Prime Big Deal Days is nearly here. The Amazon shopping event starts tomorrow, October 10, and runs to the end of Wednesday (October 11), offering two days of savings across multiple categories. It's not as big of a deal as Black Friday, but it's the closest you'll get this month. 

In fact, the early signs are that there are some pretty big savings to be had, particularly on Amazon's own devices, but also on MacBooks, iPads, AirPods, air fryers, vacuums, TVs and much more. You can browse our top choices right now in our main Prime Day deals hub (so named because really this is just Prime Day, after all).

• View the full Prime Big Deal Days sale

But what actually is it – and how does it work? Don't worry – we can explain everything. Below, you'll find our detailed guide to the shopping event. Good luck out there.

Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2023: FAQs

While on the free trial, you get all the other membership benefits including free shipping, access to Prime Video and much more. Do read our Amazon Prime review for full coverage of what you get as part of a membership. That can help you decide if you want to cancel Amazon Prime once your free trial has ended, to avoid being charged the monthly fee.

If you want a preview of the kind of deals available, here are three of the best Big Deal Days deals on offer right now:

When was Amazon Prime Day 2023?

Amazon Prime Day 2023 ran from midnight PST on July 11 until 11:59pm PDT (3am EDT) on July 12.

A good number of Prime Day deals were available in the week running up to the event, too, so you could actually bag a bargain quite early. And some offers remained live following the official end of the sale, too, for last-minute shoppers.

How to prepare for Prime Day 2023: our pro tips

We've collected together some buyer's tips and advice that will help you get the most out of Amazon Big Deal Days. This is based on our own experience covering Amazon events for eight years now. 

Some of these tips may seem pretty basic and straightforward to some, but they're definitely not to be overlooked if you're preparing a shopping list already.

1. Find an Amazon Prime free trial…
Amazon Big Deal Days is reserved for Prime members only. However, if you've not subscribed in the past, Amazon offers a free trial that you can activate in the lead-up to the event. Just be careful that you time your membership to run over the period of Big Deal Days and cancel once it's over so you aren't charged a fee.

2. …but don't rely on it
Last year we saw more retailers participating in similar Prime Day sales in order to steal a little of Amazon's pie. We expect stores like Walmart and Best Buy will run their own discounts over the same period this year, which means you can shop around to find the best Big Deal Days deals possible. Ultimately, you could find a big saving on exactly what you want outside of Amazon, where membership isn't required – unless there are exclusive offers for Walmart Plus or My Best Buy members.

3. Know what you want to buy…
Going into big sales events such as Amazon Prime Big Deal Days with an idea of what you want to buy is a great place to start. Sure, we all like to do a bit of digital window shopping, but knowing what you're after means you can filter out all that noise, dodge the rubbish lightning deals and get straight to the good stuff right away. Take the time now to research the price history of your chosen product, as well as the prices of its competitors over the last year – both cheaper and more expensive versions. With that in mind, you can go into Big Deal Days knowing for yourself what is a good deal.

4. …but stay flexible
Even if you know everything about the one product you really want, it's unwise to assume that the particular TV, tablet or whatever it is you're after will be on sale. Your heart may be set on a product but the big day can roll around and no savings are found on it. Does that mean you should give up? No way. 

Take all that research you did in the days beforehand to look at similar products. Is there an equivalent cheaper item that's even less for Big Deal Days, or perhaps that slightly more expensive model is now reduced to a price more in line with your original item? We'll be on hand to help with these suggestions, too, so you could get an even bigger saving or come away with a better product that you would have otherwise missed out on.

5. Get in there early…
When Big Deal Days begins, you want to be one of the first to check which offers have gone live at midnight – or at least first thing in the morning when you wake up. We don't think that anything is going to sell out in a matter of hours in this early window, but there's definitely a risk that the hottest deals will sell out as the first day draws to a close. If you see something you really want to buy, get it in your basket right away – you can always cancel the order if you change your mind.

6. …but check back throughout the event
Just because you've managed to secure your dream deal straight out the gate doesn't mean Amazon is done. New Big Deal Days deals will be released throughout the entire sales window and there are often limited-time lightning deals that may grab your attention. And sold-out products may come back at a later time if you missed out on something big.

Prime Big Deal Days vs Black Friday – should you wait?

Both Amazon Prime Big Deal Days and Black Friday generally offer discounts on the same kinds of devices, but there are a few differences between the sales events.

Prime Big Deal Days deals are largely focused on Amazon itself, while other stores like Best Buy and Walmart compete against them with a few of their own discounts. Competition among shoppers will also be significantly reduced on Big Deal Days, which means that deals will generally be easier to find, easier to price check and won't run out of stock so quickly. 

Black Friday, on the other hand, is set across a much larger range of retailers, with prices that tend to be a little cheaper across a wider variety of brands. That does mean putting in a lot more work to make sure you get the best offer possible and keeping a close eye out for limited-time flash sales. With more competition between retailers, though, we do tend to see slightly larger discounts in November.

Of course, you may also simply want your tech sooner. If so, we wouldn't recommend a few weeks for the chance of a better discount. There's no guarantee that prices will be any different closer to Black Friday, especially on Amazon products. And with the way the sales start even earlier now, chances are the prices you see in October will be as low as they go over the two-month period.

How to find the best Prime Big Deal Days deals

Amazon won't necessarily do a great job of promoting the best Prime Big Deal Days deals. Sure, it will shout about many of its own devices and other well-known products that are on sale, but it's often worth looking beyond these highlighted deals for some even better savings. We do a lot of that searching for you and will share our favorite offers on our Prime Day deals page, but here's some more advice on how to find the best offers.

Before the sale begins is a good place to start. In the run-up, Amazon usually has a few offers live that are a tease for the big event. These aren't usually some of the biggest products, but can still be tempting bargains. We sometimes see reductions on its own subscription services such as Audible, Music Unlimited and Kindle Unlimited during this window, making it a good time to sign up.

We also strongly encourage you to keep an eye on Amazon Warehouse. We often see store-wide discounts of up to 20% across this selection of second-hand, used and open-box products. All items are checked, tested and Amazon-approved before they go back on sale, plus they are covered by the standard returns policy, so you don't have to worry if you run into any issues. Generally, it's an excellent option to bag an even bigger bargain.

Set Prime Big Deal Days deal alerts

Want to avoid missing out on any big bargains over Amazon Prime Big Deal Days? You can set deal alerts for the duration of the sales event that will ping you a notification when specific products or items from your search history are reduced.

You can also use this function with Alexa. Simply add a product to your cart with voice commands and then tell Alexa to notify you when that product goes on sale.

It's a good way to ensure you get everything you want during Prime Big Deal Days. We'd suggest taking a look at the sneak peak of some of the upcoming deals and seeing which ones you want to be notified of when the sale starts on October 10.