.com/news/black-friday-july-sales
Dell, Macy's, Target, Best Buy, Wayfair, Kohls, Walmart, and Nordstrom all have Black Friday in July pricing.
Independent retailers like PC Richard will price beat any Prime price.
Bookshop.org is offering free shipping in its anti-Prime push to support small booksellers.
"We're an alternative to Amazon for people who want to buy books online but want to support local bookstores at the same time," said Andy Hunter, Bookshop.org, founder and CEO.
You can also shop locally by clicking on Amazon's support small page which features small business owners by region.
You have to be a Prime member to take advantage of the sales. It costs $180 a year, and there are discounts for students and those on assistance.
But, if you want to enjoy Prime pricing and don't want to pay $15 bucks a month, sign up for a trial 30-day membership; You can get all the discounts of Prime Days this week. Just don't forget to cancel after the free month is up.
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