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 Amazon predicts Amazon Prime Day deals will deliver "record breaking sales," but shoppers and sellers will be watching to see whether the online retailer can deliver on its promise to improve the quantity and quality of deals for consumers who were disappointed last year by middling savings and items that sold out in seconds. 
 
 According to sellers, everyone involved is more willing to take bigger bets this year and increase their stocks after seeing numbers on par with Black Friday. 
 
 Here's how to get the best deals out of the day (and here's a list of the best deals themselves): 
 
 Click fast, think slow 
 
 The deals will go fast, so you if think you see something you like, click "buy" to put in your cart and reserve it for 15 minutes. Then Google it and use a 3rd-party price tracking service like Camel Camel Camel to see what the historical prices on the item are to make sure it's really a good deal, or even that unique. "Check out retailers like Wal-Mart for branded items, especially toys, Newegg for electronics or eBay for unbranded products," said Helen Fang, general manager of e-commerce for Coupons.com. 
 
 Read More: Wal-Mart Takes on Amazon's Prime Day, Rolls Out Free Shipping 
 
 After all, "Just because you're seeing a deal on Prime Day doesn't mean it's the best deal," said Sara Skirboll, spokeswoman for the RetailMeNot coupon site. 
 
 For instance, a speaker that normally sells for $300 might be on sale for $250 on Prime Day, but using a price tracking service you can see that it might drop to $250 at several points during the year anyway. 
 
 "It might not be something you want to jump on," said Jacqui Cheng, editor-in-chief of deal review sites The Wirecutter and The Sweethome. Last year the sites highlighted only about 35 deals out of the 3,200 pre-researched products they were tracking. 
 
 See the deals before they go live 
 
 Instead of hitting refresh all day, you can download the Amazon smartphone app and see "Lightning Deals" before they go live, posted up to 24 hours in advance. Mark the categories or specific deals you're interested and you'll get push alerts just before they go on the site. 
 
 Extra Ways to Save 
 
 Leverage the free trial membership 
 
 The big thing about Prime Day is that deals are only open to members of Amazon Prime's $99 per year special membership club. You can sign up for a free trial membership just for the sale and then cancel before your first month is up. Amazon is banking that many people will, and then either love the features so much or forget to cancel. You might not want to, though, a recent analysis from J.P. Morgan Chase found that a Prime Membership actually has an over $500 value when you consider the free shipping and streaming media. 
 
 Order through Alexa 
 
 Save an extra $10 when you order through an Amazon Alexa-enabled device. Just don't be silly and buy one just to get that smidgen of savings. 
 
 Save with Prime Now 
 
 Save yet $10 more on your first "Prime Now" order of $20 or more. These are products that Amazon promises to deliver within just an hour in select (mostly urban) geographies. You'll also get another $10 coupon to use later in the month. 
 
 What to Watch Out For 
 
 Counterfeits 
 
 With the deal frenzy going on, there will also be some situations to watch out for. Chinese counterfeiters selling on Amazon.com have exploded this year, CNBC reports, so you need to watch out for prices that seem too good from sellers you've never heard of. 
 
 "Derivatives" 
 
 Sometimes during these deal holidays, an amazing high-def TV will go on sale for an incredible price. But scope the spec sheet and you'll see certain things are missing, like ports or features. These are known as "derivative" products. One year a "4K" TV advertised as a deal on Black Friday turned out to only be "4K" when the picture was stationary. 
 
 Emotional buying 
 
 "It's a big sale day and their goal is to flood you with as much information and make you act impulsively," said Cheng. 
 
 A lot of items may be on sale for a good price, but you might also be able to get that product at another point in the year, perhaps after some more planning and saving up. Don't feel the pressure to buy, "Unless you want it for next weekend," Cheng said. 
 
 Don't shop hungry 
 
 If you go grocery shopping when you're hungry and without a list, your cart just ends up full of Fruit Roll Ups and Lunchables. Same thing on Amazon Prime Day. Use the site's "wishlist" feature to bookmark items you've researched that you need, said Dealnews features editor Benjamin Glaser. Then, on Prime Day, sort it by discount. Anything with a good price drop is worth thinking about picking up. 
 
 What if Your Item Sells Out? 
 
 Last Prime Day, social media and media coverage focused on would-be shoppers who complained about items that sold out mere moments after being posted. If that happens on Tuesday, hop on over to Wal-Mart, Macy's or Best Buy. Just like last year, other retailers are trying to grab the coattails of Prime Day by launching competing sales days, including pricematching certain deals. ||||| Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE If you're looking for a good deal, we're here to help. Reviewed.com 
 
 A piñata in the Amazon conference room where Prime Day coordinators gathered in 2015 to oversee the company’s first Prime Day sale. The original event was code-named piñata. (Photo: Elizabeth Weise) 
 
 SEATTLE—At Amazon headquarters here, two floors of conference rooms are outfitted as war rooms, the better to absorb the crushing blow of 85 million Prime shoppers feverishly tapping on the best slow cooker deals. 
 
 Prime Day (or Prime Day plus six hours) is almost here. 
 
 What started as an experiment to shake-up the shopping doldrums of July, with perhaps a sprinkle of inspiration from Alibaba's wildly successful Single's Day, has turned into one of Amazon's biggest sales days. 
 
 Last year, analysts estimate Prime Day sales totaled between $500 million and $600 million, or 1.5% of its third quarter sales — compared with the $3.34 billion spent online by Americans this past Black Friday at retailers. Amazon (AMZN), which does not release sales figures for the event, said they surpassed the prior year's Prime Day by more than 60% worldwide. 
 
 While this year’s Prime Day will almost certainly out-perform last year’s, in the bigger picture Prime Day just isn't as relevant as holiday sales in November and December, said Alasdair McLean-Foreman, founder of Teikametrics, a company that provides data analytics and optimization technology for sellers on e-commerce platforms. 
 
 Sales are by no means the only important metric. At heart, Prime Day is “another excellent branding opportunity to own consumer mind share,” McLean-Foreman said. 
 
 Related: 
 
 Bursting digital shopping carts help Amazon and the tens of thousands of companies that sell on its site to level out demand over the year, adding a nice bump of sales in July when things are typically flat, says Gene Alvarez, an analyst who follows the company for Gartner. 
 
 It’s also a chance for Amazon to tout voice-ordering and to get more people engaged with its Echo voice-operated devices. 
 
 But mostly it’s a chance for Amazon to gather information, both in general and as a kind of stress test for the holidays. 
 
 Amazon’s vice president for Prime, stands in the conference room where his team oversaw Amazon’s first Prime Day sale in 2015. The event was code-named Piñata and the room was decorated with piñata cutouts and actual piñatas. The one he holds in his hand was the only piñata remaining in the conference room in 2017. (Photo: Elizabeth Weise/USA TODAY) 
 
 “Prime Day is about experimenting and learning more about the customer experience and willingness to shop in new ways,” Alvarez said. 
 
 Amazon is prepping for this year's Prime Day, which starts Monday at 9 PM Eastern and runs for 30 hours across 13 countries, to be a big one. 
 
 Amazonians (Amazon's internal name for its workers) who work on Prime are expected to block off June and much of July and take their summer vacations after the dust has cleared. 
 
 Code Name: Pinata 
 
 It’s all a long way from its beginnings as a doldrums of July sale, originally code-named Piñata. 
 
 The first Prime Day in 2015 got off to a somewhat inauspicious start. The team focused on the event had taken over a small conference room decorated with Piñata cutouts as its operations center. 
 
 Prime hit first in Japan, 16 hours ahead of Seattle. As the sale began there, customers rushed online to start buying and the Amazon.jp site promptly crashed. 
 
 Greg Greeley, Amazon’s vice president for Prime, literally fell off his chair as he lunged to deal with the problem. The team got the site up and running again in two minutes but the magnitude of what they’d launched was clear. 
 
 “I got on the phone with AWS and I told them, ‘When the sun comes up here, this is going to be huge,’” he told USA TODAY last week. 
 
 The first Prime Day in 2015 came about as the company was casting about for a celebration for its twentieth anniversary, though it resembled Singles’ Day in China, an obscure event for bachelors that the Chinese digital giant Alibaba turned into a cultural event beginning in 2009, selling $17.8 billion in goods last year. 
 
 Just as with Black Friday deals, the question for consumers is always whether they’re getting deals or duds. Amazon’s first try at Prime Day in 2015 was panned by some because too many deals seemed instead to be merchants clearing out unsold inventory, with Twitter calling out garage-sale like goods such as shoe horns and granny panties. 
 
 The next year Prime Day felt a lot more like Black Friday, though an analysis by The Wirecutter found that while there were thousands of deals, few were what it termed "great deals." 
 
 This year, Amazon is pledging that price for all its limited-time lightning deals will be the lowest for that item offered on its site in the last 365 days. 
 
 It won't be the only game in town. JCPenney, Kohl's and Macy's are all offering exclusive discounts before and during Prime Day, though Walmart, Target and Lowe's are among the big names who appear to be skipping the event. 
 
 Amazon uses both human and robot workers in its warehouses. (Photo: Amazon) 
 
 In the first two years Prime Day was also a big enticement for customers to sign up for Amazon’s Prime membership service, which offers free two-day shipping and same-day shipping in many cities plus a host of perks. 
 
 Prime members are a major sweet spot for Amazon. According to figures released last week by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, there are now 85 million highly remunerative Prime members in the United States, up from 65 million a year ago. Once in the Amazon eco-system they spend on average about $1,300 per year, compared to about $700 per year for non-member customers. 
 
 Forrester’s Amazon analyst Brendan Witcher expects the company to heavily promote its Echo family of voice-activated devices as it continues efforts to build-out its already substantial lead in voice assistants. This includes the new Echo Show, which comes with a 7" screen. 
 
 Amazon Echo Show (Photo: Reviewed.com / Jackson Ruckar) 
 
 “It wouldn't surprise me if almost every step of the purchasing journey will include some mention of Amazon Echo,” he said. 
 
 Amazon’s overall goal, which Prime Day contributes to, is to do with retail what Apple did with music – build an ecosystem of delivery that will become an ecosystem of buying, Witcher said. 
 
 The work that Amazon has put into Prime Day is paying off for the third-party sellers on Amazon’s site, who now make up more than 50% of units sold by the company. 
 
 Austin, Texas-based Silk Innovation sells mobile phone cases. The company set its sales targets in the spring, ordering from China and having the products shipped directly to Amazon fulfillment centers. 
 
 CEO Matt Altschul expects a 25% jump in sales in July due to Prime Day. 
 
