Amazon Prime Day: This is how you score the best deals

In the United States, Prime Day is an event that bargain hunters eagerly await. In recent years, Amazon is also trying to gain a foothold in Europe.

This year, the Dutch members of Amazon Prime can make their first purchases. Prime is a loyalty program and streaming service: members do not pay shipping and receive offers. The Dutch still have to switch to the Dutch version of the German online store because apart from a Dutch url, the Amazon is not yet present in our country.

Prime Day

On Day One, the Amazon offers discounts on over one million products between Monday, July 16 and Tuesday, July 17 at 11:59 pm. Some offers are discounted throughout the discount period, other business only apply for a few hours.

Discounts apply only to members of Prime, the streaming service of Amazon. For € 5.99 a month, you can use Prime, which features movies and series like Netflix and Videoland.

I do not want to become a member? During Prime Day, you can subscribe to a trial subscription, which gives you 30 days of free membership. So you should not forget to cancel.

Prime Day is not the only deal, think of Black Friday for example, on Friday after Christmas, when retailers make gifts online with prices. Last year, RTL Z discovered that discounts on Black Friday were not really a real discount.

The US media also suggests that the cuts are sometimes larger than they are in reality. Wirecutter, affiliated with The New York Times, watched 24,000 cuts last year, but decided to only qualify 112 promotions as "good deals." The main criterion of Wirecutter is that an Amazon transaction must have the lowest price of the last 90 days, a criterion that is often not respected.

How to keep a cool head during such a sale?

initial price

"You save 20, 30, 70%!" It seems very tempting. It may be true, but it is better to take a look at what the discount percentage is calculated.

"This should be clear," said spokeswoman Saskia Bierling of the Dutch Consumer and Market Authority (ACM). We sometimes see advertising with the slogan "40 euros for 25 euros!" "Then the seller must have sold the product for 40 euros," says Bierling.

That's why you regularly see the word "recommended price" on online stores at discounted promotions. That's the selling price that a manufacturer recommends to a retailer, but it's not always used.

Amazon regularly uses the German recommended price on Prime Day to indicate the discount. Products are not always available in the Netherlands.

Determine in advance what you want to buy

So-called flash deals can boost your greed. The big catch-crowd of Prime Day are the so-called Lightning Deals, offers that last only a few hours, or as long as stocks last. Buyers must decide very quickly.

The Consumentenbond denounces these sales tactics. Earlier this month, the association concluded that on many sites the flash deals were not at all as advantageous. This did not concern Amazon, but the Consumer Association was mainly about the lack of time for reflection, or the time to compare prices online.

If you are thinking of hitchhiking with such an event, it is wise to think in advance. what you want to buy. In this way, you protect yourself a bit for impulsive purchases that are powered by the pressure of time.

Compare Prices

Certainly, in the case of discounts compared to a "recommended price", it may be worth visiting other suppliers. The New York Times also advises American readers to take a look at the offer of other online stores. Here you can compare prices at Amazon, for example, at Bol.com, Coolblue or Wehkamp to make sure something is really a bargain.

Nevertheless, it is certainly not inconceivable that prices at Amazon are really advantageous. In early April, Vergelijk.nl reported that fourteen of the top twenty online products sold were cheaper at the US webshop giant.