Amazon Prime Day has become one of the biggest sales events of the year. It now rivals Black Friday and Cyber Monday for year-best prices on many of the world's most popular headphones, TVs and audio gear, the only big difference being that the discounts are found on Amazon only as opposed to retailers far and wide.
Prime Day traditionally takes place in July, although in recent years the online giant has also offered a 'Prime Day 2' of sorts later in the year. Last year, for example, that happened in October and was officially called 'Amazon Prime Big Deal Days'.
But right now it's all eyes on the main event, which is once again expected to entice buyers to make their big annual purchases at Amazon in July. Amazon Prime Days reliably deliver two full days of deals across every category it covers, and in consumer electronics that includes everything from Amazon-branded Echo and Fire devices to TVs, headphones, soundbars, smart speakers and more.
Most of the deals are Prime-exclusive savings, though, meaning you need to be a Prime member or sign up for the 30-day free trial to take advantage of them.
So, what are the Prime Day dates and what deals can you expect? Here's everything we know about Amazon Prime Day 2024 so far...
What is Amazon Prime Day?
Prime Day is Amazon's take on Black Friday. It began in 2015 as a celebration of the retail giant's 20th anniversary. While other online retailers get involved in the Black Friday bargain bun fight, Prime Day is generally all about Amazon, though you might see other retailers lowering prices at the same time in order to stay competitive.
Prime Day is a big sale that encompasses most areas of the Amazon site – as well as audiovisual gear, you'll find discounts on toasters, books, clothes, and pretty much anything that Amazon sells. And that's a lot!
Like with Prime Day, you'll need to be a Prime member to take advantage of the best Prime Big Deal Days offers. Not yet a member? Amazon’s free Prime trial gives you the option to sign up, bag a few bargains during the sale, and cancel your membership without paying a cent. Go you.
How much does Amazon Prime cost in 2024?
First things first: in order to be eligible for Prime Day discounts, you need Amazon Prime. This is effectively a membership fee that gives you free standard international delivery on select orders over AU$49 or expedited delivery (in select areas) on eligible items bought from Amazon, as well as the Prime Video and Amazon Music streaming services (but not Amazon Music Unlimited – that costs extra), free ebooks, and the ability to share some of these benefits with others in your household.
Amazon Prime costs AU$9.99 a month, or AU$79 if you pay yearly (saving you AU$40 compared to paying monthly). Changed your mind? You can cancel your Prime membership on the Manage Prime Membership page. And if you haven't placed a Prime-eligible order or used any of your Prime benefits within your membership, you'll be refunded in full.
There's an Amazon Prime free trial, too. Sign up, select 'Start my free trial', and you'll have access to Prime for 30 days with nothing to pay. That means you can sign up, take advantage of the deals, and then cancel your trial before the 30-day period ends and not be charged your second month's fee for Prime. Not that we would condone such behaviour, of course!
To be eligible for the trial, you can't have subscribed to Prime in the last 12 months.
Prime Day 2024 dates: when is Prime Day in Australia?
Prime Day has gotten longer and longer over recent years. Prime Day 2019 was a two-day sale of pretty much non-stop deals that started at midnight on 15th July 2019. In Australia, it kicked off at local AEST time, but ended when the sales event finished in the US, making for a marathon 65-hour shopping event. Back in 2018, it was a 36-hour shopping spree that landed on 16th July.
The Prime Day 2020 sales were pushed back to October 13, kicking things off on midnight (local time) with sales extending via US sellers until 6pm on October 15, totalling an insane 66 hours. But since 2021, it has returned to its winter spot.
Last year, Prime Day kicked off on Tuesday 11th July at 00:01am AEST and ran right through to 11:59pm AEST the following day. That's when Aussie deals took take place, anyway...
Deals from Germany, Japan, the UK and the US were also available to Australian shoppers through the Amazon Global Store until 5:00pm AEST on Thursday 13th July, meaning Aussie Prime members could take advantage of the longest Prime Day (65 hours) in the world.
Amazon hasn't announced its official Prime Day 2024 dates yet – it usually saves that for May or June time – but we would bet a month's Prime membership that the 48-hour deals bonanza will take place on Monday 15th and Tuesday 16th July.
What Prime Day 2024 deals can I expect?
OLED TVs, JBL Bluetooth speakers, Sony wireless earbuds and Bose headphones, Alexa and Echo devices, Apple AirPods... you get the picture. Some of the most popular products in the consumer electronics space are pretty much guaranteed to be on offer at Amazon during Prime Day.
Previous big-sellers over recent Amazon Prime Day have included the Sonos Beam and Arc soundbars, Sony WH-1000XM5 and older WH-1000XM4 noise-cancelling headphones, Amazon Echo Show smart speakers and Fire TV video streamers, Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, LG and Sony OLED TVs, and plenty more five-star products across the audio and AV space.
This year we're hoping for the first discounts on the LG C4 OLED TV, the lowest-ever price on Sony's excellent WF-1000XM5 wireless earbuds, and – fingers crossed – perhaps even a rare discount on Apple products such as the iPhone 15 and HomePod 2. Sonos, Sennheiser, Sony and Bose products all come up regularly in Prime Day sales, so if you have your eye on something from one of the bigger brands, there's a good chance some money will be lopped off it.
What about hi-fi? Unfortunately, Prime Day tends to spotlight more mass-market product categories such as TVs, soundbars and Bluetooth speakers for deals, meaning that discounts on hi-fi gear are far and few between. Black Friday remains the best time of the year to buy hi-fi at discounted prices due to many specialist hi-fi retailers getting on board the more encompassing sale.
Prime Day 2024 shopping tips
1. Sign up for the free Prime trial
If you're new to Amazon Prime, make sure you take advantage of the 30-day free Prime trial. And remember to cancel if you don't want a monthly bill for AU$9.99 when the trial ends.
2. Google a product before buying
Not every Prime Day 2023 deal is going to be a winner, so make sure you compare prices online before you buy, and, of course, check reviews to make sure the product is worth buying at all! We at What Hi-Fi? work tirelessly to call out the best deals on the consumer electronics categories we cover – our job, after all, is to point customers towards the best products on the market – so if we haven't included one in our deals coverage, there's usually a good reason for it!
3. Big brands can equal big savings
Amazon often slashes the cost of a few big brand items – think Playstation and Xbox accessories, Samsung TVs and tablets, etc – to get the attention of shoppers. Keep an eye out for these 'marquee' deals.
4. Check the Amazon Warehouse
Returned goods end up on sale at the Amazon Warehouse at a decent discount, so there's a chance you could spot an open-box bargain that beats the box-fresh Prime Day price.
5. Stay tuned to whathifi.com
Amazon unleashes thousands of deals around Prime Day, which can make it tricky to find genuine bargains on five-star tech and AV. That's why we'll be publishing an up-to-the-minute list of the very best Prime Day 2023 deals.
The best Prime Day deals 2023
- See all the Amazon Prime Day 2 headphones deals
