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Bargain hunters should make one quick change to their Amazon account now — or risk missing out on the "lowest prices of the year so far" and paying more than millions of other shoppers, the Seattle-based shopping site has cautioned.
Prime Day is a blockbuster 48-hour sale with ludicrous discounts across some of the most popular products on Amazon. Promoting its annual sale, the US retailer promised "hundreds of thousands of deals on a wide selection of popular brands like Elemis, ghd, Ninja, and Samsung, and Amazon’s lowest prices of the year so far on select products from Barbie, L’Oréal Paris, Shark, and more."
The Black Friday-like discounts started at 00.01am on July 16, and will expire 11.59pm on July 17.
The catch? You must be an Amazon Prime member to access any of these deals.
Amazon's latest Prime Day sale will take place over 48 hours from 00.01am on July 16
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Without Prime membership, you'll be stuck paying the full RRP for items that've been discounted in the sale. You'll also lose out on next-day delivery at no extra cost on thousands of items.
But becoming an Amazon Prime member doesn't have to cost you anything.
That's because the US shopping giant offers a 30-day free trial of its membership scheme. Sign up, then cancel immediately and you'll still be able to enjoy all of the perks of Prime membership for a month.
That includes access to all discounts in the Prime Day sale, exclusive boxsets and films to stream via Prime Video, unlimited cloud storage for photos in Amazon Photos, free video games to download to your PC, next-day delivery on thousands of items, free Audible books to download and keep, and more.
If you've already tested-out Amazon Prime membership with a 30-day free trial, it's worth checking whether your account is eligible. Amazon regularly offers a trial period to all customers every year or so, even if you've taken out a 30-day trial for previous Prime Day sales, you might be able to sign-up again.
Speaking about what shoppers can expect from the next site-wide sale, UK Country Manager at Amazon, John Boumphrey said: "We work really hard to deliver great products at the best prices for customers during Prime Day and throughout the year, from the biggest brands to the 100,000 small British businesses that sell on Amazon.
"With even faster deliveries and so many shopping, saving and entertainment benefits available, there has never been a better time to be a Prime member. Roll on Prime Day!"
Prime membership costs £8.99 per month or £95 per year. Earlier this year, Amazon introduced adverts to its Prime Video streaming service, which can only be removed with a new £2.99 charge.
Prime membership is a great option for those who regularly shop on Amazon, since it removes (almost) all delivery costs on items from across the site
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That's quite a bit more expensive than other monthly subscriptions, with Disney+ now starting from £4.99 per month, Netflix from £4.99 per month, Apple TV+ setting you back £8.99 per month, and Paramount+ costing £6.99 per month.
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However, it's unfair to compare Amazon Prime directly to these streamers, since this account offers much more. A full-fat Amazon Prime membership includes access to everything on Prime Video but also unlocks next-day delivery at no extra cost, millions of tracks and hand-picked playlists via Amazon Music, unlimited cloud storage to back up your photos via Amazon Photos, a premium subscription for Deliveroo, free PC games, the list goes on and on...
Read our definitive verdict to the question is Amazon Prime worth it? in our in-depth guide.
