Amazon Prime Day kicked into high gear over the last four years bringing a barrage of awesome deals. Here’s everything you need to know about Amazon Prime Day 2021.

What is Amazon Prime Day?

Originally playing off the Black Friday in July trend utilized by other major retailers, Amazon organizes third party sellers to create a single day of aggressive discounts designed to match sales found on Black Friday. In 2020, Prime Day was delayed from July 2020 to October 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. This year, the company moved the popular sale to June for the first time.

Regarding the requirements for 3rd party sellers, Lighting deals must be at least 20% off and have enough inventory quantity to last six hours. In addition, products must have at least a three star review average to be featured by Amazon.

When is Amazon Prime Day?

Prime Day has been officially announced to start in the wee hours of the morning on Monday, June 21, 2021.  The deals will start on June 21 at 12 a.m. PT / 3 a.m. ET and run for 48 hours until end of day (PT) on Tuesday, June 22.

How long does Amazon Prime Day last?

Over the past couple years, Prime Day has expanded to 48 total hours, previously running for 36 hours. In addition, Amazon will be include extra deals that roll out during the same month; specifically targeting an early holiday season push after Prime Day ends.

Can anyone access the deals?

No. You have to have a subscription to Amazon Prime to get the sale prices. Of course, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime to access the deals, then cancel before the yearly-subscription fee is charged to your credit card.

What’s going to be on sale?

Amazon has released some limited information on their sale items (found here). Some deals last year included heavily discounted 4K televisions from Toshiba / Insignia, significant discounts on Amazon Echo products, 40% discounts on Amazon clothing brands and discounts on Amazon services like Amazon Music and 50% off Kindle Unlimited.

What about Walmart, Target & Best Buy?

Last year, Walmart announced that a competing “Big Sale” promotion would launch on the Sunday before Prime Day. While Walmart’s sales during the last 4 years have been fairly soft, we did see some decent discounts on lower-end 4K televisions and toys last year. However, that could have been related to Q4, end-of-year promotions.

Target went live at the same time as Amazon last year. Best Buy went live approximately 2 hours before Prime Day started. Interestingly, Best Buy offered automatic price adjustments on anything that went to a lower price prior to Black Friday last year. It’s unlikely this promotion will repeat since Black Friday is months away.

How Does Prime Day Compare to Black Friday?

We found that the majority of Prime Day deals were cheaper, if not matching, the prices that fell on Black Friday. Look for solid deals on Amazon tech, like the Echo and Kindle, as well as solid deals from online competitors like Dell, Newegg and the Microsoft Store. Look for more aggressive back to school discounts on tech as well as discounts on summer-related items.

5 Amazon Prime Day Shopping Tips

• Prep your account in advance!

There’s nothing worse than missing out on an amazing online Lightning Deal because you had to set up new shipping / payment details. If you plan on shopping on Prime Day, visit Amazon a few hours prior to the event and setup any new shipping addresses & payment accounts. There are currently two Amazon credit cards that offer 5% to 20% cashback on all purchases (as well as a gift card deal for new signups, see below).

• Timing is everything!

During Prime Day 2020, the best deals appeared when the event started. But that was the middle of the day during peak traffic hours. This year, Amazon has officially scheduled deals to start at 12 am PT on June 21.

While you can wake up early (or stay up late) to log into your Amazon account 15 minutes early, it’s likely the best deals won’t launch until the East Coast starts to wake up. Last year, we saw a huge rush of amazing deals during the first hour. The quantity of deals slowed down a bit until the following morning, then picked up again throughout Prime Day.

• If something sells out, don’t give up!

Amazon plans on having inventory saved for specific times of the day, especially for products they promote in advance of the sale. The most aggressive deals will usually be released during the peak shopping hours of the day, so check back frequently.

In addition, other retailers will often compete with price drops. Amazon may lower a price on a product and sell out within 15 minutes. However, Target may decide to price match the same product later in the day.

• Watch for Walmart’s pickup discount.

Rolled out first during 2017, Walmart attempted a reverse Amazon Prime model, essentially paying customers to come pick up a purchase by adding an additional discount. Due to the ongoing price war between the two companies, Walmart may attempt to undercut Amazon’s pricing on Prime Day by offering hefty pickup discounts on products listed in Prime Day sales. Alternatively, Amazon is trying to match those discounts at the same time by offering the same discount when opting for slower shipping.

• Product categories to keep an eye on.

During Prime Day 2020, the best deals were heavily focused on technology and comparable to Black Friday prices. Keep an eye on 4K televisions, smartphones, and wearables as well as any devices made by Amazon such as the Echo, Kindle and Fire TV. Apparel is another category to watch, especially shoes. Popular shoe brands like Adidas and New Balance were heavily discounted on Prime Day.

