Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days sale (also known as October Prime Day) is now over -- but Amazo has several deals still lingering on everything from TVs to laptops, robot vacuums, kitchen gadgets, smart tech, and beyond to help you get a jump on your holiday shopping. We aren't sure how much longer these deals will stick around, so would recommend doing your shopping soon.
Here at ZDNET, our tech and deal-hunting experts have been searching through thousands of deals and discounts this week to curate the best October Prime Day sales still live on Amazon right now.
Per Amazon, Prime Big Deal Days (more commonly referred to as "October Prime Day" or "Prime Day 2") is a holiday kickoff event designed to offer Prime members exclusive access to early holiday deals across popular categories and top brands. Amazon's Prime Day sales occur twice yearly, once in July and once in October, with several smaller sale events, like Amazon's Big Spring Sale, popping up on the calendar throughout the year.
Amazon announced in September that the 2024 dates for October Prime Day are October 8 and October 9. Last year, the October Prime Big Deal Days sale occurred on October 10 and October 11.
October's Prime Big Deal Days is a two-day sale event that mimics the format of July Prime Day. Customers should expect deals to expire as early as 11:59 p.m. PDT on the second day of the sale, though it's normal for some deals to hang around for hours or often days after. Although there's no way of knowing which discounts will stay or go when the clock strikes midnight, we'll continually update ZDNET.com with the best deals that are still live even after the sale ends, so be sure to check back.
So what's the difference between the October Prime Big Deal Days sale and the main July Prime Day sale? Not much. Both sales feature some of the deepest discounts of the year on Amazon products (like Echo devices, Kindles Fire TVs, Ring security cameras, Eero routers, and more), along with tons of deals sitewide on everything from household essentials to kitchen gear to phones and other tech. October Prime Day is meant to be more of a holiday shopping kick-off event, and you'll find some deals that are different from July's sale, but they are largely comparable.
As a ZDNET editor, I only write about deals myself or a team member would want to buy -- devices and products we desire, need, or would recommend. I looked for deals that were at least 20% off (or are hardly ever on sale), using established price comparison tools and trackers to determine whether the deal is actually on sale and how frequently it drops.
I also examined customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the deals I recommend. These recommendations may also be based on my own testing (or testing by another ZDNET expert) -- in addition to extensive research and comparison shopping. The goal is to deliver the most accurate advice to help you shop smarter.
As the name implies, only Prime members in participating countries can shop the October Prime Big Deal Days event. If you don't have a membership, you'll need to enroll prior to the shopping event's kickoff to access exclusive deals and offers.
Amazon Prime costs $14.99 per month, or you can purchase an annual membership for $139, saving you a few dollars.
All college students and those aged 18 to 24 are eligible for a discount and can pay $7.49 per month or $69 per year. In addition, those with qualified government assistance (which may include select seniors) can receive a Prime membership for just $6.99 after their free trial.
ZDNET's experts are searching through Prime Day sales to find the best discounts by category. These are the best deals so far:
You can also find the best October Prime Day deals by price:
And the best deals from other retailers this week: