Tutorial : Getting the Deals

Prices on Amazon are generally decent. However, Amazon runs deals 24x7 and if the items you wanted appear in any of them, you can generally get even better pricing. What are the deals available? There are a few types and I'll try to describe them and also how to get them. The types of deals available are

• Deal of the Day (fka Gold Box Deal)
• Lightning Deals - Time sensitive discounts
• Savings and Sales Across Amazon
• Digital Deals
• Amazon Local Deals
• Coupons

We'll eliminate Digital Deals and Amazon Local Deals as these are not exactly applicable to us. You can look at the summary of the current deals by clicking Today's Deals right at the top of Amazon's homepage.

Deal of the Day
Every day, Amazon will post a 'Deal of the Day'. As the name implies, the deal will only last for 1 day, starting at midnight Pacific Time. This translates to 4pm Singapore Time during winter (like now), or 3pm during summer. This deal can be a single item, or a group of related items. Depending on what you're looking for, deals under this category can be 'wow' or 'meh'. However, they are generally ok and offers slightly more discounts than usual.

The only caveat is that you have to check out the item by 3pm (or 4pm) in order to enjoy the pricing. This is because items in your shopping cart do not hold their pricing and once past the dateline, the price will revert back to the original one.

Lightning Deals
As the name implies, these types of deals happen quickly and is extremely time sensitive. It starts at a pre-defined time and usually lasts for a few hours only with a limited number of quantities available. Most of the time, the items offered has no options and you just add them directly to your cart when it becomes available. Other times, there will be options available, for example, you can select the size of a thumb drive or the platform of a game. When you're done, you add it to your cart.

Now the caveat. Once the item is in your cart, you have to check out within the next 15 minutes, and there's a timer to remind you. Otherwise, you'll be deemed to have forfeited the chance. You can then add it back again if you wish, provided it's still available. There is a countdown timer in red, just underneath the picture of the item of the deal, which indicates for how long more will this item be available with the special price.

Some popular items, or items which simply has such a huge discount (you then tend to exhibit 'Buy First Talk (Regret) Later' syndrome), will get sold out very fast. I have come across some items which, upon refresh of the browser, it's already sold out. How do you know if it's sold out? There is this line at the bottom of the picture of the item that reads 'XX% claimed'. Once it hit 100%, it means it has sold out. Normally, the yellow button will also say 'Add to Cart' if the item is still available. If the item is sold out, then the button will read 'Join waitlist'.

What is this waitlist? It is as the name implies, a queue on the waiting list to be offered the lightning deal. If it's already 100% claimed, why is there a need of a waitlist then? Now, the reason is simple. If you 'Regret' before you check out the item, or you simply remove it from your cart, then the item will be offered to the next in line, and so on. Once you join the waitlist, you'll be told your queue position and then a quick assessment on your chance of getting it. You can then continue your shopping while waiting. If you're lucky, you'll see a flashing notification on your right upper corner of the browser window, telling you that the item is now available! You have to act fast because you only have THREE (3) minutes to add the item in your shopping cart. Once it's in your shopping cart, the usual 15 minutes to check out timer starts.

Lastly, you're allowed to buy 1 each of the items offered on Lightning Deals. So if you're buying for yourself, you can't be buying it for a friend for the same price. You can still buy additional quantities at the prevailing price.

Savings and Sales Across Amazon
These aren't as exciting as the previous 2 types of sales described. This is also a time limited sale, although quite a long one, lasting several days. Just like the 'Deal of the Day', it can be a single item or a group of related items. If you're eyeing these, just take note of the expiry of the deal itself. There is a countdown timer, similar to the 'Lightning Deals'.

One problem with this section is that there usually are a lot of items on sale at any one time. A quick tip is to just to filter off everything else except the category you are interested in. You can do this via the selection drop-down on the top right corner, with a label that says 'Sort by Category'. The 'Lightning Deals' section features the same filter as well. If you don't see the category you are interested in being listed, then there are no items within that category is available.

Coupons
The working mechanism of coupons are not as straight forward as the three types of deals just described. However, they are simple enough and you just need to understand a few rules.

• Coupons are applicable usually to a group of items and sometimes a single specific item.
• Coupons discounts are applied upon checkout.
• The same coupon can only be used once per order.
• Coupon may be one time or multiple time use.

If a product has an eligible coupon, you'll be informed on the product details page -

If you add go ahead and add it to your shopping cart, it will be indicated, like this -

And if you actually check it out, your Order Summary will look like this -

When you purchase items with coupons, please do make sure it's clipped and discounts duly applied on the Order Summary page.

Alright folks, it's another pretty long post and I hope it is helpful. Another nice feature will be Amazon Prime. Learn more.