Here we are again, staring down the barrel of Amazon Prime Day — that glorious, totally not-made-up retail holiday. It’s the event that makes wallets open (digitally speaking) and deal hunters sharpen their spears (also digital). It’s also when we convince ourselves we absolutely, positively must have a waffle maker that’s also a Bluetooth speaker. Sure, Prime Day is a corporate invention, but if it means lower prices on gadgets, gizmos, and essentials you didn’t realize were essential, we won’t complain.
What we will do is help you find the absolute best Prime Day deals — and make sure they’re actually deals, not just price-adjusted wanna-bes. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the event, and I’ve tracked (and shopped) it since the beginning. So read on for some tips to help you max out your 2025 Prime Day savings.
Related:
Tip #1: Remember that the ‘List Price’ isn’t always what it seems
Here’s an example of a no-brand robot vacuum, new to Amazon, that debuted with — in my opinion — an artificially inflated list price (here listed as the “typical price”). This model has nowhere near the features of a $600 vacuum; rather, it’s equipped like a $130 one. (Rick Broida/Yahoo)
Prime Day 101 is pretty much the same as Shopping 101: Seek out the biggest percentage price drops before you pull the trigger. But what are those percentages based on? There’s the list price, aka MSRP (“manufacturer’s suggested retail price”), which is the default price set by the manufacturer — or the Amazon seller, which in many cases is not Amazon. And because those third-party sellers have complete control over the prices shown for any product, they can artificially inflate the list price in order to make the discounted price seem more substantial. Not every seller does this, of course, but it does happen.
For example, there are a lot of no-brand robot vacuum cleaners available from Amazon. A common strategy there is for the seller to assign the product a very high list price, at least for a few weeks, then sell it for considerably less — making it seem like you’re saving more than you are. Meanwhile, competing models are all priced around that same “sale” price, but seem less attractive by comparison.
Amazon has attempted to mitigate this issue on some products by instead listing something it calls the “typical price.” Per Amazon, that is “the median price paid on Amazon in the last 90 days, [excluding] prices paid by customers for the product during a limited time deal.” It’s a nice idea, but it doesn’t seem to preclude some third-party sellers from pulling the same inflated discount game, even on name-brand products.
Take this 16-inch Dell Inspiron laptop sold by “General Hardware Story.” It has a list price from that vendor of a whopping $3,400. It was listed as “71% off” during the Memorial Day sale, when it sold for closer to $1,000. Sounds great until you investigate further. That $3,400 price is an illusion: A pair of on-screen offers — 50% off at checkout, 20% coupon — knocked it down to $1,020 just a day after the Memorial Day sale ended, meaning that supposed giant holiday discount was a mere $20!
A little common sense is applicable here: If you’re seeing something advertised as 70%, 80% or even 90% off, chances are good it was never really selling for that higher price to begin with. And if it was, it definitely wasn’t worth it.
So given that the posted discounts don’t always line up with reality, how can you determine if a deal is really worth buying? That brings us to tip #2.
Tip #2: Check every deal’s price history
Knowledge is power, and there’s no better knowledge you can have during Prime Day than a product’s complete price history. Thankfully, a couple of free tools let you pull back the curtain and see exactly that.
Why is this so important? Two reasons. First, as discussed above, you can see if that deal is really a deal or if the discounted price is the “always” price. Second, you can eliminate that sense of urgency from your shopping, because if a product has been discounted like this before, chances are good it will be again.
The tools I recommend for this: CamelCamelCamel (so named for the animal’s humps, which go up and down — just like prices) and Keepa. Both will show you detailed price-history charts, including the lowest and highest prices on record.