Any other ways to save money on Prime Day?

Yes! Amazon is offering multiple ways to save additional cash on deals, both in the form of cashback and bonus gift cards. Those include:

• 5% + 1% cashback using the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature card (as well as Whole Foods) In addition, Amazon will be offering a $150 gift card for new signups. There’s also discounts up to 25% on select Prime Day items by using this card.
• Running June 7 – June 20, Amazon customers will be able to earn a $10 credit after spending $10 on specific small business products. In addition, users will receive 10% cashback using a Prime Rewards Visa card.
• Running June 1 – June 20, Prime members will receive a $10 credit when purchasing $40 or more in Amazon gift cards.
• Starting June 1, customers that sign up for Prime using an Echo device will receive a $5 Amazon credit.
• Users that try Prime Wardrobe for the first time will be able to receive a $15 off $100 credit when using the service.
• Prime Gaming users can download a free copy of Battlefield 4 between June 1 and June 20. (Requires Origin to play)
• Amazon is running a Prime Day photo sweepstakes. Customers have to follow (@amazon.photos) on Instagram, turn on post notifications, and comment on the post using the hashtag #sweepstakes each day to receive 1 entry.  Entries run from June 1 to June 20. Details here.
• Anyone signing up for Amazon Music Unlimited for the first time is eligible for 4 months of free service rather than the traditional 1 month of service. The same promotion is running for the Wondery+ podcast service.

Everything You Need to Know About Amazon Prime Day 2021

As of this week, Amazon has halted the Amazon Pantry service (also known as Prime Pantry), likely due to other popular options like Subscribe & Save as well as Amazon Fresh eliminating the need for it. The service allowed Amazon customers to place bulk orders of household essentials, specific to the size of the delivery box.

The service has undergone a couple revisions over the years. Back in 2014 when it originally launched, customers would pay a $6 shipping fee to send up to 4 cubic feet (or 45 pounds) of products to their home. Presumably, easier to send bottled water and other heavy items to your home rather than pick it up at the grocery store.

During 2018, Amazon altered how the service worked by offering a $5 monthly subscription fee. This let customers place an unlimited number of orders without paying additional fees. Of course, customers had to place orders at least $40 or more each time. That subscription fee was also on top of Amazon Prime’s year cost.

If you are an existing Prime Pantry customer, considering shifting over to Amazon’s subscribe and save model, which sends a monthly delivery of items to your home without having to schedule anything. We post the best deals on subscribe and save items here. Any product ordered under S&S can be cancelled at any time.

Amazon ends Prime Pantry service

Starting on Friday, December 4, Walmart is removing the $35 minimum order requirement in order to qualify for free next-day and two-day shipping. This new policy is on everything Walmart sells accept for groceries. Grocery orders will still require the $35 shipping minimum.

Walmart Plus launched back during September 2020 as a rival to Amazon Prime. For $98 per year (or monthly at $12.95 a month), Walmart Plus gives subscribers free shipping benefits on a couple hundred thousand items sold on Walmart.

The $35 cart minimum was previously a negative aspect of using Walmart Plus, as Amazon offers free shipping on all Prime-eligible items, regardless of order size. While the service is cheaper than Prime, Walmart Plus also lags behind Amazon Prime significantly in offering additional perks, like the Amazon Instant Video service or free eBooks via Kindle services.

Anyone interested in Walmart+ can sign up for a free, 15-day trial of the service here. Could be handy for holiday gift shopping, especially if Amazon struggles with inventory.

Walmart ends $35+ free shipping requirement for Walmart+ subscribers

After testing a grocery delivery service for the past year, Walmart is launching an unlimited delivery service for $98-per-year or $$12.95-per-month (which comes out to $155.40-per-year). Membership will be open to all Walmart customers on Sept 15, 2020 and a 15-day free trial will be available as well.

This service will be available in 4,700 stores. Over 50% of those locations will offer same-day delivery. Other features of Walmart+ include Walmart’s Scan & Go app, a mobile app that lets customers scan items as they shop and checkout using Walmart Pay rather than going to the register. Customers will also get up to 5 cents off a gallon at Walmart, Murphy USA and Murphy Express fuel stations.

That launch of Walmart+ was delayed significantly due to the COVID pandemic. For any customers currently enrolled in the Delivery Unlimited service, those customers will automatically become Walmart+ customers (since both services are priced the same).

While the Walmart+ yearly cost undercuts Amazon Prime’s $119 yearly cost, it’s extremely difficult to match the feature set that comes with Amazon Prime. Beyond quick shipping times, Amazon offers access to a multitude of additional perks like original content on Amazon Video, Amazon Fresh grocery delivery (in some areas), Prime Music streaming, one free Kindle book per month, free games on Twitch Prime, and many other perks.

