Amazon Prime Day doesn't usually take place till July, so why are we talking about it months ahead of time? Because it's never too early to be prepared.
No date has been announced for Prime Day 2023 and we're quite sure Amazon Australia isn't going to wait around till later this year to offer big discounts – there are sure to be other sales on the online retail site to tempt you to part with your money. However, if you're a Prime member, then it pays to be patient as the deals offered during Prime Day are typically much better than during Amazon's Mid-Year Sale or Big Smile Sale.
So, if there's no date, what have we to say about Amazon Prime Day 2023 so far? Admittedly not a lot, but we have gathered together all the knowledge we've gained from covering the event since it first began in Australia back in 2018. This will hopefully help you prepare for the next big sale.
Amazon's previous Prime Day event featured thousands of products reduced to some of the lowest prices we'd seen and it's highly likely that trend will continue into 2023.
Keep checking in regularly as we share everything related to Prime Day 2023, including the sale's expected start date, our predicted deals and any official information announced by Amazon. You can also find our top tips and advice on how to make the most of the sale and how to find the best Prime Day deals so you're ready for the retailer's next bargain bonanza.
Amazon Prime Day 2023: all you need to know
What is Amazon Prime Day in Australia?
In Australia, Amazon Prime Day is one of the big sales in our shopping calendar with a staggering number of items getting record-low prices on the online retail giant's platform.
Amazon Prime Day began in the US in 2015 as a celebration of the company’s 20th anniversary, with more deals on offer than Black Friday back then. Prime Day then quickly transformed into Amazon’s mid-year sales event where members of Amazon Prime get exclusive discounts on a wide range of items.
While it began as a one-day sale, by 2018 – which was the first time Australia saw a Prime Day sale – it had expanded to two days. That meant that in Australia we could shop for 36 hours – i.e. until the sale ended in the US. In 2019, however, it got even bigger and Aussie shoppers were treated to a whopping 65 hours of discounts. 2020 brought 66 hours of the shopping spree only because of daylight savings in October, and it was back to 65 hours in 2021.
1. Go to Amazon Prime (opens in new tab)
2. Select: Start your free trial
3. Follow the instructions
4. Start browsing deals (opens in new tab)
Why does Amazon have Prime Day? It's presented as a neat ‘thank you’ to its paying members, but one that involves giving Amazon more money and shifting a lot of stock at the same time.
Prime Day isn’t just about selling Amazon-branded products – many other brands and third-party sellers also save some of their best deals for Prime Day, completely aware that thousands of extra shoppers will be hitting the online store searching for a bargain.
To make the most of Prime Day you’ll need to get yourself an Amazon Prime membership (opens in new tab) which, in Australia, will set you back just AU$6.99 a month or AU$59 a year – half the cost of the US subscription.
While you’re primarily paying for the privilege of free, swift delivery, signing up for Prime means you’ll also have free access to Amazon’s streaming services, including Prime Video, Prime Music, Prime Reading and Twitch.
If you'd like to know more about how a Prime membership can benefit you, you can head to our dedicated page on Amazon Prime in Australia where we explain it all.
What are the dates for Amazon Prime Day 2023?
At this early stage, we currently have no concrete information on Amazon Prime Day 2023. The retailer usually confirms the date about a couple of weeks before the sale, so we're a long way off an official announcement.
That said, we can make a reasonable date prediction based on previous sales and say that it's almost guaranteed to take place in July. We also think it's likely to occur during the first half of the month, so our current prediction is that Amazon Prime Day 2023 will run on July 11-12.
This is far from confirmed, though, so stick with us over the coming months as we learn more about the plan for Prime Day in 2023.
When was the last Amazon Prime Day?
In Australia, the last Prime Day was in July 2022. It ran from 12am AEST on Tuesday, July 12 to 11:59pm AEST on Wednesday, July 13 in 2022. And that was just the official local sale. We Aussies have the advantage of being able to shop select items available on Amazon UK and Amazon US, so our Prime Day goes on until the sale finally finishes on the US West Coast. So, in Australia, we got to shop until 5pm AEST on Thursday, July 14 – a full 65 hours!
Sixth: TBC 2023
Fifth: July 12-14, 2022
Fourth: June, 21-23, 2021
Third: Oct 13-15, 2020
Second: July 15-17, 2019
First: July 16-17, 2018
While Amazon hosted a mini Prime Day in October 2022 (called the Prime Early Access Sale) in some other markets it operates in, Australian shoppers were, instead, treated to a Big Smile Sale. The difference between the two sale events is that instead of being just a two-day sale like Prime Day, Big Smile Sale typically goes on for a few days longer (it was a whole week back in October).
