What is the amazon prime day?

To help you prepare for big savings, we have everything you need to know about the Prime Day deals event, based on recent years. From membership details to past deals, there's a lot to learn. And don't forget, you can check back here to stay up to date as more details begin to roll in. (We suggest bookmarking this page so you don't miss any updates!)

Prime Day is a global annual savings event that falls over a two-day period and is exclusive to Amazon Prime members. During this sale, shoppers can expect steep discounts across categories including beauty, tech, home, fashion, kitchen and more. In previous years, we saw impressive deals on bestselling products, from Apple AirPod Pros to Alexa devices to customer-favorite beauty must-haves, such as the Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask.

Last year, Prime Day was available in multiple countries, reaching Amazon Prime members in Austria, Brazil, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Singapore — just to name a few!

The 2023 Prime Day date hasn't officially been announced yet, but we can most likely expect it to fall in the summer months again. According to Amazon, the event originally started as a summer savings event to celebrate Amazon's birthday, which launched in July 2015. Due to the pandemic, the retailer pushed Prime Day 2020 to October and then moved back to the summer months with Prime Day 2021 and Prime Day 2022 falling in June and July.

However, in October 2022, the retailer launched a second two-day sale event that year: "Prime Early Access Sale." This gave Amazon Prime members another chance to score savings ahead of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping weekend.

A monthly Prime membership costs $14.99 a month, but you can also purchase an annual membership for $139, which ultimately saves you a few dollars a month.

Additionally, college students can get a Prime membership for only $7.49 per month or $69 per year — and students who are new to Prime Student can sign up for a six-month trial. There are additional perks for students too, including a free monthly GrubHub+ membership and discounts on flights and hotels through StudentUniverse, says the brand. And that's not all, those with qualified government assistance can also receive a Prime membership for just $6.99 after their free trial.

Oh, and did we mention free one-day delivery on most items?

If you want to save big during Prime Day 2023, here's how you can get started before and during the event, according to the retailer:

To save even more before the big sales event, Amazon also offers a Subscribe & Save program, which can help you get up to 10% off one to four products or up to 15% off five or more products. There are thousands of items eligible for the subscription service — from pet food to beauty items to groceries and more — and there's no fee to get started. Just select a quantity and schedule your delivery — and you can cancel any time! Although we recommend getting a membership to access future Prime Day deals, it's not a requirement to start subscriptions.

Are you wondering what you should keep your eye on ahead of Prime Day 2023? Here are a few Prime Early Access bestsellers of 2022 that Shop TODAY readers were adding to their carts. Including a few customer-favorite finds that you can save on right now.

Just what is Prime Day, you might be wondering as early buzz starts to generate at this time of year ahead of summer. Amazon's Prime Day event is its annual members-only summer sale and is the hottest event of the season for bargain fans.

Expect to see low prices across thousands of products at the online giant. As indicated by the name though, you will need to be a Prime member to enjoy these exclusive discounts. On the plus side, if you're not a member when the sale kicks off, you'll be able to sign up for a free 30-day trial to avoid missing out and are free to drop it once the sale's over if you don't want to turn into a paying subscriber.

The sale involves big discounts on pretty much every category Amazon has under its vast empire. Tech, gadgets, home, kitchen, garden, fashion, jewelry, beauty, gaming, and many more all get involved.

As you'd expect, Amazon really leans on its own products, usually giving the year's lowest prices on Kindles, Echo smart speakers, Fire TV Sticks, and Fire Tablets - usually with prices even lower than Black Friday's.

Here's everything else you need to know about Amazon Prime Day and how to find the best deals for you.

Related: See Insider's picks for the best credit cards to use on Amazon purchases.

We're expecting Prime Day 2023 to land in July, most likely around the 10th or 11th going off past form as it's run on similar dates in the past and always takes place early in the week. Yes, the Prime Early Access Sale, ran from October 11 to 12 but that wasn't an official 'Prime Day' event although Amazon really should have tried branding it as Prime Day 2 as 'Early Access Sale' didn't exactly help create buzz for the members-only event. We wouldn't bet against it making some sort of comeback this October.

