Amazon makes a big deal about their annual Amazon Prime Day and the fact is that, if you shop it right you can score some great deals.

The fact that more than half of the offerings on Amazon are now offerings from third party sellers, and that many of them are given the chance to participate in Prime Day means that there are a LOT of deals on offer - some better than others - and navigating Amazon Prime Day can seem pretty hard.

As 2021's Prime Day is coming up soon - sometime in June - we are offering some tips and tricks here that should help you make the most of the day, and get the best deals. Thee tips are based on past Prime Days, and so should work for future offerings too, which given that Amazon may now shift to two Prime Days a year may prove to help you save even more money.

How to Get a Free Amazon Prime Membership

As the name suggests, Amazon Prime Day is exclusively for those who hold an active Amazon Prime membership. In 2021 an Amazon Prime membership in the US costs $119 annually or $12.99 per month. It includes more than free shipping, as you gain access to all the goodies on Prime Video, special discounts and freebies for other Amazon affiliated properties like Audible, Comixology and Twitch and more.

If you have never had an Amazon Prime membership before, and you don't want to pay for one just to shop Amazon Prime Day you can sign up for the 30-day free trial offered to all new members. This will let you reap all the benefits of the big day and, as long as you remember to cancel it before your trial is over, it won't cost you a thing.

What are the Best Amazon Prime Day Deals?

First and foremost, Prime Day is an Amazon event. This means that on Amazon Prime Day, the best deals are available on Amazon products. Amazon Echo smart speakers, Fire TVs and streaming devices, Kindle e-readers, Eero wifi systems, Ring doorbells and security systems, and Audible and Amazon Music Unlimited subscriptions are all usually discounted, sometimes very significantly.

Prime Day is also great for getting deals on products under $100 and items you'll buy more than once a year, such as clothing, food, and beauty products.

In terms of how deals are organized, Amazon runs a variety of Prime Day promotions. To begin, Lightning Deals are limited-time discounts on specific items. They are usually only available for a short time—sometimes just a few minutes—or until the item is sold out. And new ones can appear every five minutes or less.

The Prime Day Spotlight Deals on Amazon usually have the most inventory, giving you a better chance of getting the item you want. It's also usually easy to take advantage of the Gold Box Deals of the Day, which are only available for 24 hours before being replaced by new ones. They can, however, sell out quickly, so it's always best to act quickly on those deals if it's something you really want.

Here are a few more great tips to help you get the best Amazon Prime Day deal possible.

• Get the Amazon app for your smartphone. It allows you to sign up for alerts and get a "sneak peek" at upcoming deals. You can also use the app to see upcoming Lightning Deals before they go live. You can create a "Watch this deal" list in the app and receive notifications when the deal is about to go live.

• If a Lightning Deal item sells out before you get a chance to buy it, click the "Join Waitlist" button. If a customer hasn't completed their purchase after 15 minutes, items will be removed from their cart, and you'll be notified if you're next in line.

• Download the free Amazon Assistant plug-in, which is compatible with the majority of popular browsers. It can assist you in comparing products and prices while searching and shopping online, as well as notify you when new deals become available. It also allows you to access Amazon shortcuts directly from your browser.

Keep in mind that Amazon Assistant, as described in the plug-privacy in's policy, allows the company to track your browsing behavior, so you'll have to be OK with that, or at least have a good ad blocker in place.

Check out other online retailers. As Amazon Prime has gained popularity year-on-year lots of other retailers who offer online sales have got in on the act too. Big retailers like Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Sephora and many more all now offer competing sales, so check out those as well.

If you are worried abut getting the very best price across all these sales we suggest installing the Honey app on your computer or phone. This free to use browser app (now owned by PayPal) not only ensures you get the best price but also applies any coupons out there on the Internet that might make your purchase even cheaper. You can also earn Honey points, which can be traded in for gift cards when you accumulate enough.