Amazon Prime Early Access Sale 2023: Everything you need to know

As the shopping holidays go, the Prime Early Access Sale 2022 may not be able to match the scope of Black Friday, but bargain hunters will still likely find some good deals during this fall event. As with mid-year Prime Day, we expect Amazon devices to be a big part of the deal – look for sales on the Echo Show, Kindle Paperwhite, Ring Alarm and more, plus deep discounts on Fire TV-enabled smart TVs. . But if the past predicts the future, you can expect solid price cuts on streaming devices, Bluetooth headphones, fitness trackers and smartwatches, mechanical keyboards, gaming mice and headsets. There have often been at least a few good buys for laptops, desktop PCs, and Chromebooks too.

The 2022 Prime Early Access Promotion starts at midnight PDT on October 11 and ends on October 12 at the end of the day.

If you check out PCWorld articles pointing out the best Prime Early Access Sale 2022 deals, you can be sure that our editors have vetted the deals based on price history and product quality. But you can also do a background search that will help you find the best deals.

Like any retailer, Amazon mixes true deals with “sales” that are just regular (or close to) prices with an offer tag. To avoid this trap, check historical prices before buying. We like Keepa.com for that – mostly price history charts that you can quickly adjust. CamelCamelCamel.com is also a good alternative, albeit not as robust. Both services also offer price observation for specific items.

For example, let’s say you see an offer on the Elgato Stream Deck. You would type “Elgato Stream Deck” into Keepa and find the historical price for that product.

Keepa says the best price on this macro card was $97 in January 2020 and the highest was $190 about a year and a half ago. Over the past three months, it’s fluctuated between $120 and $130. With that information, you have the tools to decide if this streaming accessory is worth its current retail price.

If the selling price were $100, for example, that would be a good deal – you’d be getting close to the lowest price ever. A $110 price tag would also be a good deal, as it’s cheaper than recent prices, which were already in a low range. The chart also shows that last year’s deals were standard discounts rather than something special like a limited-time flash deal.

Lightning Deals are limited-time offers that can offer you the biggest discounts. Likewise, the most popular sell out quickly – like tickets to hot shows quickly. For more information on Lightning Deals, check out our guide on how to get them during the Prime Early Access Sale 2022.

Amazon often teases its lightning deals in advance. If you visit the Prime Early Access Sale 2022 page, for example, you can see a carousel of Lightning Deals. Keep scrolling through these deals and you’ll soon find products that are on deck but haven’t started as deals yet.

If you find something in the upcoming Lightning Deals that you’d like to buy, it’s time to do a historical price check. So when the product goes on sale, you’ll immediately know if Amazon’s limited-time pricing is worth it.

By the way, you don’t have to wait or keep an eye on the clock to know when your trades will launch. The Amazon app for Android and iOS allows you to create a deal watchlist and receive notifications when your deals are active.

After installing the Amazon app and logging in, go to Settings > Notifications > Your monitored and waitlisted offers. Activate the slider in that section. You can now add a next item to your watchlist – go to the deals page in the app, find the next deals you are interested in and tap Watch this offer.

Keep in mind that Amazon isn’t the only merchant offering sales during Amazon’s Prime Early Access Sale 2022. Third-party sellers on the Amazon marketplace are also eligible to sell items at low prices. Many of these sellers are great, but sometimes there are less than honest brokers pushing fake or low quality products like The Guardian reported in April 2018.

Before you buy – even with flash deals – take a second to verify that the seller and product look legit. We advise consumers to only purchase products sourced from or provided by Amazon. This won’t protect you from fakes, but if something goes wrong, you’re 100% covered by Amazon’s excellent customer service. With third-party independent marketplace sellers, you have to deal with them directly and can appeal to Amazon only if that effort fails.

Be sure to check out the rest of the internet during the Prime Early Access Sale 2022. With Amazon creating so much hype, other retailers can offer their own sales to compete. It’s a long shot to find the exact same deals elsewhere, but it’s always worth checking online stores like Walmart, Newegg, Staples, and Best Buy for a close match.

Or better yet, check out select PCWorld Prime Early Access Sale 2022 items for the best deals at all retailers.