But the Summer event is what you should be more excited about as we've found it to have a better selection of deals. As soon as Amazon confirms the date, we'll be sure to update this article so you can get it in your diary.

What once started as a small event to celebrate Prime members has grown into a full-scale shopping holiday. Here's a complete rundown of the history of Prime Day dates:

Amazon's Prime Day deal events are exclusive to Amazon Prime members. In addition to access to Prime Day, Prime membership includes tons of other perks, most notably free two-day shipping and free access to streaming services like Prime Video, Prime Music, and more.

While Amazon Prime costs $15 a month or $139 a year, there is a free 30-day trial for new subscribers. The trial grants you access to the sale — just remember to cancel your membership after the event if you don't anticipate using your Prime membership often enough to make the annual fee worth it.

For non-members, there are many competing sales from other retailers to consider. Major retailers like Walmart, Target, and Best Buy offer their own deals during Prime Day. Though these sales aren't as splashy, they deliver similarly low prices on tech and home goods and don't require a Prime subscription.

During the two-day event, thousands of products are put on sale, and not all of them will pique your interest. Given the number of deals — many of which go up and sell out in an hour or even minutes — the sale can get overwhelming pretty quickly.

Prices for Amazon devices like Kindles, Fire TVs, and Echo devices are typically the lowest on Prime Day. Beyond that, you'll find deals across categories like household essentials, beauty products, electronics, and more.

All that said, whether or not Prime Day is worth your time ultimately depends on what you're shopping for. There are plenty of deals worth exploring, and the tips below will help you find them.

Amazon runs several different types of deals that run for varying lengths of time. You'll only score the discount when you place an order while the deal is live during the event.

Prime Day deals are typically broken up into two types:

Over the 48-hour event, Amazon releases thousands of sales. There are some deals that span both days, but some deals sell out quickly. If you shopped on the first day of Prime Day, you can expect a whole new set of fresh deals on the second day.

Yes, you can return Prime Day deals. Amazon's return policy for items bought during Prime Day is the same as it is any day of the year. The majority of items, including Amazon devices, can be returned in 30 days. However, there are some items you can't return, including grocery products and gift cards — so be sure to read the fine print.

Make no mistake: Amazon Prime Day is a big shopping holiday. And if you want to set yourself up for success, there are a few tips to keep in mind.

Between the big-ticket sales and limited-time Lightning Deals, Prime Day is chock-full of impulse buys. It's smart to go into Prime Day with at least some idea of what you want to buy (and save on).

For making a shopping list, we like Amazon's Wish List feature. You can add all the items you're interested in, and keep track of what you actually want. As an added bonus, you can set up Alexa or the Amazon mobile app to alert you when a deal goes live for any of the items on your list.

One of the most common Prime Day questions is "how do I know if I'm getting a good deal?" The answer is only if you research the product's price history.

To understand the real value of any deal, we recommend using the free tool CamelCamelCamel, which allows you to track the price history of everything on Amazon. We're also big fans of Keepa, which has a browser extension that actually offers a price history chart directly on each Amazon product page.

Amazon's mobile app is a great way to keep track of items and set up notifications. The app can send you a push notification 5 minutes before the deals start, which is especially useful if you've set up a wish list (see above).

Alexa can now alert you to deals and, even make the purchase for you. The smart voice assistant can alert you when eligible products in your Wish List or shopping cart are on sale. Here's how to set up Alexa to give you deal notifications.

Once enabled, you'll see a yellow ring light or a pop-up notification on your Echo device. From there, you can ask Alexa for more details or order the item for yourself.

Before, and sometimes during, Prime Day-type events, Amazon often offers a few ways to get free credits or subscriptions. Last time around there were numerous options to get some free cash to spend during the big event.

During the Prime Early Access Sale, members got a $10 promotional credit when they bought a $50 gift card from participating brands including Amazon, GAP, Panera, and more. If you purchased your first year of an Amazon Prime subscription, you got to enjoy unlimited Grubhub deliveries for a $0 delivery fee. Prime members got up to four free months of Amazon Music Unlimited (it's usually only 30 days), and non-Prime members received up to three free months. Alternatively, Prime members could have grabbed a 3rd Generation Echo Dot for a mere $0.99 with a one-month subscription to Amazon Music Unlimited.

