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UPDATE: Sep. 15, 2023, 12:30 p.m. EDT Prime Big Deal Days, the second Prime Day of 2023, is almost here. The 48-hour mega-sale begins on Oct. 10.
If you assumed that Amazon would be hosting yet another Prime Day sale in 2023 like they’ve done the last two years, you’d be correct. “Prime Big Deal Days” is happening this October, and it’s expected to be just as big as July’s Prime Day event (if not bigger).
We’ve known that Prime Big Deal Days was coming since August, and now we finally have an official date. Let’s break down what’s new, what other retailers we expect to launch competing sales, and more.
When is Prime Big Deal Days?
Prime Big Deal Days begins on Tuesday, Oct. 10 and will run through Wednesday, Oct. 11, with new deals and discounts dropping regularly throughout the 48-hour event. Last year’s October Prime event essentially kicked off the holiday shopping season; the Black Friday before Black Friday, if you will (except on a Tuesday).
What’s new about Prime Big Deal Days this year?
Honestly, not that much (besides the name). Prime Big Deal Days will basically be par for the course when it comes to what all big Prime events have morphed into: Two days, one big event, and tons of deals.
While not yet confirmed, Amazon may also opt to bring back their new “invite-only deals” for Prime Big Deal Days. Introduced during the recent July Prime Day event, the invite-only deals program included ten products that Amazon expected to sell out during the sale (like a 43-inch 4K smart TV for $100), and served to alleviate some of the frenzied chaos that typically surrounds the retailer’s biggest doorbuster discounts. Prime members could visit these product listings to request an invitation; the chosen members received an email with a unique link to buy the item at some point during the event. Amazon didn’t explain how it picked these lucky eligible shoppers; all we know is that these special deals were exclusive to Prime members (paid and trial).
What not to buy during Prime Big Deal Days
Not all of those “millions of deals across categories” will be worth adding to your cart. After covering Prime Day events for years, here’s what we’d recommend skipping:
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Anything from Ring. The home security company’s popular video doorbells always get really cheap during Prime events since Ring is an Amazon brand, but they’re ultimately a privacy nightmare.
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Toys. While Amazon usually offers some decent toy deals during Prime events, we think it’s best to save your toy shopping for Black Friday — the holiday season brings new releases and a boatload of deals.
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Video game consoles. Hold off on upgrading until holiday sales and bundles start trickling out in November — that’s when we’ll start seeing the real deals.
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Almost anything sold and shipped by a third-party seller. Third-party merchants on Amazon aren’t scammers across the board, but buying something from a seller you don’t recognize can be risky. (Fake reviews and counterfeit listings are way more common — and convincing — than you’d think.) Stick with products that have “Ships from Amazon.com” and “Sold by Amazon.com” under their “Buy Now” buttons just to be safe.
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Any deal that seems too good to be true. Amazon has a bad habit of inflating MSRPs to make discounts appear better than they really are. You can verify whether a deal is legit or not by comparing prices across other major retailers and running the product through camelcamelcamel, a free Amazon price-tracking site.
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Anything you get the urge to impulse-buy. Are you buying a new TV because you actually need a new TV, or just because it’s $100 off right now?
Who’s competing with Prime Big Deal Days?
Nothing has been confirmed yet, but if July’s Prime Day is anything to go off of, we expect to see Walmart, Target, and Best Buy all throwing their hats into the anti-Prime Day ring once again.
Back in July, Walmart hosted Walmart+ Week, a seeming expansion of last June’s Walmart+ Weekend that more directly competed with Prime Day.
Meanwhile, Target ran one of its semi-annual Circle Week sales from Sunday, July 9 to Saturday, June 15. (A whole actual week!) Billed as its “biggest sale of the season,” the event was opened to members of the retailer’s totally free Target Circle loyalty program.
Finally, Best Buy revived its Black Friday in July event from Monday, July 10 to Wednesday, July 12 in stores, online, and on its mobile app. The sale was open to everyone, but members of the retailer’s My Best Buy Plus and My Best Buy Total plans got access to special promotions and better discounts on certain items. (Subscriptions cost $49.99/year and $179.99/year, respectively.)
Prime Big Deal Days tips and tricks
Aside from aggressively lurking on Amazon’s dedicated Prime Big Deal Days page (and reading our coverage of the sale), there are several ways to ensure you don’t miss out on a great deal:
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Sign up for invite-only deals. (If applicable.)
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Organize your Amazon Wish List. Amazon’s virtual shopping list feature puts all of your must-haves in one convenient spot so you can see which ones are on sale for Prime Day at a glance (instead of flipping between links and tabs). Check out Mashable’s guide to “wishlisting” for more intel.
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Download the Amazon Shopping mobile app. The app features a Prime Day event page where you can set deal alerts for your recent Amazon searches and views; you’ll get pinged with a push notification as soon as an offer goes live.
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Take advantage of Alexa’s advanced deal alerts feature. Amazon’s virtual assistant can notify you of a sale on an item in your Wish List, Shopping Cart, or “Saved for Later” queue up to 24 hours before it goes live. Enable the feature on a newer-gen Echo smart speaker, and you’ll see its light ring turn yellow (or you’ll get a pop-up alert) whenever an item you’ve saved has a discount in the pipeline. You can then ask for more information about the deal, set a reminder for when it’s available, and even give Alexa permission to order it for you using your default payment info when the time comes.
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