 “I wish I had a story to tell you that everything’s wild and we all had to work our butts off, but I don’t," he said. "It’s the beauty of Amazon’s automation.” 
 
 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2u8NTs2 ||||| Amazon puts headphones, unrated 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and 55-gallon barrels of lube on sale. 
 
 Amazon's #PrimeDay launched on Wednesday as the company bragged the sales would be even better than Black Friday's. 
 
 However, Amazon users were not impressed with the sales the e-commerce site offered, and many users took to Twitter to express their displeasure. #PrimeDayFail and #PrimeDay both trended as the complaints poured in. 
 
 "Either I'm missing something or the @amazon prime sale is a joke. Everything I want is full price. #PrimeDayFail," said one user. "This #PrimeDay sucks ... its like a digital garage sale," said another. 
 
 Despite the complaints, Amazon's sales soared. “Prime Day peak order rates have already surpassed 2014 Black Friday,” vice president of Amazon Prime Greg Greeley said in a press release on Wednesday. “Prime members have already bought tens of thousands of Fire TV Sticks, 35,000 Lord of the Rings Blu-Ray sets, 28,000 Rubbermaid sets, and 4,000 Echo devices in 15 minutes. The Kate Spade purse was gone in less than a minute. We also sold 1,200 of the $999 TVs in less than 10 minutes." 
 
 Third party data analyst ChannelAdvisor reports sales for Amazon were up by 80 percent at noon ET, according to TechCrunch. 
 
 Here's a look at what people had to say: 
 
 Prime day deals are just like Black Friday .. A few good deals sprinkled all over a metric ton of crap. #PrimeDayFail — joped (@joped) July 15, 2015 
 
 Wow. I was really worried about spending too much on #PrimeDay ... AND nothing to worry about. #PrimeDayFail — Emily M. Evans (@emilymevans) July 15, 2015 
 
 So #PrimeDay just like Xmas. Without Santa, or Turkey, or family, or presents or a tree or anything. #PrimeDayFail — Will Wilson (@theMojoWill) July 15, 2015 
 
 That feeling when you're craving an oreo, only to find someone put an empty box in the pantry? That's how #PrimeDay feels. #PrimeDayFail — Tyler H. Jolley (@DocJolley) July 15, 2015 
 
 Was pretty geeked for #PrimeDay...and it sucks. It's like Black Friday at K-Mart. A bunch of crap nobody wants anyway...for 15% less. — Amanda Goldberg (@GoldbergSays) July 15, 2015 
 
 #PrimeDay kinda sucks right now. Unless you want a Kindle. Or granny panties. — Rick D. (@ricardodlp) July 15, 2015 
 
 I almost want to cancel my Prime membership and start paying for shipping. #PrimeDay sucks. — chris stuberg (@cowsnipers) July 15, 2015 
 
 I bought a wifi dongle. This is what you reduced me to, #PrimeDay. I went in expecting diamonds and I got dongles. #PrimeDayFail — alyson (@alysonenglish) July 15, 2015 
 
 @amazon great job on this #primeday sale. Did you guys decide to clean out your junk drawer? I'll just go to the dollar store instead. — nick. (@nicktation) July 15, 2015 
 
 LOL #PrimeDay is so trash man. Had me hyped up to buy a TV. All the sales are on paper towels & headphones. — DJ (@LordDerrick) July 15, 2015 
 
 $1 off a "deal of the day"? Come on Amazon you can do better than that #PrimeDay fail pic.twitter.com/6ZvHVyFkqa — Scott Richards (@Scott_Richards) July 15, 2015 
 
 It's really cool that @amazon was able to raid a Rite Aid and an abandoned Circuit City for this #PrimeDay sale! #PrimeDayFail — Matthew James Morgan (@MattMO2Go) July 15, 2015 
 
 Oh goody, the unrated edition of 50 Shades of Grey is 60% off...in the Toys & Games section #PrimeDayFail #PrimeDay pic.twitter.com/IAIRIxIsmB — Vee Ann (@alteredandtorn) July 15, 2015 
 
 As much as I would like to agree that gummies at 12% off is a good deal, it's not @amazon. #PrimeDay fail. Why did I stay awake for this?! — Amber Hecht (@amberhecht) July 15, 2015 
 
 So far #PrimeDay looks like "Amazon has alot of shit cluttering their warehouse that no one wants" Day. — Jon (@JonFrat) July 15, 2015 
 
 Everyone who just woke up is about to realize what we who stayed up all night know.. Tupperware & granny panty deals galore #PrimeDay — Amazon Prime (@PrimeDayFail) July 15, 2015 
 
 A Diane Keaton T Shirt, with a 5 pack of brass knuckles AND ham?!?! DREAMS CAN COME TRUE #PrimeDayFail pic.twitter.com/hE1X6lhGb5 — Roy Buckingham (@shave_my_lemon) July 15, 2015 
 
 Somewhere out there, a UPS driver is loading up a 55-gal drum of lubricant and 64oz jars of Skippy Peanut butter thinking #PrimeDayFail — Matthew Harris (@MattHarrisAZ) July 15, 2015 
 
 These deals are so random. A bottle of Vitamin D! A hole punch! FIVE POUNDS OF DRY GARBANZO BEANS! #PrimeDayFail — Tippi Blevins (@TippiB) July 15, 2015 
 
