Amazon.com’s Prime Day for 2022 will occur on July 12-13. While I think the first couple of Prime Day events were the best, I am usually able to find some good buys each year on things that I would have needed to purchase anyway. There are so many Prime Day deals now that sifting through them all can become a full-time job.
The key to a successful Prime Day is to stick to only purchasing what you need and will use and not getting sucked into the excitement of the event and overspending. What I’d like to share is how to maximize the savings I receive for participating in Amazon Prime Day. There are several strategies I use and will explain more fully here:
Short-term Amazon Prime Subscription
If you don’t currently subscribe to Amazon Prime, it may or may not make sense to pay the $15 monthly price just to participate in the event. However, Amazon offered me a special promotional price to sign up for Prime – $1.99 for one week. This is perfect for those just wanting to participate in the Prime Day promotions. Be sure to check your Amazon account for this special promotional pricing option. You may even qualify for a free one-month Amazon Prime trial!
Checking Amazon Price History
I use CamelCamelCamel to check the price history of Amazon products before I purchase them. This is a great way to find out if the Prime Day price being advertised is actually a good deal based on the historical price changes for that item.
If you have specific items you are looking to purchase, you can add them to a CamelCamelCamel watchlist and you’ll get an email if the price drops. This can make participating in Prime Day much easier and allow you to stick to a disciplined shopping list too.
The above chart is an example of the price data that CamelCamelCamel will generate for you on any item that Amazon sells. The Fire HD 8 tablet is usually priced at $89.99 but regularly gets discounted down to $44.99. But if you didn’t use CamelCamelCamel, you may think that the times it has dropped to $60 are a good deal, but if you’d waited a short while you could have picked it up even cheaper! Based on this chart, if you’re in the market for a Fire tablet and see it hit $44.99 it’s time to buy!
FREE Amazon Prime Day Promotions
Check within your Amazon Prime account for access to these free trial and free credit offers. These free offers are worth about $165!
Amazon Music Unlimited – One Month Free
Audible Premium Plus – One Month Free
Amazon Kindle Unlimited – One Month Free
Grubhub+ – One Year Free (over $100 value!)
Download the Amazon Shopping app, earn a $10 credit.
Collect 4 stamps, earn a $10 credit
This promotion requires you to undertake a few activities in order to receive the $10 credit to your account:
- Make a Prime-eligible purchase of at least $5
- Stream a show on Prime Video
- Listen to a song with Amazon Music Prime
- Borrow an eBook on Prime Reading
Credit Card Rewards for Prime Day
Amazon has three branded credit cards that are offering special benefits when used to make Prime Day purchases. These cards have no annual fee and sometimes offer a sign-up bonus in the form of an Amazon gift card credit applied to your account. Log into your Amazon account to see what sign-up offers are currently available to you. The best part is that you don’t have to wait to receive a card in the mail to take advantage of these offers. The new credit card will be available to use in your Amazon account right away!
Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card
$200 Amazon Gift Card Signup Bonus (no minimum spend required)
Up to 20% off on select Prime Day event items.
10% back on rotating selection of items and categories on Amazon.com.
6% back at Amazon.com and Whole Foods during Prime Days (July 12 &13).
5% back at Amazon.com and Whole Foods.
2% back at restaurants, gas stations, and drugstores.
1% back on all other purchases.
Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card (if you do not have Prime)
3% back at Amazon.com and Whole Foods.
2% back at restaurants, gas stations, and drugstores.
1% back on all other purchases.
Amazon Store Card
$150 Amazon Gift Card Signup Bonus (no minimum spend required).
5% back at Amazon.com or Special Financing or Equal Monthly Payments (with Prime membership).
Amazon Secured Card
2% back at Amazon.com (with Prime membership).
Amazon Business Prime American Express Card
$100 statement credit after $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months.
5% back at Amazon.com or 90 day terms.
2% back at restaurants, gas stations, and wireless telephone services.
1% back on all other purchases.
Non-Amazon Credit Card Offers
Pay with Affirm
Amazon and Affirm are offering a special promotion if you use Affirm pay over time as your payment method at checkout. Use Affirm on your Prime Day order of over $100 and you’ll receive a $25 Amazon credit. That’s 25% off!
Credit Cards from Capital One, Discover, Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, etc.
Unfortunately, none of the major credit card companies’ rotating reward categories include Amazon.com for July. However, you may have a new credit card that you need to spend a certain amount in order to qualify for a signup bonus and Amazon Prime Day could be a good opportunity to hit that minimum spend requirement.
I recently signed up for a couple of cards with bonus spending requirements that equal a 20% cashback rate. If I won’t be able to hit the spending requirement in other ways, then Prime Day is a great opportunity to reach those numbers.
Signing up for an Amazon credit card with a signup bonus means your first $150-200 spent on Prime Day is free! Beyond that, you can earn up to 6% cashback on Prime Day with the Amazon Prime Visa Signature Card.
Cashback Websites for Prime Day
TopCashback is offering a $2.50 cashback bonus through July 13th on any purchase through their website. Purchases of Amazon devices like the Kindle, Echo, etc. qualify for this bonus, in addition to 8% cashback from TopCashback (this is in addition to any credit card cashback you may earn!).
BeFrugal is also offering 8% cashback on Amazon devices, 7% on Amazon Home Security and Smart Home Devices, $15 on Prime Membership subscriptions, and $13 on Prime Video subscriptions.
If you aren’t yet a BeFrugal member, you can also earn a $10 sign-up bonus to further increase your cashback earnings on Prime Day (and beyond!) by signing up through the banner below.
Combining the above strategies into your Amazon Prime Day shopping could save you a bunch of money! If you have any other great tips for making the most of Prime Day savings, drop them in the comments!