How to get the best deals during Amazon Prime Days
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Amazon Prime Days have arrived and the deals are hitting almost hourly -- so how do you know when a deal is a deal and if it's something you should jump on?
There are two indisputable truths to deal with as the days have arrived -- one being that it is totally a made up holiday, and the other that you will get a deal and save money.
Certified Financial Advisor and Certified Financial Planner Rob Bertman founded FamilyBudgetExpert.com and says that Prime Days are like feeding piranhas.
Bertman says, however, that Amazon isn't in this game alone and that any deal should be checked out.
"If you're looking for a particular product, I usually just take the name brand and the model number and type it into Google or whatever search engine you use. And then just look at the Walmart price and the target price. And and then it should take maybe only 10 seconds to see if it's the great the right price for you," Bertman said.
Bertman says it's important to ask yourself the want/need question.
"Anytime we spend money that we weren't intending to, it's not really a deal," Bertman said.
Bertman says, also, don't fall into the trap of messages like 'Time is short' or 'There are only a few left,' which are used to push you to make a purchase.
While part of the fun behind Prime Days surrounds the impulse buying, Bertman suggests going into the days with a plan and a list to help keep spending under control.
While Amazon built this particular yellow brick road, Walmart, Target, and Best Buy are all perfectly happy to skip along, too, and CNET's Ian Sherr says Amazon's own products will be the items to lead the sales.
"They're going to use their Fire tablets and their Euro Mesh routers and Ring doorbells, to get you to go on the site," Sherr said.
Sherr says to look for deals at the retailers on some of the biggest brand names.
"Brands like Apple, Dell, Lenovo, HP, those type of people we're seeing right now for example, some of Apple's headphones are near the best price we've ever seen," Sherr said.
To know that a deal is a deal, you have to know where prices started out at.
"I find that only a certain small handful of stuff is really worth it every one of these shopping holidays," Sherr said.
One thing that the folks at CNET suggest you avoid are televisions.
Sherr says that the best TV deals come around Black Friday and the Super Bowl.
CNET has an app and a browser extension that can help you price compare. There's another called Circus Circus Circus that will give you a history of Amazon's pricing on any particular item -- you just need to know that because something is labeled as a deal, that doesn't mean it is.
The ticking clock that gets put on certain deals is a ploy to instill a false sense of urgency and prompt you into an impulse buy. If your money is important to you, shop around before you buy.