 Feels like #PrimeDay is a Goodwill Outlet store in the Cloud, only I have to wait 2 days for shipping. #PrimeDayFail pic.twitter.com/cYBuUPuJjs — Julie Riley (@planetvoisin) July 15, 2015 
 
 The refresh button isn't making the Tupperware disappear. #PrimeDay — Charles Koh (@charleskoh) July 15, 2015 
 
 Congrats @Amazon - you win the "Biggest Internet Troll of 2015" award. In other news, I'm good on Tupperware now. #PrimeDay #PrimeBust — The Gamer's Dome (@TheGamersDome) July 15, 2015 
 
 Knee brace, shoehorn, blood pressure monitor. @amazon is killing it with the #PrimeDay deals, said my arthritic grandmother. — Emily Johnson (@emilyjnyc) July 15, 2015 
 
 July 16 9:30 am PT: Updated to reflect new data on Amazon's sales. ||||| Amazon has successfully invented a new shopping holiday, and it's set to capitalize on the rewards. 
 
 The fourth Prime Day (and a half) will begin noon PT (3 p.m. ET) Monday, extending for 36 hours. The savings event this year is running longer than prior years, available for shoppers in more countries, and Amazon is promising a million deals — the most yet — for Prime members. 
 
 It's also the first Prime Day with Whole Foods, Amazon's most expensive acquisition, integrated under the Jeff Bezos umbrella. 
 
 E-Commerce Guide by CNN Underscored: What's the deal with Amazon Prime Day 
 
 Prime Day means far more to Amazon than a one-day annual marketing play. Sure, Amazon gets to flex its muscles over the retail industry and juice sales numbers. But, more importantly, Amazon uses the savings event to spotlight its own products and hook new members on a subscription program that more than 100 million people around the world count as an indispensable part of their shopping lives. 
 
 Priming the pump 
 
 Amazon doesn't disclose revenue from previous Prime Days, but it's predicted to reach $3.4 billion this year, according to retail think tank Coresight Research. 
 
 Sales for the event are projected to shatter last year's total by 40% and become Amazon's new single day record, breaking its 2017 Cyber Monday haul. 
 
 But Monday will be trivial to Amazon's financial picture, noted Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. Sales are projected to be only six times a normal day, or around 2% of Amazon's annual retail revenue, he said. The company brought in a total of $177.9 billion in sales last year across its retail and web services division. 
 
 Prime Day serves a longer-term importance to Amazon by driving new members to its $119 annual free-shipping program and tightening existing customer relationships to the company's ecosystem. More than half of Americans said they lived in a household with Prime, according to a Cowen survey in December. 
 
 Prime is the "most critical driver" for Amazon's e-commerce business in the long run, argued Cowen analyst John Blackledge. 
 
 Prime has added around 10 million new subscribers a year for the past three years, and Blackledge believes Amazon has even more room to convert non-members who shop on Amazon into loyalists. The Prime model adds monthly and annual fees into Amazon's coffers, and Prime members spend more on the site than shoppers without the subscription. 
 
 Members spend $1,400 a year, compared to about $600 a year for non-members, according to market research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. 
 
 "From Amazon's perspective, Amazon Prime members improve with age," said the firm's co-founder Mike Levin. "As more Prime members reach their third, fourth or even longer anniversary, average spending should increase." 
 
 'Step Aside Black Friday' 
 
 Amazon tested out its inaugural Prime Day in July of 2015 to celebrate the company's 20th anniversary. It designed the day to replicate Black Friday for Amazon die-hards, but boasted more deals than the November shopping tradition. 
 
 "Step Aside Black Friday - Meet Prime Day," Amazon said in a news statement unveiling the event. 
 
 Amazon recorded $900 million in sales its first year, according to Coresight. Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky called it "Christmas in July." 
 
 The company decided to bring it back for a second year with more deals. Sales hit $1.5 billion, according to Coresight's estimate. 
 
 In 2017, Prime Day "really got a lot more traction...in particular internationally," Olsavsky told analysts last October. The company had a record number of free Prime trial sign-ups, and its Echo Dot smart speaker was the best-selling product. 
 
 "Amazon is betting long term on voice-enabled commerce," Magid retail analyst Matt Sargent said last year. 
 
 Prime Day has forced Amazon's rivals to adjust to the frenzy. 
 
 "The day creates a short-term urgency," said Barbara Khan, a marketing professor at Wharton who studies retail. "People get engaged just to make a purchase, to take advantage of the deal." 
 
 It has become the firing gun for the start of back-to-school shopping, the second busiest shopping time of the year. 
 
 "Prime Day has changed the terrain of the summer for retailers," said Adobe Digital Insights director Taylor Schreiner. "Retailers need an effective strategy to address it. The only guaranteed losing play is to ignore it." 
 
 Rivals aren't sitting on their heels: Walmart (WMT), for example, debuted new apps and online tools for back-to-school shopping, including a 3D virtual experience called "Buy the Room," and deals on school supplies. Target (TGT) also announced a one-day sale to rival Amazon on Tuesday for "everyone—no membership required." 
 
 Whole Foods' debut 
 
 Amazon again will again offer deals on Alexa-enabled devices such as Echo, Echo Show, Fire TV and Fire tablets this year. 
 
 It's highlighting discounts on its growing lineup of private label brands such as Stone & Beam, Rivet, Presto!, Wickedly Prime, and Goodthreads. 
 
