With all the excitement surrounding Amazon Prime Day, shoppers are led to believe this sale will be the biggest and best ever. The question is, does it actually live up to the hype?
The concept of Prime Day is pretty cool—30 straight hours of deals, some of which are “Lightening” deals that have smaller quantities and/or reduced duration. Many of these are for popular items like electronics, which are costly to begin with.
Of course, to even participate, you’ll need to spend $99 on a Prime Membership… (Yes, it’s kind of like paying for a Costco card.)
Since it started last night, I’ve been periodically checking the offers. Yes, there are a ton of decent items available, but I have yet to see one single thing that’s impossible to pass up. Prime Day may be the right choice if you need a laptop this second, but unless it’s a pressing matter, I’d rather wait for a better deal like Black Friday.
We’ve got to remember that sales are common. Supposedly, over 8,000 items are featured during Prime Day. It’s highly unlikely that each one would be at its lowest cost. Instead of getting caught up in the hysteria, and spending a fortune on “bargains,” I’m passing.
In the blogging world, Prime Day is heavily promoted. One well-known deal site actually sent out over 100 emails linking to “can’t miss purchases.” While I have no problem with promotions and do promote items on this blog, I don’t think it’s ethical to tag overpriced things that I would never buy myself.
It’s true that cost is subjective and if others think Prime Day is worth it, that’s awesome. But for me personally, the event is simply an overrated gimmick.
How do you feel about Prime Day?
I have to admit, I blogged some of the hype;) I felt the deals were so so on regular stuff for most people.. but if you are picking up a Kindle or other Amazon branded item, the deals were pretty good.
I spent money on some things I was looking at for awhile- one was software, and was a great deal. Pretty niche related though. I also got a second battery for my camera- not a great discount, but enough to make me buy.
The real deal was on the supplement I take for migraines. Ended up 30% off. They don’t do a lot of sales all year, and I use it daily, so that was worth it.
The rest was not that exciting…
Yes, “niche related” is a perfect description. You mention supplements; I didn’t even think about those, so that’s a good example. Maybe I’m pickier on price than most because I do so much deal hunting. Was the cost for a Kindle better than the Black Friday sale?
I browsed and picked up a few things I use, but agree that it’s mostly hype. The one really great deal I snagged is a Twin XL mattress for $87. That makes me happy, we wanted to get a longer (and newer) mattress for our exchange student who will be returning for his third year in August. The kid is growing like a weed!
Ok, that is a great price! Is it a good quality mattress?
Ibought an overpriced $4 bag of cheese caramel popcorn for $2…then went to bed
$2.00, huh? That’s an affordable “splurge” for sure!
I totally agree with you. I think it was way over Hyped. I would imagine some people bought stuff that they would have never have bought normally. It’s like they try and make you feel rushed and impulse buy something…anything, or you’ll miss out on once a year deals you MUST HAVE.
YES! Exactly, it’s a panic atmosphere, which I hate.
I’m in total agreement! As is the day after Thanksgiving sales. I don’t participate in that either! I do, however, have Prime. But it is a savings to me because I purchase often throughout the year from Amazon.
I buy things on Amazon, but I don’t think Prime is the big deal they pretend it’s supposed to be.