Amazon Prime Day 2024 is coming this July – everything you need to know
Amazon have SHOCKED and RATTLED the world of buying things off the Internet, by announcing that Prime Day 2024 – their latest of their Prime-members-only sales events, which usually take place in July – is taking place in July. And yes, we’re only hearing about this a mere month after the last big Amazon discount splurge, Spring Deal Days. My life is a calendar where every square has “deals” written on it in increasingly scratchy Biro.
Still, let’s keep it summery, eh? Prime Day 2024 may not be a surprise (and is still lacking a specific launch date), but unless the US government announces a second June-based Black Friday or something, it likely represents the next mass serving of PC gaming deals for you to take advantage of. SSDs, graphics cards, or anything else that’s been unusually pricey lately are all but guaranteed to get slashed back down, so there are definitely worse times to be in the market for an upgrade than Prime Day.
As always, you’ll need an Amazon Prime account to most effectively fill yer boots; while Spring Deal Days only locked a handful of its PC hardware deals behind this requirement, Prime Days are usually nothing but Prime-exclusive offers. Not a member? Then consider the classic workaround: signing up for Amazon’s Prime free trial, which nets you 30 days of all the perks that come with full membership, Prime Day deal access included. Once you’ve bought all the kit you want, you can just cancel the trial before those 30 days are up, and you won’t pay a penny in fees.
Just, y’know, wait until Prime Day 2024 has a start date, and make sure you sign up when it falls within that 30-day window.
It’s also too soon to know which hardware exactly will be going on sale, though the most recent Prime Days have taken a maximalist approach, slapping savings on everything from internal components to peripherals, monitors, and even full gaming laptops and desktops. MicroSD cards, for the Steam Deck and other handheld PCs, are also a regular feature.
My calendar says that I’ll be here when the time comes, rounding up all my picks of the best PC gaming deals once Prime Day reveals them. Maybe even in tandem with an Anti-Prime Day deals guide, for those who’ve sworn off Amazon specifically. If you’re the savvy sort that likes to plan their shopping raids in advance, I can also offer some Prime Day tips…
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun Prime Day 2024 FAQ When is Prime Day 2024?
At the time of writing, Amazon have only announced that this year’s Prime Day will launch in July. There are no start and end times beyond that, though the last two Prime Days landed right in the middle of July, so the week commencing Monday the 10th would be my guess.
I’d also expect Prime Day to, once again, not last for one actual day. These have been two-day affairs every year since 2017, and there’s no reason to think 2024’s will be any shorter. If anything, Amazon might be tempted to make it even longer – their 2024 Spring sale lasted six days.
Do I really need a Prime membership for Prime Day?
I’m afraid so. There’s always that free trial to abuse, but yes, all of Amazon’s best deals will only be available to those with active Prime accounts.
However, Amazon might not be the only source of cheap PC gear during Prime Day. If previous years are any indication, many rival retailers will just happen to hold competing sales of their own, matching the prices of some Amazon deal listings and occasionally even beating them. These sales demand no such premium subscriptions, so can make for excellent alternatives.
Is Prime Day good for any PC hardware in particular?
It’s true that some parts and peripherals tend to see a wider range of worthwhile deals than others. SSDs are a regular highlight, as are microSD cards – storage in general, really – and monitors, mice and keyboards tend to have good selections as well. Quality graphics card deals are rarer, but arguably more valuable, given their higher starting prices, while CPUs and RAM typically only get a few deals that are truly deserving of your money.
Even so, there’s always at least a little something for everyone; I can’t think of any PC hardware types that consistently miss out on deals. If anything, the recent rise of handheld PCs has added to the range of relevant offers. You might want to keep an eye out for, say, Steam Deck cases and docks.
Image credit: Amazon Prime Day 2024: tips to get the best PC gaming deals Choose what you want in advance
Although I’ll be highlighting my picks of this year’s sale, you don’t have to stick to them. If you’ve been eyeing up a particular upgrade, or even just have a vague idea of what you need, make a note of it in advance. Prime Day is a major source of good deals, but it’s also liable to be packed with rubbish, and knowing exactly what to search for will save you having to dig through a mountain of unwanted offers.
One time-saving trick is to add your desired items to your basket before Prime Day begins. Then, once it’s underway, you don’t need to do any actual searching – just head back into the basket and see at a glance whether the things you want are on sale or not. Remove the non-discounted bits if you wish, then head straight to payment. Easy peasy.
Avoid dodgy deals
Unfortunately, some sellers still try to pull a fast one on the principles of fair commerce, by raising their prices before a sale then merely lowering them back during the event – creating the illusion of a discount. In my experience, this practice is less prevalent on Prime Day than Black Friday, but it’s still something you can and should protect yourself against. I always recommend installing the Keepa extension for your chosen browser, which slaps a price tracking graph on any Amazon product listing you view.
In this example, we can see that despite previous rises, the current sale price is a genuine drop. | Image credit: Keepa/Amazon/Rock Paper Shotgun
This lets you spot any suspicious pre-sale price rises, and well as confirm that more legit discounts are the real deal.
Don’t just stick to Amazon
Again, just because it’s Prime Day doesn’t mean that Amazon will have the best available price on every single piece of PC gaming equipment. I’ve regularly found that competing retailers (like Ebuyer and Scan in the UK, or Newegg and Best Buy in the US) can provide equally good deals on the exact same products. If you’re really lucky, they may be even cheaper.
Either way, it’s worth checking that prime Day deals, as attractive as they can look, genuinely do make the deepest cuts on what you want. RPS can help with that, via our annual Anti-Prime Day deals roundup, so stay tuned for that.