 Despite the heavy promotions, selling its own products on Prime Day should help the company's profit margins because it can cut out first and third-party sellers. 
 
 Whole Foods will be the biggest change to the 2018 show. 
 
 Amazon is offering Prime members a $10 credit when they spend $10 or more at Whole Foods between July 11 through 17. Whole Foods is also offering deals on grocery items like boneless chicken breasts, and doubling the cash back bonus to 10% from 5% for Amazon Prime Rewards Visa card holders. 
 
 Related: Whole Foods announces its Prime Day deal 
 
 "This year seems a bit more ambitious, as they have fully integrated Whole Foods into the mix," said Wedbush's Pachter. 
 
 Whole Foods has recorded nine straight months of 2% to 3% same-store sales growth since the acquisition last year, according to RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney. Amazon is driving traffic to Whole Foods by lowering prices and increasing Prime discount benefits. 
 
 Monday will be the biggest opportunity yet for Amazon to lock more Whole Foods shoppers into Prime members. ||||| I’ve covered Amazon for the past few years, but now something feels different. Sure, there are still the infinite roundups of Amazon’s best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals — which won’t be going anywhere as long as publishers are able to monetize them. 
 
 But what I haven’t seen as much prior to this year are media companies and people — largely New Yorkers who work for media companies and can afford to shop at the city’s many stores — encouraging people to cancel their subscriptions and openly discouraging readers from shopping at Amazon. There was this Ringer piece on how to wean yourself off by using other online retailers, and a story from the tech site Gizmodo, which previously called Prime “the best deal in tech,” calling for a Prime Day boycott. 
 
 They come during a time when the number of Prime subscribers has been growing steadily for years. As of this spring, there are more than 100 million of them worldwide, with one analyst predicting that number will more than double to 275 million in the next decade. A Prime membership, which now costs $119 a year and offers free two- and same-day shipping and access to Amazon’s streaming services, also means that on average, shoppers will spend $300 more per year than the average Amazon customer, which makes it Amazon’s key driver of retail business. 
 
 A massive exodus of Amazon Prime subscribers is still far from our present reality. Yet there are some voices trying to turn the tide. in part due to a slew of negative press, condemnations from politicians, and very public worker strikes. 
 
 This isn’t anything new, of course. People have been aware of Amazon’s controversies for decades, from its monopolistic practices to tax avoidance, poor treatment of both white- and blue-collar workers, union-busting, environmental damage, and most recently, the year-long publicity stunt of HQ2, a bad-faith ploy to extract private data from US cities that ended with Amazon plopping its supposedly economy-boosting offices into the two most established markets on the East Coast. 
 
 |￣￣￣￣￣ | 
 
 | cancel ur | 
 
 | amazon | 
 
 | prime! | 
 
 |_____________| 
 
 (\__/) || 
 
 (•ㅅ•) || 
 
 / づ — yohuna (@Y0HUNA) November 19, 2018 
 
 And right now, journalists and writers — a small segment of the population, sure, but many of whom have sizable spheres of influence online — are much more willing to vocalize anti-Amazon sentiments. On Thanksgiving, Jia Tolentino of the New Yorker tweeted that she had canceled her Prime subscription during a week when many on Twitter encouraged their followers to do the same. 
 
 Tolentino tells me that even though she felt her own Amazon patronage was inexcusable ever since Mac McClelland’s 2012 piece about going undercover as a warehouse worker, the final straw was the 10-figure tax breaks the city of New York promised to Amazon for HQ2. “I had directly contributed to this situation and I felt like shit,” she says. 
 
 Another writer, Julia, who asked me not to use her last name because she works for a production company that could conduct business with Amazon Studios in the future, says she canceled her subscription after seeing the film Sorry to Bother You, which offers a stark critique of capitalism. 
 
 “I had Amazon Prime for about a year, and during that time, I watched my whole approach to consumption change,” she says. “A stack of boxes started to accumulate next to my recycling bin, and I was sort of horrified to realize how greedy I’d become. We’ve all become so accustomed to getting whatever we want, whenever we want, at little to no cost. But when anything is that cheap, there’s always someone paying for it.” 
 
 A good day to cancel your Prime account, New Yorkers (and everyone). I know you can do it. I believe in you. You, unlike so many people in the country, can literally walk down the block and get a roll of toilet paper if you want. And I heard Homecoming is bad. — Emily Yoshida (@emilyyoshida) November 13, 2018 
 
 The efforts of those who speak out against Amazon seem to be influencing others as well, even if it’s contained within the echo chamber of Twitter. Podcaster Kyle Amato says he finally cut the cord when Marian Bull, a writer and ceramist, offered a free handmade cup to anyone who canceled their Prime membership last week. “I was being a hypocrite if I just kept using Prime while speaking out against Amazon proper,” he says. 
 
 “The backlash has actually grown slower than I would’ve thought, given that Amazon’s labor abuses have been well-documented for a long time,” says Tolentino. “The worker strikes have done a lot. But Amazon succeeds in large part because the entire labor economy is overheating and everyone’s safety nets are disappearing: people are so busy, people have less and less money to spare outside rent and health care, and so it’s easy to just close your eyes and cut corners by getting that free shipping when you can.” 
 
