6 Prime Day deals you won't find on Amazon
Guess what? There are other stores besides Amazon! And some of them are offering deals of their own. For example: a 40-inch HDTV for $139.99.
CNET's Cheapskate scours the Web for great deals on PCs, phones, gadgets and much more. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Find the answers on our FAQ page. And find more great buys on the CNET Deals page.
In case you haven't heard, it's Prime Day. But if you've come here looking for the best Prime Day deals from Amazon proper, you've come to the wrong place.
Instead, let's take a look at what's happening elsewhere. Because, turns out, Amazon is not the only company selling products online today. (Who knew, right?)
- The Microsoft Store is running a one-day sale on a variety of items, including a free Surface Dock (valued at $199) with the purchase of a Surface Pro 4 and a JBL Flip 2 portable Bluetooth speaker for $49.99. There's also an Alienware 15 gaming laptop that's $1,000 (!) off -- but although it has an Nvidia GTX 970 graphics subsystem, I don't believe it's VR-ready. (I think laptops need at least a GTX 980.)
- Today only, daily-deals site TechRabbit is offering 25 percent off sitewide when you apply coupon code blackfridayjuly at checkout. Your best bet: the Nest 2nd-generation learning thermostat for $164.99 shipped.
- This is actually just Best Buy's garden-variety deal, but it's a doozy: the Westinghouse WD40FX1170 40-inch HDTV for $139.99 shipped, plus tax. It's a no-frills model, obviously, and I'm guessing it must be new because there are zero user reviews. But it has three HDMI inputs, which is great, and a seemingly similar 40-inch Westinghouse scored a 4.3-star average from 500-plus buyers. That's an amazing price for a 40-inch TV.
- I'm a huge fan of cashback services like Ebates. Speaking of which, check out Flash Cash Back Day, which will score you double the rebate (or more) from over 100 stores. At Walmart, for example, get 5 percent cash back instead of the usual 1 percent. Get 11 percent from JCPenney, 4 percent from Samsung and up to 10 percent from Expedia. New to Ebates? Sign up here.
- In the market for some mobile memory? Adorama is holding a one-day sale on SanDisk storage. One solid bet: the SanDisk UltraFit 64GB USB 3.0 flash drive for $12.99. It's one of those drives designed for semi-permanent residence in your laptop, Chromebook and so on, because it barely protrudes from the USB port.
- You can usually find a Pebble smartwatch for under $100, but Android Wear models don't often dip into that price range. They do today: Groupon has the refurbished Motorola Moto 360 smartwatch for $89.99 shipped. It's the first-gen model, but still one of the most attractive watches in its class. It's a great option for Android users. (But a so-so one for the iPhone crowd.) Take note, though, that the warranty is good for just 30 days.
Have you found any great deals elsewhere on the web? Share them in the comments!