Will we see a second Prime Day 2023 in Australia? If last year was anything to go by, probably not. We're likely to see another repeat of Amazon's Big Smile Sale which, incidentally, occurred twice last year – once in the first half of 2022 and again in October. Rest assured, though, that Prime Day 2023 will remain a major sale event in Australia and you can look forward to this massive sale in the middle of the year.
What were the best deals from Prime Day 2022?
Every year, without question, the best Prime Day deals are on Amazon's own-brand devices.
At the time of the last Prime Day in Australia, we saw the lowest prices ever on the Kindle ereaders and a few models of the Echo smart speakers and displays also saw some excellent discounts.
The bestsellers for Amazon in 2022 in Australia, however, were the Fire TV Stick 4K Max streaming device and the Echo Dot (3rd generation), according (opens in new tab) to the retail giant.
We were also amazed at how steeply the price of an Ecovacs Deebot robot vacuum fell for Prime Day and, according to Amazon, that was very popular with Aussie shoppers. The Apple products that were popular were the AirPods, Apple Watch 3 (although it wasn't discounted), Apple Watch 7 and the Apple Watch SE.
Some Samsung devices (Amazon doesn't specify which ones exactly) and some storage options from WD/SanDisk did well too. And considering the 2021 Kindle Paperwhite was at its all-time low price, it's no surprise this did well also.
Several gaming offers also were taken advantage of, says Amazon AU, with shoppers stocking up on video games across the different platforms, while also opting for Nintendo Switch or PS5 consoles, and even the Meta Quest 2 which came with some store credit instead of a discount.
Amazon Prime Day 2023: our predictions
We're a bit too far away from this year's Prime Day to offer any concrete predictions just yet. However, following the 2022 Prime Day sale and what we saw during October's Big Smile Sale, we've put a few thoughts together on how the sale might look in 2023.
The simple answer is to expect something very similar to what we saw last July. Of course, it's unlikely Amazon will simply copy every deal once again. However, if the event does take place then it would be wise to assume that a lot of the popular offers on Amazon devices such as the Fire TV Stick 4K, Echo Dot and Kindle will pop up again.
As for other products, this entirely depends on how it fits into each manufacturer's plans for Prime Day. We've already seen deals go live on Amazon from 24 hours ahead of the official sale start, so there's a reasonable chance that a few big brands could get involved ahead of time with Amazon's exclusive Prime member event. Based on that, expect laptops, TVs, headphones and more popular electronics to feature alongside Amazon's own hardware.
If you've got a new Apple device in mind, though, it could be a good time to save big on last-generation hardware and some of the latest models released that year. We'll have a close eye on the new iPad 10.2 as well as the popular MacBook Air and the Apple Watch 8. This could be the time when the cheapest ever prices appear and previous record-lows are broken.
If we hear any more news over the coming months, we'll be sure to share it right here and update our predictions with the latest information.
How to prepare for Prime Day 2023: pro tips
Want to know how to make the most out of next year's Prime Day sale? We've collected together some buyer's tips and advice just below based on our own experience having covered this event for 8 years now. Some of these tips may seem pretty basic and straightforward to some, but they're definitely not to be overlooked if you're getting a shopping list ready.
1. Find an Amazon Prime free trial...
Amazon Prime Day is reserved for Prime members only. However, if you've not subscribed in the past, Amazon offers a free trial that you can activate in the lead-up to the event. Just be careful that you time your membership to run over the period of Prime Day. Once Amazon confirms when that is, you can work back to decide when to start your free trial
2. ..but don't rely on it
Last year we saw more retailers participating in similar Prime Day sales in order to steal a little of Amazon's pie. We expect eBay Australia will run its own discounts over the same period this year, which means you can shop around to find the best Prime Day deals possible. Ultimately, you could find a big saving on exactly what you want outside of Amazon where membership isn't necessarily required although eBay Plus members typically get to save more.
3. Know what you want to buy...
Going into big sales events such as Amazon Prime Day with an idea of what you want to buy is a great place to start. Sure, we all like to do a bit of digital window shopping, but knowing what you're after means you can filter out all that noise, dodge the lightning deals and get straight to the good stuff right away. Take the time now to research the price history of your chosen product, as well as the prices of its competitors over the last year – both cheaper and more expensive versions. With that in mind, you can go into Prime Day knowing for yourself what is a good deal.