 I know for a lot of people not using Amazon is really difficult and a lot of these issues are a matter of collective action and not like, ordering bulk lightbulbs elsewhere, but boy I'd love it if more people would find Amazon alternatives — Jaya Saxena (@jayasax) November 21, 2018 
 
 And for many, that free shipping and convenience is a lifesaver. In a recent Twitter thread, social work student Carey Kirijo explained their complicated feelings about the wave of people publicly canceling their Prime subscriptions, noting that for those with disabilities or mental health issues, as well as those who live in rural areas, the decision is much more fraught. 
 
 Kirijo explained that their disabling mental illness sometimes prevents them from leaving the house for long periods of time, and social anxiety means that tight aisles and bright lights have the potential to trigger panic attacks, which makes online shopping a huge help. 
 
 “I really, really love online retail as a tool,” Kirijo says, “But I think that with the lack of regulation, especially massive corporations like Amazon, there are opportunities for retailers to take advantage of workers and the system as a whole. Amazon workers should be allowed to unionize, and other steps should be taken to protect working conditions. We need to be having this conversation about Amazon, and I’m happy we’re having it, on the understanding that Amazon probably isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.” 
 
 And there is the other question: Even if lost subscribers becomes a major problem for Amazon, it won’t undo the damages its success has wrought on the world. A New York Times investigation earlier this fall explained that in a rush to compete against Amazon, other retailers like Verizon have exploited warehouse workers, too many of whom have fainted or even experienced miscarriages while on the job due to grueling conditions. 
 
 What, then, could Amazon do to fix these problems? “If Amazon warehouse workers were unionized, and if the Postal Service union were able to successfully advocate for better conditions for the delivery drivers who are overwhelmed with Amazon packages, that’d be good,” Tolentino offers. 
 
 “I think we’ll have to sacrifice a lot of conveniences to allow for humane conditions at Amazon,” Amato adds. “It’s such a beast at this point. It either needs to be broken up or nationalized, and I’m not sure where to start. I can only fight with my wallet.” 
 
 Want more stories from The Goods by Vox? Sign up for our newsletter here. ||||| Get the Better newsletter. 
 
 / Updated By Nicole Spector 
 
 It’s Christmas in July, or so it feels like with Amazon’s annual Prime Day arriving Monday the 16th at 3 p.m EST (though we’re seeing Countdown Deals trickle in). The sales bonanza, set to span 36 hours this year (longer than ever before), is open only to Prime members (including those doing a free trial). Historically, the self-made holiday has featured a wide array of savings on items in electronics, entertainment and tech with the savings spotlight shining especially bright on Amazon-branded products like Echo andAlexa. This year should bring the same — and more. 
 
 Part of the magic of the day is the secrecy leading up to it. Amazon keeps a tight lid on the details, leaving predictions to the retail experts while it drums up the hype (like by delivering huge ‘smile’ boxes in select big cities) and promises “more than a million deals worldwide.” It’s a lot of fun if you like surprises, but it’s also somewhat stressful if you’re trying to stick to a budget or if you’re planning the purchase of a big-ticket item that may or may not make Prime Day’s cut. 
 
 Here’s a look at how to navigate the chaos to land the hottest deals and maximize your savings. 
 
 Make a wish list before you start browsing 
 
 It’s tempting to buy something you don’t necessarily want when you know you’re getting substantial savings — and Amazon knows it. 
 
 “Amazon has been designed to pull you into hours of clicking around and anticipating what you want based on your search history,” says Kevin Kelly, president of Bigbuzz Marketing Group. “For big and small items alike, it’s best to prepare a list to avoid getting derailed by impulse purchases.” 
 
 You can add these items to your own Amazon Wish List. “Amazon will notify you if any of the items you're coveting become Prime Day deals,” says Sara Skirboll, shopping and trends expert at RetailMeNot. 
 
 The usual electronics will be there but so will fashion and food 
 
 Though won’t know all the deals available until Prime Day, we can make some safe bets on what’s to come. 
 
 "Similar to previous years, noteworthy discounts are available on Amazon products such as Kindles and Echo devices,” says Chelsea Hudson, online shopping and deal expert at TopCashback.com (right now, the site offers a $15 Amazon gift card for new members). “Shoppers can also find discounts on modern electronics such as smart home devices, TVs, video games, consoles and more.” 
 
 Cooper Smith, head of Amazon Research at Gartner L2 predicts that consumers will see “a much broader range of discounting across categories including fashion and groceries.” He explains: “Fashion because the majority of Amazon’s new private label brands since last year’s Prime Day are apparel brands. Groceries because Amazon wants to accelerate Whole Foods’ customer acquisition and start conditioning Prime members to do their grocery shopping with them.” 
 
 Whole Foods has already unveiled a Prime special: a $10 Amazon credit to use during the 36-hour sale when they spend $10 or more at Whole Foods between July 11 through 17. 
 
 The Lightning Deals should strike hourly 
 
 “Don't overlook Amazon's Lightning Deals,” says Hudson. “In the past, select items receive a dramatic price drop for a very short period of time, so keep your eyes peeled for those. Every hour you'll notice another gadget is on sale, from a Bluetooth speaker to a Brita pitcher or pressure cooker." 
 
 Remember that you have a short window of time to act on these. 
 
 “Once you put a lightning deal in your cart, you only have about 15 minutes to transact," says Skirboll. 
 