Walmart launches Walmart+ delivery service, an Amazon Prime competitor

While the many perks of an Amazon Prime membership are relatively well-known at this point, there are a number of Amazon services, programs and discounts that Amazon doesn’t really advertise much. We’ve collected our favorites and listed them below. Check out the list:

Amazon Move

If you are getting ready to move or have just moved, you can request a 10% off coupon for moving supplies, Amazon-approved moving services or home furnishings using the Amazon Move program. It can be reused multiple times over 90 days, has a $200 usage cap and can be stacked on Amazon’s pricing discounts. It’s only valid on products sold by Amazon, not third party vendors.

Check out Amazon Move

Amazon Free Samples

If you are interested in trying out new products without spending any money, Amazon has a service called Amazon Product Sampling. Just go to the signup page and select the product categories you are interested in. Some of the categories include pet food, men’s grooming, women’s beauty, health / wellness, baby products and office supplies.

If you like to write reviews, you can also hope for an invite to the Amazon Vine program. This is an invite-only program that connects reviewers with products bring sold on Amazon.

Check out Amazon Product Sampling

Amazon Allowance / Amazon Teen

If your kids are interested in buying things on Amazon, the retailer has a couple options. Amazon Allowance allows users to send gift card funds on a one-time, daily, weekly, every two-weeks or monthly basis; perhaps ideal for kids that get paid an allowance for chores.

Alternatively, Amazon Teen is s service that lets teens fill their cart with something they want to purchase, then sending a notification via text message to a parent to authorize a purchase. Parents will be able to verify purchase decisions as well as deny any purchase that’s too expensive. Parents will need to link their teen’s Amazon account in the site settings.

Check out Amazon Allowance /  Check out Amazon Teen

Amazon Giveaways

While definitely a veiled attempt at advertising, Amazon Giveaways is a service that offers the chance to win an item while shopping. And if you don’t win (which is likely), you will receive a coupon for said item offering a specific discount, typically between 10 and 40 percent off.

The downside is that not all the products are going to be winners and you may have to look through a ton of low quality products to find the best deals. It’s rare to find a brand name product in the Amazon Giveaway section. You also have to watch short videos on some of the giveaways before a coupon is made available to you.

Check out Amazon Giveaway

Kindle Matchbook

If you are in the habit of purchasing physical copies of books, Amazon offers the digital version of the same book for a significant discount via the Kindle Matchbook service. Assuming your previous book purchases qualify, you can buy the digital copy of the same book for just $2.99; ideal for anyone converting their physical book collection to a digital format.

Only new books purchased on Amazon will qualify for the program. Books purchased new or even from third party sellers are not included in Kindle Matchbook. The Kindle Matchbook price will appear on the purchase page for the Kindle version of the book when you visit the product page.

Check out Kindle MatchBook

Discount Amazon Prime Membership

While the 6-month free trial and $60 year price tag of Amazon Student is fairly well known, there is another low cost option for customers. If you currently have an EBT card for programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), you qualify for a $6-per-month Amazon Prime plan.

In addition, anyone with a Medicaid card qualifies. The low price is available for up to 48 months and you need to re-qualify for the inexpensive plan every 12 months. This version of Prime includes the vast majority of Prime perks, but not the Household sharing option on the full-priced plan.

Check out Low Cost Prime

Amazon Coupons

While you’ve probably seen the coupons you can click on product pages to increase your discount on an item, you may not know that all coupons active on Amazon can be found in a single place. The Amazon Coupons page has a section for Prime exclusive coupons as well as a section for the most popular coupons.

Coupons can be filtered by the product category as well as age, when the coupon expires and total percentage off. Some of the coupons are limited to a first time purchase, but others can be reused over multiple purchases; ideal for consumables.

Check out Amazon Coupons

7 Amazon Services & Discounts You May Not Have Known Existed

Ramping up efforts to compete with Amazon Prime, Walmart has expanded the company’s grocery delivery service to more than 1,400 stores across the United States. It originally launched as a pilot program in Houston, Miami, Salt Lake City and Tampa.

The service costs $98 for an entire year of service or $12.95 for monthly service. When enrolled, customers can make unlimited Grocery Delivery orders without paying an additional delivery fee. Walmart is offering a 15-day trial of the service, which auto-charges you at the end of the trial to continue the service.

Of course, if you don’t order groceries frequently, you also have the option of paying a delivery fee instead of subscribing to Delivery Unlimited. If your local Walmart store doesn’t offer grocery delivery yet, you will have to wait until the company expands the service into your area in order to sign up for Delivery Unlimited.

Walmart is planning on pushing out the service to more than 1,600 stores before the end of the year. That would cover more than 50 percent of the United States. If you prefer to just pick up grocery items yourself, Walmart’s Grocery Pickup service is available in more than 3,000 stores across the country.

