Consumer alert: How to tell if the items offered on Prime Day are really good deals

ROCHESTER, NY – Amazon Prime Day is consumerism at its best. And while thousands of items are on sale, you need to know if it’s a bargain or a bust.

In my last Consumer Alert on Monday, I told you about two tools that are must-haves on Prime Day: Keepa and CamelCamelCamel. Both are browser extensions that show you the price history of all Amazon products so you know whether to buy or wait. After all, things like TVs and toys are more heavily discounted before Christmas.

But you will find some of the best deals of the year on electronics. For example, the Blink Five Camera System is on sale now for $160. Regular price is reportedly $400. But never trust what you’re told is the regular price. Instead, check the price history.

I copied the URL and pasted it into CamelCamelCamel’s search engine. A chart appeared showing that the highest price the Blink system was sold for on Amazon is $400. However, at the end of June, Amazon was selling the system for $200. Still, $160 is a great price because the CamelCamellCamel price tracker shows me that the price has never been this low in the last 18 months.

In contrast, I found the Step 2 Best Chef’s Kid’s Kitchen Playset on sale for $85.50. Amazon says it’s 22% off and the list price is $110. But is that a good price? Let’s look at CamelCamelCamel. The graph shows the price trend since October 2016. And the graph shows that the item has rarely been sold for $110 on Amazon. In fact, the most common price since October 2021 has been $90, just $3.50 below the so-called sale price.

When I searched for the playset on Google Shopping, I found it on the Step 2 company website for $85 new. It’s $90 at Walmart and $88 at Wayfair. So is $85.50 a great deal during Amazon’s Prime Day sale? No. If your little one wants this for Christmas, you’ll want to wait for the winter sale to get even deeper discounts.

It’s important to note that I found this kitchen play set on two other websites for $55 and $58 respectively, but they weren’t sites I knew or trusted, so I wouldn’t recommend them.

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