Why You Can Trust CNET Amazon Prime Day 2024: Everything You Need to Know
Prime Day is coming up again this July. Here's what to expect from the summer sale.
Amazon just announced that its Prime Day sale will make a return this summer. The sale, exclusive to Amazon Prime members, is one of the most highly anticipated events on the shopping calendar each year, known for hosting hundreds of thousands of deals across pretty much very product category on Amazon.
While little has been announced about 2024's event, we're rounding the details we do know below and answering some of your burning questions about Prime Day 2024.
Best deals available at Amazon now
Here are some great deals happening right now for you to check out while you wait for Prime Day to come.
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What is Amazon Prime Day?
If you've never shopped a Prime Day sale before, you may be wondering exactly what it entails, so here's a brief explainer. It's a two-day Amazon sale taking place this July that will offer exclusive savings to Amazon Prime subscribers with limited-time offers, flash deals and rock-bottom prices. It's a rare chance to score Black Friday-level pricing outside of November so is usually well worth shopping.
When is Amazon Prime Day 2024?
Amazon just announced Prime Day is following historic traditions and taking place in July 2024, though specific dates haven't been unveiled just yet. This is Amazon's 10th Prime Day event, and if we had to guess we'd anticipate July 9 and 10 to be the event dates -- the week after Fourth of July sales wrap up.
As you can see from the history of Prime Day dates below, Amazon has held its Prime Day sales each July, with just a couple of deviations from that regular schedule. Notably, in 2020, Amazon pushed its Prime Day sale to October due to the COVID-19 pandemic, before returning the sale to the summer in 2021 in a slightly earlier June spot. Prime Day returned to its July slot for 2022, though Amazon did use October once again for an additional Prime Early Access Sale event that acted as a kickoff to the holiday shopping season. Last year, it was the same July-October pattern, but Amazon also added a new (not Prime-exclusive) sale for 2024 with the inaugural Amazon Big Spring Sale.
As a reference, here are the Prime Day dates from previous years:
- Prime Day 2015: July 15.
- Prime Day 2016: July 12.
- Prime Day 2017: July 11 to 12 (first to last longer than one day).
- Prime Day 2018: July 16 to 17.
- Prime Day 2019: July 15 to 16.
- Prime Day 2020: Oct. 13 to 14 (delayed by COVID-19 pandemic).
- Prime Day 2021: June 21 to 22 (the earliest to date).
- Prime Day 2022: July 12 to 13.
- Prime Early Access Sale 2022: Oct. 11 to 12.
- Prime Day 2023: July 11 to 12.
- Prime Big Deal Days 2023: Oct. 10 to 11
- Amazon Big Spring Sale: March 20 to 25
How long will Prime Day deals last?
Prime Day generally lasts for two days. It usually kicks off at midnight Pacific and ends 48 hours later.
Amazon's Prime Day and Prime Day-like events haven't been single-day affairs since 2016, spanning two days for the first time in 2017 and continuing to be 48-hour bonanzas since then. Many of the deals launching at the sale's opening time will be available throughout the event, supplies permitting, with other, more limited-time Lightning deals launching and expiring within the two-day span.
Will there be an October Prime Day event this year?
As for now, Amazon has only announced one Prime Day sale event for 2024, and it will be in July. There is no official word yet on if there will be another event later this year, though we wouldn't expect to hear about it until nearer the time. However looking at past years, there has been a second Prime Day-style sale in October for the past two years now. It started in 2022 as the Prime Day Early Access sale. In 2023, the trend continued with the Prime Big Deal Days sale, so we anticipate Amazon will once again utilize this spot on the calendar for a sale.
Which countries will get to shop Prime Day deals?
Prime Day is an international affair with 24 countries participating. The full list is as follows:
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Canada
- Egypt
- France
- Germany
- India
- Italy
- Japan
- Luxembourg
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Portugal
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- Spain
- Sweden
- Turkey
- The United Arab Emirates
- The US
- The UK
How does Prime Day work?
The idea behind Prime Day is pretty simple: Subscribers to Amazon's Prime service can get exclusive discounts on thousands of products and services across the site during a limited period of time. The products, while still available to non-Prime members, will have extra savings for members, dropping many of their prices down to new all-time lows.
When you're logged in to your Prime account and looking at a product landing page, you'll see the discounted price if it's on sale. You don't need any special coupon codes, nor is there a need to use a specific payment method in order to get the discounts. If you spend your money wisely each year, you can easily make back your Prime membership cost in savings during the event.
What products go on sale for Prime Day?
Since Amazon sells pretty much everything, its Prime Day bonanza features deals on pretty much everything too. Whether you're shopping for tech, kitchen gear, outdoor furniture or everyday essentials, Prime Day will offer something in the way of savings for you.
In past sale events, some of the best savings on Amazon devices. This includes Kindle readers, Echo speakers, Fire TVs and more. It's not just Amazon's own brands that see steep discounts, though. You will be able to grab great deals across a variety of big-name brands, including significant savings on items like laptops, TVs and fitness gear, to name a few.
Do you need to be an Amazon Prime member to shop Prime Day deals?
Yes, Amazon's Prime Deal Days sale requires a Prime subscription if you want to nab any of the Prime-exclusive deals. You don't have to be a paying subscriber, though, as long as the event falls within your Prime trial period. That means you can start your month-long trial just before the event and get in on the savings for free. For more info on that, check out our guide to getting Amazon Prime perks without paying for a subscription.
Will other retailers launch anti-Prime Day sales?
Each Prime Day, we see other retailers announcing sales that directly compete with Amazon's event, and we expect it to be no different this July either. Other retailers that we have seen compete with Amazon's event in the past include Best Buy, Target and Walmart.
Why did Prime Day start?
Amazon has been hosting its annual Prime Day sale since 2015. Originally, it was a 24-hour sales event to celebrate Amazon's 20th birthday. The "Prime" in the name refers to Amazon's subscription service, which offers free delivery on many products in as little as one to two days, and which has now expanded to encompass the Netflix-style Prime Video service and various other Amazon-related perks.
Prime Day soon became a version of "Black Friday in July" for Amazon, allowing the retailer to have a branded 48-hour shopping extravaganza in an otherwise sleepy retail season. Unlike Black Friday, however, the Prime Day branding lets Amazon differentiate its summer sale from competitors while selling Prime memberships and Amazon-branded hardware such as Echo speakers and Fire tablets, which encourage customers to stay within the Amazon ecosystem. The fact that the sale also allows Amazon and its partners to clear out inventory and warehouse space ahead of the holiday shopping season doesn't hurt, either.
Where can you find deals right now?
The CNET Deals team covers all of the best price drops, discounts and deals daily from all the top retailers. Whether it's a one-day promo at Woot, a weekend sale at Best Buy or a coupon code for a product at Amazon, if it's a great deal, we'll be covering it.
Be sure to check out all of the great deals each day at CNET.com/deals and sign up for our CNET Cheapskate newsletter for a daily digest of deals delivered to your inbox. You can also sign up for CNET Deals text alerts for curated deals during the event, and install our CNET Shopping browser extension to help ensure that purchases you make all year round will be at the lowest price available.