What to buy and not buy on Amazon Prime Day

Photo: Philafrenzy

This year, instead of Amazon Prime Day being in July, it’s Oct. 13 and 14.

What bargains should you look for?

The most important thing to do is to compare prices. The “bargain” may or may not be saving you any money.

You can also check out Walmart’s "The Big Save" sale that started Oct. 11 and runs through Oct. 15. Target is offering Deal Days to compete with Amazon Prime Day and it runs the same days.

Dealnews offers these suggestions Amazon Prime Day shopping:

• Deals on home and garden products are plentiful, as they have been in recent years at the Amazon Prime Day sales. Look for savings of up to 40 percent

• Amazon devices are available for up to 60 percent off.

• AmazonBasics, Amazon’s generic brand, are being offered at up to a 40 percent discount.

• The Fire tablets are on sale for discounts of up to 45 percent.

• Amazon isn't advertising any smartphone savings for Prime Day 2020.

MarketWatch has these suggestions for Amazon Prime Day:

• About 300 retailers are expected to run sales this week to compete with Amazon, so be sure to check these out and compare prices.

• Amazon is known for its bundled deals on Prime Day. You might find a Fire TV Stick or Echo Dot offered for free with a more expensive item such as a Ring Video Doorbell.

• Products that have grown in popularity due to the pandemic, such as home fitness equipment and outdoor heat lamps, won’t see major bargains during this week’s sales events.

• Now is not the time to buy many large items such as TVs and sofas. There’s really no point in purchasing a TV before November when sales will be better.

• New toys, video games, and apparel are popular items to purchase for the holidays, but now is not the time to buy them. Toy deals get better further into the holiday shopping season.

If you’re not an Amazon Prime member, you can consider joining on a 30-day trial. If you don’t like the service, you can cancel before the trial’s up and the payment is due.

Update: I spent a couple of hours looking through Amazon Prime Day's instant sales. I wasn't impressed. The largest reductions were 15 to 20 percent – and you couldn't trust that that reduction was accurate because the original price could have been inflated.

I saw an air fryer and a rice cooker-steamer-crock pot combination that looked interesting, but both had nonstick coatings. I avoid nonstick cooking kitchen equipment due to the toxic chemicals they release. I did order some batteries, a holder to put on my tripod to take photos with my phone, and solar operated yard lights.

I did sign up for Amazon Prime. I want to see if their entertainment options are worth $10 or so a month. Since I get cable in the bundle from Comcast for $33 a month, I don't want to spend extra money for services such as Netflix or Hulu.