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Amazon announces October Prime Day dates

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Another Amazon sale is always a big deal

It doesn’t matter what time of year it is; there’s always a good reason to save money. Amazon understands this better than most and tries to offer as many sales a year as possible. This week, it announced the official dates of Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days. It’s set to take place Oct. 8-9, which happens to be an excellent time for holiday gift shopping for fan favorites. This isn’t a sale for everyone, though. It’s only for Amazon Prime members. Thankfully, it’s not hard to sign up.

In this article: iRobot Roomba i4-Plus Evo, Dyson Airwrap and Hot Wheels RC Barbie Corvette

What we know about Amazon Prime Big Deal Days

Amazon Prime Big Deal Days will be a 48-hour sale featuring the deals on top brands for Prime members only. Expect to find discounts on top products from Apple, Dyson, Sony and Ninja — and the sale extends over 35 categories this year. 

How to become an Amazon Prime member

The only two hard facts we have about the upcoming sale are that it’s in October and only for people with an Amazon Prime membership. Here’s how to sign up for a Prime membership so you can be ready when the sale finally happens.

Step one: Create a free Amazon account. You can do this from any mobile device or laptop on Amazon’s website or app. 

Step two: Go to amazon.com/prime on your chosen device.

Step three: Follow the prompts to officially sign up for Amazon Prime. If you’ve never tried Amazon Prime, you get the first 30 days for free as a trial membership. 

You still need to input a billing method if you take advantage of the free trial, though. After the 30 days, you will start being charged at a rate of $14.99 a month or $139 a year if you choose the annual membership. The monthly membership costs $179.88 a year, for comparison’s sake.

Alternate Amazon Prime memberships

If that $14.99 a month or $139 a year seems steep, you may be in luck. Amazon offers two discounted memberships without losing a single benefit.

Amazon Prime Student: This membership option is only available to students enrolled in two- and four-year colleges. You need either a .edu email address or some other proof of being a student to take advantage of it. You get a six-month free trial at sign-up, followed by a cost of $7.49 a month or $69 a year. It also comes with additional student-focused benefits.

Amazon Prime Access: This membership is only available to qualifying government assistance recipients, such as those on Medicaid. You need to upload proof of that, and it comes with a 30-day free trial followed by a cost of $6.99 a month. There’s no annual plan.

Amazon Prime member benefits

Access to significant sales events every year isn’t the only benefit of Amazon Prime. Some of the rest include:

Amazon Music: Amazon Prime members get access to a vast range of discounts, including special pricing for Amazon Music Unlimited, discounts on groceries and prescriptions and access to “lightning deals” throughout the year.

Entertainment: Amazon Prime membership comes with a range of premium entertainment, including full access to Prime Video, Amazon’s film and TV streaming service, Prime Reading for your Kindle or other e-reader, Amazon Music and Prime Gaming.

Free and discounted delivery: One of the biggest benefits is free expedited shipping on countless items. Some locations can even take advantage of free same-day delivery.

Free Grubhub+: Every Prime membership comes with free Grubhub+—this alone is a $120 value per year, with perks like zero delivery fees on eligible Grubhub orders over $12. 

Additionally, Amazon Student comes with even more benefits.

StudentUniverse Travel: This is a 10% discount on flights booked through the service and a gift card worth 10% of the price of hotel bookings through the service.

Course Hero: Students get a one-month free trial of this service and a 60% discount on continued service, which includes 24/7 tutoring.

Calm: Students get a discount on the premium Calm subscription to help them manage stress and anxiety.

Prime Video Premium Channels: Students can sign up for premium channels, including Showtime, Sundance Now and Epix, for only 99 cents a month.

Every country that can take advantage of the sale

The United States may be where Amazon started and is based, but it’s been a global company for many years. That means Amazon Prime members in 20 countries can also take advantage of the Prime Big Deal Days sale. Those 20 countries are:

Australia

Austria

Belgium

Brazil

Canada

China

France

Germany

Italy

Japan

Luxembourg

The Netherlands

Poland

Portugal

Singapore

Spain

Sweden

The United States

The United Kingdom

Turkey

Best items likely to be on sale come Prime Big Deal Days

Amazon Fire TV 50″ 4-Series

Stream over 1.5 million movies and TV shows, use Alexa to check the weather and sports scores and enjoy a clearer, more vibrant picture with 4K Ultra HD.

SHOP NOW

Ninja BC151WH Blast Portable Blender

Easy to carry and clean, you can make smoothies anywhere with this dishwasher-safe blender. You can even drink straight from the blender vessel once you’ve whipped up your favorite drink. 

SHOP NOW

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max

Amazon’s most powerful streaming stick makes it possible to play Xbox without the console, enjoy your entertainment in ultra HD and stream more than 1.5 million movies and TV shows. 

SHOP NOW

JBL Tune Flex – True Wireless Noise-Canceling Earbuds

These wireless earbuds come with Ambient Aware, a feature that allows you to tune into your surroundings at any time. They have up to 32 hours of battery life and are waterproof and sweat-resistant. 

SHOP NOW

iRobot Roomba i4-Plus Evo

A robotic vacuum is a big investment, but the savings in time that you don’t need to spend cleaning your floors adds up quickly. This model can hold up to 60 days worth of debris.

SHOP NOW

Dyson Airwrap

This innovative answer to hair care comes with multiple attachments, such as barrels and brushes, that don’t come with the usual risk of heat damage found in similar items. The attachments are also designed with various hair lengths in mind as an all-in-one device.

SHOP NOW

Ninja Creami NC301

The Ninja Creami has been a social media sensation for months, thanks to its ability to turn almost anything into ice cream. It’s also been virtually impossible to find in all that time, so keep an eye on its availability if you want to experience the deliciousness yourself.

SHOP NOW

Hot Wheels RC Barbie Corvette

With the “Barbie” movie having been a big hit at the global box office, it’s likely you or a loved one, no matter the age, has Barbie fever. This RC Corvette comes directly from said movie.

SHOP NOW

Prices listed reflect time and date of publication and are subject to change.

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