4. ..but stay flexible
Even if you know everything about the one product you really want, it's unwise to assume that the particular tablet, camera, phone or whatever it is you're after will be on sale. Your heart may be set on a product but the big day can roll around and no savings are found on it. Does that mean you should give up? No way.
Take all that research you did in the days beforehand to look at similar products. Is there an equivalent cheaper item that's even less for Prime Day, or perhaps that slightly more expensive model is now reduced to a price more in line with your original item? Either way, you could get an even bigger saving or come away with a better product that you would have otherwise missed out on.
5. Get in there early...
When Prime Day begins, you want to be one of the first to check which offers have gone live at midnight – or at least first thing in the morning when you wake up. We don't think that anything is going to sell out in a matter of hours in this early window, but there's definitely a risk that the hottest deals will sell out as the first day goes on. If you see something you really want to buy, get it in your cart right away – you can always cancel the order before it ships if you change your mind.
6. ..but check back throughout the event
Just because you've managed to secure your dream deal straight out the gate doesn't mean Amazon is done. New Prime Day deals are released throughout the entire sales window and there are often limited-time lightning deals that may grab your attention. And sold-out products may come back at a later time if you missed out on something big.
How to find the best Prime Day deals
Amazon doesn't always do a great job of promoting the best Prime Day deals. Sure, it will shout about many of its own devices and other well-known products that are on sale, but it's often worth looking beyond these highlighted deals for some even better savings. We do a lot of that searching for you and share our favourite offers right here, but here's some more advice on how to find the best Prime Day deals.
Before the sale begins is a good place to start. In the run-up, Amazon usually has a few offers live that are a tease for the big event. These aren't usually some of the biggest products, but can still be tempting bargains. We sometimes see reductions on its own subscription services such as Audible, Music Unlimited and Kindle Unlimited during this window, making it a good time to sign up.
We also strongly encourage you to keep an eye on Amazon Warehouse deals (opens in new tab). We often see store-wide discounts of up to 20% across this selection of second-hand, used and open-box products. All items are checked, tested and Amazon-approved before they go back on sale, plus they are covered by the standard returns policy, so you don't have to worry if you run into any issues. Generally, it's an excellent option to bag an even bigger bargain.
Prime Day vs Black Friday – should you wait?
Both Amazon Prime Day and Black Friday generally offer discounts on the same kinds of devices, but there are a few differences between the sales events.
Prime Day deals are largely focused on Amazon itself. Competition among shoppers is also significantly reduced on Prime Day, which means that deals are generally easier to find, easier to price check and won't run out of stock so quickly.
Black Friday, on the other hand, is set across a much larger range of retailers, with prices that tend to be a little cheaper across a wider variety of brands. That does mean putting in a lot more work to make sure you get the best offer possible and keeping a close eye out for limited-time flash sales that make up for most of those lowest recorded prices. With more competition between retailers, though, we do tend to see slightly heavier discounts in November.
Of course, you may also simply want your tech sooner. If so, we wouldn't recommend waiting five months for the chance of a better discount. There's no guarantee that prices will be any different come Black Friday, especially on Amazon products. You may find some older tech for even less, but then you also run the risk of missing out on the best deals due to the increase in competition.
Are Prime Day deals competitive?
Amazon has a plethora of offers on its site each day and those are usually some of the best prices you can find on consumer tech. Whether you’re after a Samsung Galaxy S22 or a Nikon Z 7II camera, chances are you’ll get them cheaper on Amazon than any other Aussie retailer. It’s even more the case with Prime Day deals.
Leading the raft of deals during Prime Day 2022 was Amazon’s own products, including all the Echo and Kindle products, not to mention Ring security devices, and that's not going to change any time soon. Amazon is also one of the most convenient places to score a discount on the Oculus (Meta) VR headsets and, now, lay your hands on official stock of Samsung devices, Xiaomi phones, Instant Pots, Nikon and Canon photography gear, and Apple products, whether iPhones, MacBooks, Apple Watches or iPads.
You can easily score about 35% off on Amazon’s own devices during Prime Day which, for the rest of the year probably don’t drop more than 28% or thereabouts. If you’ve managed to score a AU$500 discount on Samsung or Huawei devices during one of Amazon’s regular deals, then it’s highly likely that the discount will be much deeper come Prime Day. It’s the perfect time to snag a Nintendo Switch or find the lowest prices on the best premium headphones – cheaper than any other retailer who will likely be scrambling to price-match.