We expect plenty of similar incentives around July this year and will keep this guide updated when they arrive.

For non-members, there are many competing sales from other retailers to consider. Major retailers like Walmart, Target, and Best Buy offer their own deals during Prime Day. Though these sales aren't as splashy, they deliver similarly low prices on tech and home goods and don't require a Prime subscription.

Amazon Prime Day 2023 is likely just over a month away, meaning the two-day shopping event will be here before you know it. While there's been no official word from the retailer about the event just yet, we can use previous event timings to make a pretty good guess as to what the Prime Day 2023 dates will be.

As for the Prime Day deals we're likely to see this year, it's harder to predict exactly what will or won't go on sale, but we'll go through some of the best deals from last year's event as a guide for those seeking out bargains this summer. What we do know is that Prime Day is usually the first huge sale of the year, with almost every product category seeing savings, so it's worth setting aside some of your next paycheck or two for any items you've been eyeing up.

Amazon Prime Day 2023 dates haven't been officially announced yet, but if we had to guess, we'd wager July 11 and 12 to be the most likely timing for it. Amazon won't hold the event the first week of July, with competing Fourth of July sales already happening then, making the second July week the most likely option. The event usually takes place over a Tuesday and Wednesday, leading to our estimate for July 11 and 12.

Historically, 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 it to the summer in 2021 in a slightly earlier June spot. Prime Day returned to its July spot for 2022, though Amazon did utilize that October slot once again for an additional Prime Early Access Sale event that acted as a kickoff to the holiday shopping season.

As a reference, here are the Prime Day dates from previous years:

Given we're already into June, the likelihood of Amazon using this month for the event is diminishing as we'd usually expect a couple of weeks' notice of any event. It also remains to be seen if Amazon will repeat the Prime Early Access Sale in the fall to kick off the holiday shopping season.

Since 2017, Amazon's Prime Day has actually spanned two days. The events have historically kicked off at midnight Pacific and run continuously for 48 hours, and we anticipate much the same this year. Many deals launched at that opening time are set to last throughout the event, supplies permitting, with other, more limited-time Lightning deals launching and expiring during the two-day period.

Given we haven't officially heard about this summer's Prime Day sale, we don't have any concrete information on a second Prime Day-like event for the fall. Ultimately, if Amazon views last year's Prime Early Access Sale as a success, it will probably wish to repeat it for 2023, though the event didn't appear to make as big of a splash as Prime Day usually does. That being said, an October event gives Amazon the opportunity to get out ahead of the competition before Black Friday sales kick off in November.

Nothing is for certain until Amazon says so, but we can look at regions in which Prime Day ran last year for an insight on how this year's sale might look. In 2022, Prime Day ran in the following countries:

The idea behind Prime Day is a simple one: 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.

Yes, Amazon Prime Day 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 shopping Prime Day sales without paying for Prime.

Amazon last year raised prices on Prime membership. It's now $15 a month ($139 a year).

We'll be here to gather up all of the best Amazon Prime Day 2023 deals as soon as they are available. While it's hard to predict what those will be, we can look at some of the most popular deals from Prime Day 2022 and the Prime Early Access Sale to try and glean more about what's to come. Here are some of the top deals from last year's events:

Outside of this selection, there were a bunch of other popular deals in tech and home categories, as well as health and fitness, fashion and beauty, toys and more. As is customary, we anticipate Prime Day 2023 will bring best-ever pricing on a variety of Amazon's own-brand tech with other standout deals from third-party brands likely to prove popular too.

Each year, we see retailers like eBay, Best Buy and Walmart kick off July sales in order to try and compete with Amazon Prime Day and 2022 was no different. For Prime Day 2023, expect Amazon's biggest competitors to once again launch their own sales that overlap the same dates and try to poach eager shoppers' dollars. We'll be here to cover all of the best deals at all of the major retailers.

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 in 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.

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 sale 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 Deals 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 out our new CNET Shopping browser extension to help ensure that purchases you make all year round will be at the lowest price available.

In simple terms, Amazon Prime Day is a marathon of deals that lasts 48 hours. The sales span all categories, including beauty, apparel, kitchen/dining, electronics, and more — and the discounts are deep.