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Amazon Prime Day is nearly here. Throughout the week, you’ll find promotions on products from companies both big and small, all vying for your clicks and the contents of your bank account. Many of these offers will claim to be great deals, implying that not buying the item during Prime Day will mean missing out on massive savings.
But not all Prime Day deals are really all that great—just because a product is discounted on Prime Day doesn’t mean it hasn’t been cheaper before, nor that it won’t be cheaper later. Fortunately, there are a few strategies you can use to quickly figure out whether that “amazing deal” really is all that.
How to tell a good Prime Day price from a bad one
One of the best things you can do to tell if a Prime Day deal is legit is to use a price tracker. These sites and tools keep tabs on the prices for any given product across the many different stores and vendors where it is sold, in order to give you the best possible price, as well as show you whether that current “deal” really is that much lower than the original price or other deals that are out there.
A common technique to make deals look good is to pump up the price of the product: That way, when the company slashes the price for something like Prime Day, it can claim a large discount, even if the overall price tag isn’t much lower than the original price (if it’s lower at all). If something originally costs $60, a company can raise the price to $75, then cut it back down to $60, claiming it took 20% off. It’s accurate, but scummy, so watch out for it.
You can use a browser extension like CamelCamelCamel to watch a product’s price history on Amazon. But other trackers, like Capital One Shopping, can help you find prices and price histories for items across multiple stores. Their browser extensions are especially useful: If there’s another store selling the same product you’re looking at on Amazon for less, you’ll get a pop-up letting you know, with a direct link to that store’s product page.
Knowing whether something is a good deal isn’t all about getting the best price, though. You might see that an item isn’t any cheaper elsewhere on the web, but there’s more than just the general price tag to consider.
Make sure you’re not unknowingly buying an outdated piece of tech
I’m a big believer in old tech: I think we should all hold onto our devices for longer. However, I don’t think companies should sell you old tech as if it were new, especially when new tech is right around the corner.
Amazon in particular is often helpful here: If you’re looking at an outdated version of a product, Amazon lets you know, and gives you a link to the current version of that device. However, that’s only true if Amazon carries that new version, or if there’s a direct successor to that product. Lines are blurred these days: Last year’s device isn’t necessarily obsolete just because there’s a new version out, so Amazon doesn’t always try to sell you on the newer product.
And that can be fine! Last-generation laptops, tablets, smartwatches, and phones are often great choices. Tech is advancing so rapidly that it can be frugal and practical to buy older tech that still works well. That said, a store telling you to buy something that won’t be able to update to the latest software later this year isn’t right. If you see a deal on the first-gen Apple Watch Ultra, for example, know that it won’t get watchOS 27 in the fall—even if the device itself is perfectly usable. If you’re looking to buy a piece of tech on Prime Day, research is your friend. It’s more than okay to buy something that came out last year or the year before; what matters more is making sure the product will still work as it should in 2026, and if it’ll last as long as you’d reasonably expect it to. If the reason a device is at such a good price is that it’s obsolete, that’s not a good deal.
Not everything “cheap” is good
On a similar note, be wary of cheap tech that simply isn’t very good. It might be affordable, but if it doesn’t work well, it’s not worth the cost.
What do you think so far?
Often, this issue arises with the many brands you’ve never heard of selling items for pennies compared to other companies. Sure, you could save some money and go with these brands, but what about the long-term investment? If the return policy is up, you’re sunk without a customer support channel, something many of these tiny companies lack themselves.
On the other hand, you might have heard of the brand, but the product itself just isn’t very good. It might seem like a steal to get a giant 65-inch 4K TV for less than $300, but if the picture quality is really poor, was that really worth it? (No.)
Read the reviews
One way to make sure that TV is worth its steep price cut, or whether those cheap headphones are going to pass the listen test, is to read reviews for the products you’re considering buying. I’m not talking about Amazon reviews, either: Amazon’s ratings can be helpful, but they can also be compromised. Sometimes the reviews don’t even match the product they’re supposed to be talking about, which doesn’t bode well for the integrity of the review. And in the age of AI, you can never be too sure who’s writing that customer review in the first place.
When it comes to tech, the best approach is to listen to the reviewers with technical experience, who put these products through their paces before issuing an opinion. An outlet like our sister site PCMag will help you figure out pretty quickly whether that TV is really worth the hype, and they show their work so you can understand how they came to their conclusions.
At the end of the day, it’s all about taking your time and doing your research—the opposite of the Prime Day “BUY IT NOW” strategy. Fight the urge to buy something on impulse, and make sure your money is going toward the best possible product for your needs.
Deals are selected by our commerce team