 Don't get your hopes up on these non-Amazon-branded tech and kitchen items 
 
 So, what can you skip? Krista Fabregas, retail and shopping analyst at Fit Small Business, notes that shoppers shouldn't get their savings hopes up on these items on Prime Day: 
 
 Apple devices. “Find better deals designed to lure Amazon shoppers away on competing sites and stores like Best Buy and Walmart.” 
 
 “Find better deals designed to lure Amazon shoppers away on competing sites and stores like Best Buy and Walmart.” Google devices. “Amazon is not interested in pushing competing Google Home devices. Head to rival Walmart for savings on these items.” 
 
 “Amazon is not interested in pushing competing Google Home devices. Head to rival Walmart for savings on these items.” Cameras. “Better deals can be found elsewhere, like Walmart, Target, Best Buy, eBay, NewEgg, and even specialty stores like B&H.” 
 
 “Better deals can be found elsewhere, like Walmart, Target, Best Buy, eBay, NewEgg, and even specialty stores like B&H.” Kitchen appliances. “Don’t be tempted by sales on kitchen appliances since Amazon will release similar or better deals during Black Friday and Cyber Monday,” adds TopCashback’s Hudson. 
 
 Is this the brand you want? If not, don’t settle unless it’s urgent 
 
 Last year, my fiancé and I went all out on Black Friday and bought a new TV for some 30 percent off the list price. It was not the brand we’d been hoping would see major discounts, and was smaller than we liked. But we caved in our fervor to get in on the savings action. The following March, in time for the Super Bowl, the TV we originally wanted went on sale for less than what we’d paid for the subpar model. Consider this a lesson in waiting/saving for the thing you really want rather than settling on something close enough. 
 
 “Sometimes urgency is more important than getting the exact model you had in mind, but if you have your heart set on a certain brand or model, you may not see it on sale,” says Kelly. “Decide if the purchase is urgent: Do you need that bed or washer/dryer immediately? ” 
 
 If not, consider skipping it. Labor Day sales are right around the corner, and before you know it Cyber Monday will be here. 
 
 Comparison-shopping is a must 
 
 Many retailers competing with Amazon will be seizing this opportunity to flash bigger and better sales. 
 
 “Last year, 20 percent of products discounted by Amazon during Prime Day were available from other retailers for less,” says Jared Blank, SVP of marketing and data insights at the retail marketing company Bluecore. 
 
 Check out retailers like Lowe’s, Macy’s and Sony and any others that have announced their own ‘Black Friday in July’ sales, says Sara Spivey, CMO of digital marketing company Bazaarvoice, noting that the majority of Prime Day shoppers did this in 2017. 
 
 “Last year we found that 76 percent of Prime Day shoppers visit other major online stores to research products and read ratings and reviews before making their ultimate purchase decisions, and many admitted to frequenting places like Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Home Depot to research and compare products,” says Spivey. “By offering up sales and promotions of their own, these rival retailers have an opportunity to drive more revenue too. Our research showed that not only did site traffic increase on Prime Day, but the number of orders also increased by 38 percent.” 
 
 Here’s a list of sites offering specials this July, courtesy of RetailMeNot. 
 
 Quick tips to maximize your savings 
 
 You can save even more on Prime Day by doing the following: 
 
 Get the Amazon Prime Rewards credit card , which will “get you a $70 gift card and five percent back on all Amazon purchases,” says Skirboll. 
 
 , which will “get you a $70 gift card and five percent back on all Amazon purchases,” says Skirboll. Sign up with a cashback site. (Hudson says that TopCashback is offering eight percent cashback on Amazon devices). Also check out EBates, Honey, Wikibuy and RetailMeNotGenie, and remember to use these when comparison shopping, too. 
 
 (Hudson says that TopCashback is offering eight percent cashback on Amazon devices). Also check out EBates, Honey, Wikibuy and RetailMeNotGenie, and remember to use these when comparison shopping, too. Use an Amazon price tracker. “Prices can change so quickly you have to use an hourly Amazon price tracker that can pick up on short-lived deals (think lightning deals) and notify you before the price pops back up,” says David Mercer, founder of SME Pals. “A good place to start using price histories is this lowest price deals page that shows only products selling at their historical lowest price (over the last month) right now.” You have a few options for price trackers including CamelCamelCamel, Keepa and The Tracktor. 
 
 “Prices can change so quickly you have to use an hourly Amazon price tracker that can pick up on short-lived deals (think lightning deals) and notify you before the price pops back up,” says David Mercer, founder of SME Pals. “A good place to start using price histories is this lowest price deals page that shows only products selling at their historical lowest price (over the last month) right now.” You have a few options for price trackers including CamelCamelCamel, Keepa and The Tracktor. Chat up Alexa. “Ask Alexa what’s on sale,” says Hudson. “Last year Amazon had Alexa-only deals on consumer packaged good such as cleaning products and toilet paper. Prime Day is the perfect time to stock up on household goods for cheap.” 
 
 Amazon Deals You Can Snag Right Now 
 
 Ready to shop right now? Check out these early deals. 
 
 NBC News has affiliate relationships, so we may get a small share of the revenue from your purchases. Items are sold by the retailer, not by NBC News. All prices are subject to change and items could sell out based on the merchant’s inventory. 
 
