Tips and tricks to get the best deals on Amazon Prime Day 2018

Amazon tends to run Lightning Deals as well as Deals of the Day throughout the year and while daily deals typically last around 24 hours, Lightning Deals can last just minutes.

The number of Lightning Deals ramps up around Black Friday, but are available all year round, and to confuse things further, in some instances there are only a limited number of products available during these short deals. Once they’ve all been claimed, the deal may end sooner. 

The benefit, of course, is that you can get expensive gadgets, appliances and gifts at significantly knocked-down prices. As you can imagine, it’s incredibly tricky to stay on top of the deals, so below we’ve explained a bit more about how to get the best Amazon Lightning deals in the UK and how join the waitlist for the best ones. We’re rounding up our pick of the best Lightning Deals as they happen so some may have sold out or ended in the interim period. All prices and deals are correct at the time of writing.

Amazon Prime members get early access to Lightning Deals during the sales. 

Amazon Prime Day 2018 

Amazon Prime Day 2018: What is it?

It’s that time of year again… Amazon Prime Day is rolling around once again. Scheduled to run from midday on Monday 16 July to the end of Tuesday 17 July, Prime Day is up there with Black Friday as one of the year’s best days for ecommerce deals. 

We’ve set up an Amazon Prime Day 2018 hub, bringing you everything you need to know about mega ecommerce event. We’ll be updating it with regular deals, offers and bargains when the time comes. As for now, we show you all the tips and tricks to utilise in order to get your hands on the best deals out there. 

Amazon Prime Day 2018 hacks: How to get the best deals 

Amazon Prime Day 2018: Become an Amazon Prime member

First thing’s first – you’ll have to become a Prime Member in order to get the best deals on Amazon Prime Day (it’s in the name!). Amazon offers a totally free 30-day trial before hitting you with your £79 a year bill, so you’re free to try out the service and its benefits without paying a penny for a whole month. As far as try-before-you-buy schemes go, this one’s pretty generous. If you’re interested in nabbing a free (albeit temporarily free) membership to Amazon Prime, you can sign up for its free trial here.

If you want to cancel your Amazon Prime membership at any time, here’s how. 

Amazon Prime Day 2018: Get the Amazon app

Meanwhile, another great way to grab the best deals is to download the Amazon App, giving you the mobility and ease of use to shop on the go. Whether you’re on your commute, walking your dog or partying the night away (although it’s on a Monday and Tuesday people, come on), new deals are set to drop over the duration of the 36 hours that Prime Day is on for. It’s no good settling down to your laptop for a 15min session – deals will come and go. Make sure you’re on top of things with Amazon App. 

Amazon Prime day 2018: Lightning deals

While some deals will be fixed for the duration of the sale, others will arrive in the form of super-speedy “Lightning deals” that will be available for an hour or two, or until they’re sold out. These discounts could last anywhere from ten minutes to an hour, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled if there are any particular goods you’re in the market for. A good tip is to use the “Watch this Deal” button on upcoming deals to make sure you don’t miss them.

It’s also worth joining the Waitlist for products you really want, because even if it says 100% have been claimed, people are likely to change their minds and end up not buying. You’ll then be notified if more become available.

Amazon Prime day 2018: Ask Alexa for early deals

If you’ve got an Echo speaker, it’s worth asking Alexa to see if she can reveal some Amazon Prime Day deals a few days early. Last year, the voice assistant kept some deals to herself, revealing them via a cryptic poem, only for those who bothered to ask.

Amazon Prime Day 2018: Compare high-street prices

While Amazon will be slashing the prices on hundreds of products, it’s still worth comparing the prices of other retailers. Last year, many high-street brands such as Argos, Currys PC World, Debenhams, John Lewis and Tesco Direct held their own flash sales and dropped prices of goods to match the discounts offered by Amazon.

Amazon Prime Day 2018: Check the product’s history

If you don’t trust the “RRP” of some bargain products featured in Amazon’s Prime Day sale, you can always check the item’s asking price history and previous price changes on Amazon via free services such as CamelCamelCamel to see if you are actually getting a good deal or not.

And of course, be sure to keep refreshing our Amazon Prime Day hub, where we’ll be collating all the best deals on everything from TVs to toothbrushes.

Amazon Lightning Deals UK

Amazon Lightning Deals UK: What is a Lightning Deal?

 Amazon describes a Lightning Deal as “a promotion in which a limited number of discounts are offered on an item for a short period of time.”

Each deal shows the item featured in the deal, all available sizes, colours or storage options, the list price and the current, Lightning Deal price, the promotional discount and a timer showing how long you have to add the item to your basket. You’re normally only allowed to claim a particular deal once.

Amazon Lightning Deals UK: Where to find the best Amazon Lightning Deals

Lightning Deals typically appear on the Today’s Deals page, which you can get to by clicking the Today’s Deals link above the search bar on any Amazon.co.uk page.

During the Amazon Black Friday deals, these Lightning Deals will be accessible via the main Black Friday hub. Go to the hub and on the left-hand side is a panel that lets you filter the results.

Scroll down to “Deal Type” and tick Lightning Deals. This means only the time-limited deals will be shown. From this panel, you can also filter the list by price range, category, whether the item is eligible for Amazon Prime, the discount percentage and customer reviews.

READ NEXT: What is Amazon Prime and is it worth the money?

You can also filter the list by “Availability”: Active, Upcoming and Missed. The Upcoming one is a particularly useful way of staying on top of the deals, while the Missed is like some kind of torture to see what you could have won (and lets you potentially join waitlists – more on that below.)

Amazon Lightning Deals UK: How to claim a Lightning Deal

Once you’ve found a Lightning Deal and you’re ready to buy, add the deal to your basket and make sure you check out within 15 minutes. Amazon will reserve that item for that period of time before releasing it.

Amazon notes that if you’re taken to the “How would you like to pay?” page, don’t uncheck the box next to “Use your gift and promotional balance” because doing so will disable the Lightning Deal price on your order.

If you’re claiming the deal from the product detail page itself, rather than the hub, select the Lightning Deal Price and then click the Add deal to Basket button as above.

Lightning Deal promotional discounts can’t be transferred to other Amazon.co.uk accounts and for really popular Lightning Deals, you may see a “Checking deal status” message after you click the “Add to Basket” button. This means Amazon is seeing if you’re eligible for the deal before applying the discount. For example, it will check to see you haven’t bought the item before and it’s still available.

Amazon Lightning Deals UK: How to join a Lightning Deal waitlist

If you’ve missed a deal, you may still be able to get the item at a discount by joining the Lightning Deal waitlist.

If someone doesn’t check out within 15 minutes, or they’re not eligible for the discount, the product will be released to people on the waitlist. If this is an option, you’ll see a “Join waitlist” button. Click this to join the list.

When you join a waitlist, you’ll see your place in the queue and see how likely you are to get the deal if you stay in the queue. This ranges from Good (you’re in the top 20% of the queue), Medium (if you’re in the section of the queue below the top 20% and above the bottom 40%), or Poor (you’re in the bottom 40% of the queue).

When you’re the next customer on the waitlist, you’ll get a notification telling you the deal is yours. If you don’t add the deal to your basket in the time specified (and this varies), the item will fall to the next person in the queue. You must then pay for the item within 15 minutes.

Image: Pixabay