More grocery stores across the nation are offering pickup options for customers. Check your local stores for their services. Alternatively, you can also look as a service like Prime Pantry to get groceries delivered, which charges Prime customers a flat $5.99 shipping fee per order.

Walmart launches $98-per-year ‘Delivery Unlimited’ service nationwide

Announced in a blog post earlier today, Amazon is officially launching one-day shipping on more than ten million products. That’s roughly ten times the number of products covered compared to when two-day shipping launched more than a decade ago.

There’s no minimum purchase amount and it covers a wide variety of products including all Echo devices as well as household items, grocery items and electronics.

You may have noticed one-day shipping in your area already. Amazon originally pushed same-day and one-day shipping into 10,000 cities and towns during late 2018, specifically to help shoppers get holiday gifts faster.

Of course, shoppers in rural areas and remote states will still have to wait. For instance, prime members in Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico will have to wait between one to five days to receive a package (but there’s no additional charge).

Detailed in the blog, Amazon is utilizing “110 fulfillment centers, 40 package sortation centers, 100 delivery stations, and 20 air gateways” to make one-day shipping happen. This service is most widely available in the United States, but some other countries also enjoy same-day or one-day shipping; specifically the United Kingdom and Japan.

Prime Perk Alert: Free One-Day Shipping officially launches

After Amazon announced a push into next-day shipping for all Prime customers last month, Walmart has responded by announcing free one-day shipping on select products (orders over $35) for two major cities in the United States.

Specifically, free next day shipping rolls out in Phoenix, Arizona, and Las Vegas, Nevada today. In addition, Walmart plans to roll out the service in Southern California later this month. The company is targeting 75 percent population coverage in the United States by the end of the year (which includes 40 of the 50 major U.s. cities).

Regarding product coverage, Walmart stated that the service will cover roughly 220,000 items in the baby, grocery, toy and electronics departments. Walmart already offered two-day shipping on many items, but doesn’t require a membership like Amazon does with their Prime service.

While Amazon dominates all other retailers in regards to online revenue, brick & mortar retailers like Walmart and Target do have a distinct advantage over Amazon; retail store locations that can act as shipping hubs. This helps speed up delivery and reduces costs for retailers, since they can simply store the most popular items in stores for quick, local shipments.

Amazon is rolling out one-day shipping to many regions of the country already, but also same-day delivery. You can check your zip code here to see if same-day delivery is available. Of course, you will need to be a Prime member and place orders over $35 to qualify. All orders under $35 still require a $5.99 per item fee for same-day shipping. Non-Prime members have to pay a $9.98 per item fee for same-day shipping

Next Day Shipping Wars: Walmart launches free one-day in Phoenix, Las Vegas

Amazon and Nintendo have teamed up for a new promotion that’s ideal for Nintendo Switch owners. Available for all Twitch Prime members (which is free to join if you have an Amazon Prime account), you can get up to 12 months of Nintendo Switch Online service (a $20 value) for free.

Be aware, it’s split up into two separate actions. First, you activate the initial 3-months of the service and link it to your Nintendo Switch. Two months after that activation, you can go back to the promotion page to activate an additional 9-months of service. The service will convert to a paid membership after activated, so be sure to so into your settings and flip off the auto-renewal option if you don’t want to continue the service.

If you are unfamiliar with Nintendo Switch Online, it offers access to online multiplayer in games like Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. as well as access to the large library of old-school NES games. In addition, it provides access to a cloud service for storing your game saves and a smartphone app to enhance online multiplayer features in some games.

You can signup for the promotion here. A full list of the NES games included in the subscription is listed below:

• Metroid
• Mighty Bomb Jack
• TwinBee
• Soccer
• Tennis
• Donkey Kong
• Mario Bros.
• Super Mario Bros
• Balloon Fight
• Ice Climber
• Dr. Mario
• The Legend of Zelda
• Super Mario Bros 3
• Double Dragon
• River City Ransom
• Ghosts’n Goblin
• Tecmo Bowl
• Gradius
• Pro Wrestling
• Excitebike
• Yoshi
• Ice Hockey
• Baseball
• Solomon’s Key
• NES Open Tournament Golf
• Super Dodge Ball
• Wario’s Wood
• Ninja Gaiden
• ADVENTURES OF LOLO
• Blaster Master
• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
• Super Mario Bro 2
• Kirby’s Adventure
• Kid Icarus
• StarTropic

New Amazon Prime Perk: 1-Year Nintendo Switch Online Membership

Interested in what movies and television shows will be added to your favorite streaming service this month? We’ve compiled an extensive list of everything coming to Netflix and Hulu as well as what’s arriving on Amazon Prime / Instant Video.

What’s new in March 2019 on Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu