Hello! Are you getting ready to shop? Is your Amazon cart stocked with things you’ve been wanting to buy but waiting to purchase, hoping for a price drop? I’m that girl, too—especially with gas prices higher than they’ve ever been during my lifetime and my child’s college education on the horizon. Living is getting expensive. Every October, Amazon gives Prime Day a sequel, and as Reviewed’s Executive Editor, every October I hear the same question: Is this sale actually worth shopping? My short answer is yes. But only if you go in with a plan instead of a bottomless cart. So, what is Prime Big Deal Days?It’s Amazon’s fall version of Prime Day. That means 48 hours of members-only deals, starting tomorrow, Tuesday, October 6, at 3:01 a.m. ET and running through Wednesday, October 7. New deals drop three times a day, and some early deals are already live. You’ll need a Prime membership, which costs $14.99 a month or $139 a year. If you’re new to Prime, there’s a 30-day free trial, and you can sign up right here. Think of Big Deal Days as the starting gun for holiday shopping. Many prices this week will be the best you’ll see until Black Friday. Not all of them, though, and that’s where we come in. What I’d buy nowFrom my personal and professional experience:
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Amazon’s own devices. Echo speakers, Kindles, Fire TV sticks, Ring and Blink cameras. Amazon cuts prices on its own hardware hardest during its own sales, so this is the time. |
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Small kitchen and home appliances. Coffee makers, air fryers, toaster ovens, and air purifiers regularly hit their lowest prices of the season this week. |
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Robot vacuums. I’ve tested my fair share, and this is one of the best times of year to finally hand floor duty over to a robot. There are loads of deals coming on these! |
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Stocking stuffers and Advent calendars. Beauty favorites, small gadgets, and the fun little extras are all fair game. The most popular Advent calendars also sell out well before December 1, so don’t wait on those. |
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Household basics. Paper towels, detergent, and socks aren’t glamorous, but stocking up now is an easy way to take a little pressure off the budget. |
What I’d hold out for
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TVs, laptops, and game consoles. These historically hit rock-bottom prices across Black Friday and Cyber Monday. |
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Toys. I've seen the deepest discounts on toys in November, because it's primetime for holiday shopping and every retailer is fighting for your budget. |
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Mattresses and furniture. Black Friday tends to bring better prices. |
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Large appliances. Skip Amazon for these entirely. Returns can be a headache, warranties can get complicated, and prices swing wildly. Lowe’s, Best Buy, and Home Depot each run their own competing sales, and their Black Friday appliance deals are usually worth the wait. |
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Don’t fall for a dramatic strikethrough price. A “deal” is only a deal if the price actually dropped. |
My top tips for shoppingMake a list before you shop, and stick to it. Skip anything where the only proof of savings is a slash through the old price. And if you have your eye on something specific, set a deal alert in the Amazon app so the price comes directly to you. Our deals team will be digging through thousands of deals all week and pulling out only the ones on products we’ve tested and actually recommend. You can find early deals here, and we’ll be publishing a lot more fabulous finds tomorrow and Wednesday. Happy shopping! Leigh Harrington Executive Editor, Reviewed |