Has the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K been on sale before? When hasn’t it! This CamelCamelCamel price-history graph lets you see just how often it’s discounted and what the lowest price has been. Utterly invaluable information. (Rick Broida/Yahoo)
Now, the caveat here is that these price trackers will capture the same dramatic price fluctuations based on those sometimes-inflated list prices noted above. But for products with more honest price fluctuations, you can still save by waiting just a few days for a the discount cycle to repeat. A great example: Amazon-branded products like the Kindle, Fire TV Stick and Echo Show. Checking their price histories, I know that they go on sale with almost clockwork regularity (typically once per month). Granted, Prime Day may yield some of the year’s lowest prices on those products, but often by only $5 or $10. If this isn’t the best time for you to make a purchase, you can always wait for the next discount.
To use these tools, you can either search for a product (or copy/paste an Amazon product link) on their respective sites, or install their desktop browser extensions, which make searches much faster and easier. Prefer to shop on your phone? Keepa has mobile apps for Android and iOS.
Tip #3: Set up price-drop alerts
If there’s a product you’ve been eyeballing but don’t want to have to keep checking to see if it’s on sale, there’s an easy, automated solution: Create a price-drop alert so you’ll get notified if and when that product hits your desired amount.
CamelCamelCamel and Keepa both offer this feature, a great secondary benefit to using them. Here’s an example of what that looks like in the former, with Apple AirPods Pro 2 as my desired deal:
With CamelCamelCamel’s browser extension, you can easily add a price-drop alert for any product. Just enter your desired price and e-mail address, then click Save Price Watches. (Rick Broida/Yahoo)
Obviously this needn’t be limited to Prime Day; I use price-drop alerts all the time. As long as you’re not in a rush to buy whatever it is, this is the way to make sure you get exactly the discount you want.
Tip #4: Don’t automatically assume Amazon has the best deal
This may come as a shock, but there are other stores out there. Best Buy, Target, Walmart and other retailers often run competing sale events during Prime Day, matching and sometimes even beating Amazon’s prices.
Indeed, I think we’re all a little hard-wired to believe that Amazon always has the best deals, but that’s not always the case. Before you pull the trigger, especially on a large purchase, it’s worth taking a minute or two to do some price-comparison shopping.
And if I can hop onto my little soapbox for a moment, don’t forget to check out local stores as well. Especially bookstores, which can offer a browsing experience and customer service unmatched by Amazon. Some even have loyalty programs or other discounts that might get you close to Amazon pricing.
Tip #5: Follow Yahoo’s Prime Day coverage (duh)
I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that Yahoo will be monitoring and sharing all the best Prime Day deals in all the different categories: home, health, kitchen, tech and more. We have teams of experts (I mean it, literal experts!) scouring Amazon for the latest and greatest buys. So if you haven’t already, bookmark Yahoo Shopping and Yahoo Tech as your jumping-off points for Prime Day 2025.
FAQs
When is Prime Day 2025?
Although Amazon hasn’t officially announced the dates for Prime Day 2025, the retailer has confirmed that the event will take place in July. Historically it happens during the second or third week of the month, though things could be different this year owing to a variety of factors (see below). Needless to say, we’ll be watching for the official announcement and updating this story once we get it.
Will tariffs affect Prime Day deals?
My crystal ball is in storage, but it’s a good bet this Prime Day might look a bit different from past ones. According to a 2024 AltIndex report, roughly 70% of all goods sold by Amazon come from China — and China is now subject to new tariffs. While things could change between now and July, it seems likely that prices will be higher on many, if not most, of these goods.
Interestingly, some of Prime Day’s biggest discounts tend to be on Amazon-branded products: Fire TVs and tablets, Kindle e-readers, Echo smart speakers and so on. If Amazon is now paying more to import these devices, will the discounts be less than in previous years? We’ll have to wait and see.
When does Prime Day 2025 end?
In recent years, Prime Day has spanned two full days, ending at midnight Pacific Time (3 a.m. ET) the second day. Once we get the confirmed start date and the duration, we’ll know exactly when it’s expected to end, too.
Update May 27, 2025: We expanded the List Price tip to include a second example, and provide more context on how Amazon’s “typical price” listing works.
