I've covered seven years of Prime Day deals and here is what to avoid

12 July 2023 , 18:00

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You can snap up and Echo Dot (5th gen) in the Amazon Prime Day sale right now (Image: Amazon)

It has been seven years since I first reported on the Prime Day sale, just a year after it was first introduced to UK shoppers and the event has grown a huge amount since that day.

After digging through spreadsheets featuring tens of thousands of deals and trying to find those that represent the best value to shoppers I have had enough time to work out where the best value can be found in the reams of Amazon pages of deals and discounts.

Over the 48 hour period some deals will look and feel too good to be true, some deals will not actually be deals at all and others will be a smart buy. After looking at the deals for 2023 I have put together a few bits of advice on navigating the Amazon sale and making sure you come out with a bargain.

Amazon device bundles

I am big fan of Amazon's smart home devices. I've had Echo Dot devices since the days of the first generation and the latest models, the fifth generation, have excellent sound quality and a never-ending list of handy features from the latest football scores to voice-controlled online shopping. I use my fourth generation model as a calendar and speaker every day.

You can guarantee Amazon Echo Dot devices, Fire Sticks, Echo Show and tablets are always discounted and this year's sale is no different.

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The discounts on Amazon devices are genuine and this year they are the cheapest you can get most of them. The Echo Pop speaker at £17.99 and Echo Dot 5th Gen for £21.99 are excellent deals. They're even better when you use Topcashback's £15 new member bonus to get them for £2.99 and £6.99 respectively after cashback.

If you are after multiple devices you can get even better bargains by bundling things up. A £20 Philips Hue smart bulb and an Echo Dot 5th gen is £26.99 for the two, while smart plugs and Echo Pop devices for £24.99 are another excellent deal. This is where the real value is when it comes to device deals.

Big name brands

After a budget air fryer? Or a cheap vacuum cleaner? The discounts may look enticing but in reality you are likely to be able to get low prices on most budget brands throughout the year. Given the low starting price, discounts do not take a huge chunk out so there is no real urgency to buy now.

Brands such as Ninja, whose air fryers are some of our review team's favourites, do not launch deals as often and Prime Day is a good chance to get a significant discount on those items. The same applies to Shark, although I do see more regular vacuum deals at Shark than big rival Dyson.

(Amazon)

If you are in the market for a new phone, then Samsung deals are usually strong for Prime Day, while there are plenty of big name fashion and beauty brands on offer that bring the price down to a level that will be tempting.

However, with Black Friday a few months away there is no guarantee Prime Day prices will be the lowest this year. If the need is not urgent you do not have to be rushed into buying during Prime Day.

Stock up on booze

If you like a tipple then Prime Day is a good chance to stock up on your favourite alcoholic beverage. Amazon's sales events usually feature quite a large number of whisky, gin, wine and rum deals. Not only are they genuinely low prices in most cases it also represents a chance to try some new drinks that you previously may not have tried.

As a whisky fan the only item I ever really buy during Prime Day sales are interesting whisky that have been discounted. This year it is Caol Isla, a beautiful slightly smoky whisky that at £33 is a bargain. Other members of our team have suggested Mount Gay rum is a strong deal in the 2023 sale. There's also Baileys Deliciously Light, which comes in at 40% fewer calories than the iconic original and has been reduced by a third to £11 a bottle, the cheapest price it's ever been sold at.

During Prime Day you can almost guarantee prices will be the lowest around on alcohol deals.

Do not buy a TV - yet

I was told on my first time covering Amazon Prime Day as a consumer journalist one rule; never buy a new television during an Amazon sales event.

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Unfortunately at 7.30am in the morning as Amazon dropped the price of a 43-inch Fire TV from £429.99 to £119.99 I panicked and broke the first rule of Amazon Prime Day. The TV sold out within minutes and I was confident enough to proclaim it the best Prime Day deal I've seen this year.

The 43 inch smart TV is on sale now for £119.99 (Amazon)

I would say the Fire TVs are an exception to the rule and that's because I checked the model number first.

There are always lots of deals on big-name brands such as Samsung and Panasonic but often retailers will sell special, lower quality TV models just for sales like Prime Day. These are models that are often overpriced and sold only on the event itself with big discounts. However, these discounts usually do not provide the value for money you would expect.

A trick to identify these TVs are to search for the model number. If you can’t see it on sale anywhere else outside of the Prime Day sales then it may be one to avoid.

If you are satisfied there is a genuine deal to be had then you are good to buy.

Stephen Hurrell