 50 percent off Echo Show, $129 (originally $229) 
 
 45 percent off Kasa Smart WiFi Light Switch, $27 (originally $51) 
 
 30 percent off 2-pack of Solimo Sport Sunscreen, $9.09 (originally $12.99) 
 
 51 percent off Pinzon Shed-Resistant White Duck Down Pillow, $24.27 (originally $49.99) 
 
 29 percent off Pinzon 400-Thread-Count Egyptian Cotton Queen Sheet Set, $34.13 (originally $47.99) 
 
 26 percent off Amazon Basics Wireless Bluetooth Speaker, $14.59 (originally $19.78) 
 
 20 percent off Amazon Basics Paper and Credit Card Shredder, $23.74(originally $29.99) 
 
 Want more tips like these? NBC News BETTER is obsessed with finding easier, healthier and smarter ways to live. Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. ||||| Amazon.com’s (amzn) Prime Day on Tuesday was marred with many customers reporting problems checking out, potentially denting business on a day the online retailer is hoping will yield hundreds of millions of dollars in sales and spur sign ups to its Prime program. 
 
 On Tuesday morning at 7:40 Eastern time, the retailer said on Twitter that some customers were having problems with the website. At 11:18 a.m., or two and half hours later, the company told Fortune by email that the problem had been resolved. 
 
 Some customers are reporting difficulty with checkout. We're working to resolve this issue quickly. — Amazon.com (@amazon) July 12, 2016 
 
 But by then, Amazon was dealing with angry shoppers. Earlier, some customers took to Twitter to also complain about problems like adding items to carts. And by early morning, the hashtag #PrimeDayFail, which gained traction during last year’s inaugural event after many customers were underwhelmed by items included in the deals, was trending again. 
 
 Sad to wake up early for Prime Day & NOT be able to add to cart. #PrimeDayFail — John Gann (@thejohngann) July 12, 2016 
 
 The snafus were poorly timed for the online retailer, whose $81 billion in annual sales make it the largest e-commerce player in the U.S. by far, doing six times more business than Walmart.com (wmt). Still, investors shrugged off the problems as the stock hit an all-time high on Tuesday. 
 
 Amazon debuted Prime Day last year as a one-day sale exclusively for members of its Prime subscription shopping service. The company’s goal is to create a new shopping holiday like Black Friday—the busy shopping day after Thanksgiving—to encourage more spending on its site. While Prime Day is a manufactured shopping event, the sale is a big deal for Amazon: retail advisory firm FBIC, has forecast predicts Prime Day could generate $525 million in sales, up 26 percent from its $415 million estimate last year. 
 
 The larger point for Amazon is to stoke enrollment in its Prime service, which for $99 a year, among many benefits, offers customers free two-day delivery and access to Amazon’s TV and movie streaming service. Prime enrollments peaked on July 14 last year, one day before Prime Day. According to comScore data, 21.7 million unique visitors went to Amazon.com on Prime Day last year, making it as big a deal as Cyber Monday. And Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimated this week that 63 million people in the U.S. are Prime members, up 43% from a year earlier. 
 
 Amazon’s Prime Day has prompted many traditional retailers to hold their own events. Most notably, Walmart this week waived minimum online order sizes to get free shipping. 
 
 The Amazon snafus are reminiscent of website problems retailers like Target (tgt), Best Buy (bby) and Neiman Marcus have all dealt with in the last few years on major online shopping occasions.
– Will the third time be the charm for Amazon? Its now-slightly-misnomered Prime Day (it's actually 30 hours long, not 24, this year) kicks off at 9pm EDT Monday. Its inaugural sale in 2015 didn't blow consumers over; in 2016 there were early-morning website issues for some customers. This year, Amazon is ready, at least by USA Today's account, which notes that two floors of conference rooms at HQ have been "outfitted as war rooms" to support the onslaught of shoppers, all of whom must have a Prime membership to get the deals. More: The figures: Prime Day 2016 saw an estimated $500 million to $600 million in sales (Amazon didn't release official numbers). That's a fraction of the $3.34 billion spent on the Black Friday that followed months later, but Amazon said the total was up 60% over 2015, with 2017's Prime Day expected to be even bigger. What does bigger look like? Beating 2016 Prime Day records like these perhaps, per TechCrunch: More than 90,000 TVs, 1 million shoes, 23,000 iRobot vacuums, and 200,000 headphones were sold. It's a win-win for Amazon: There's a big upside involved in reeling in new Prime shoppers (the count has increased about 20 million year-over-year in the US, to 85 million): Their Amazon spending is almost double that of a non-Prime customer: $1,300 a year versus $700. What's on sale? Some 100,000 items, per CNET, but those items don't all go on sale at once. It offers tips on how to be alerted to the best deals (one smart one involves using your Amazon Wish List). Fortune offers some other ways, including a convenient-sounding Alexa tip. So are the deals deals? In some cases. Quartz points out that the Wirecutter gadget-review site examined 8,000 deals last Prime Day and recommended fewer than 1% of them: 64. One handy tool: CamelCamelCamel.com, which prompts you to input a product URL and then lets you know how that stacks up to what Amazon has charged for the item in the past. There's reason to care: ... and also reason to avoid the "rabbit hole" altogether. Rick Broida makes both cases at CNET. One dose of reality: If you've enjoyed Amazon's tax-free shopping in the past, it's, well, a thing of the past. Forbes points out that since April 1, Amazon has been levying sales tax for shoppers in all states with a sales tax (five don't have one: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon).