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Amazon Prime Day is here.
The bizarre holiday – which has been running for years and is mostly the concoction of Amazon – offers both great deals and strange offers.
Amazon promises the day will be the biggest ever. That is undoubtedly true, but it's important to make sure you don't end up with the biggest buyer's remorse ever, too.
What is it?
It is, really, just a sale. Amazon discounts a load of its products, offering them a cut price, and you can buy them.
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As the name suggests, you only get access to that sale if you have Amazon Prime. (So remember to share your benefits with your family, if they are going to want to buy for themselves.)
But as the name doesn't suggest, it doesn't actually last a day.
When is it?
It begins at noon, wherever you are, on 16 July. It runs until the end of the next day – meaning it actually lasts a day-and-a-half, rather than a full day.
Are there good deals?
There certainly can be. It is almost always the best time to buy one of Amazon's own products, for instance, and the Echos and other hardware can receive steep discounts.
But in truth the discounted products are often a little odd. Previous years have seen houses for cats and all kinds of creams, as well as the traditional homeware products and televisions.
How do I make the most of it?
Unfortunately, lots of Amazon's deals refresh through the day – so the only way to really keep an eye on Amazon Prime Day is to keep watching. They'll be collected on a whole host of websites across the internet – including The Independent – but Amazon's home page will also show running information on all of the deals.
Some of the deals are pre-announced by Amazon – shortly before they actually start, they will be "previewed", so that you can see the price. You can then click the "Watch" button, which will make sure you are alerted when the deal goes live.
That said, some of the deals are being announced in advance and there are undoubtedly more to come. So keep an eye out for the things you're looking for, and save them to your list if you think they might receive discounts as the day approaches.
It's also worth making sure you have a think in advance about what you might need. Many of the things that Amazon offers are steeply discounted – but they're also not necessarily the kind of thing you'd actually want to buy, so making a list in advance can be useful.
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