What not to buy during Amazon’s October sale

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Amazon will offer millions of discounts during Prime Big Deal Days, its members-only October Prime Day sale (set for October 8 and 9). But buyer beware: Not every “deal” is as good as it seems.

Deciphering what’s worth your hard-earned cash and what’s best to give away can be difficult, so let the experts on the Mashable Shopping team provide some advice. Keep scrolling for our guide to things to avoid on Amazon during Big Deal Prime Days.

Any deal that seems too good to be true… probably is

There are several ways you can check if an item’s sale price on Amazon is a legitimately good deal worth adding to your cart. One is checking the listing with the manufacturer’s website to verify its MSRP; Amazon will occasionally inflate them to make the discounts look steeper than they really are. We also recommend cross-checking sale prices at competing retailers like Walmart, Best Buy, and Target, which will sometimes match or beat Amazon’s offers.

Amazon’s price tracking website camelcamelcamel is an especially valuable tool during sales like Prime Big Deal Days. If you enter a product’s Amazon listing in the search bar at the top of its home page, you’ll be able to see the products’ performance rates over weeks/months/years. The site occasionally misses short-term discounts, but it can give you a good general idea of ​​whether a discount you see is actually as impressive as it sounds.

Take this Rockland luggage set, for example. In September 2024, Amazon put it on sale for $97.26, making it appear to be 56% off an MSRP of $219.

However, when we entered the luggage group URL into camelback at the time, we saw that it rarely listed for that full price. In fact, it has hovered around $90 to $100 per word years. This puts her discount in a different context.

Here’s another example: At $189.99 (down from $249), that seems like a good deal for the Apple AirPods Pro 2, right?

While they’re a good buy, Camel tells us that AirPods 2 are regularly discounted at this price, so there’s no need to jump the gun. In fact, it’s worth waiting a few more weeks in case they return to their all-time low of $168.99 during Big Deal Days.

Impulse Buys: Just Say No

Just because something is on sale doesn’t mean you have to buy it. Seriously. Yes, those cheap Echo Pops are tempting enough, but are you in desperate need of a new smart speaker?

Sure, FOMO is real, but so is buyer’s remorse. In a 2023 Google survey of US adults, nine out of 10 respondents said they had experienced buyer’s remorse from impulse purchases, while 42 percent said they regretted buying something simply because it was on sale.

We recommend you go into Prime Big Deal Days with a list of things you really want or need and stick to it religiously.

Be wary of products sold and shipped by third-party sellers

It’s safest to stick with products that are sold and shipped by Amazon rather than an independent third-party merchant. While many of them are selling legitimate products – and Amazon does a lot to combat counterfeits – many of them are not. They may also have different customer service options than Amazon.

Mashable Deals

The list of retailers of third-party sellers includes some official storefronts of verified brands, which are generally legitimate. However, it is worth noting that we have come across at least one example of one unauthorized seller posing as the real thing, complete with the same name and brand.

After all, we don’t think it’s worth combing through an unknown seller’s entire review history for potential red flags when there’s a huge selection of deals from Amazon itself right there. It’s also not worth taking any risks when your money is on the line, no matter how small it may be. It’s okay to be picky, especially when it comes to tech and other big purchases you might make during a once-in-a-season sale. (Think about it this way: Would you feel more comfortable dropping a few hundred dollars on a laptop sold by Amazon or something called “Mall of Americ (SN Recorded)”? Their typo, not ours.)

You can find out who is selling an item you’re interested in by visiting their product page and looking just below the “Buy Now” button on the right side. If you see two lines that say “Ships from Amazon.com” and “Sold by Amazon.com,” you’re good to go.

In the unlikely event that you ever find yourself in a situation where you think you’ve accidentally purchased a counterfeit item or a seller isn’t responding to questions about an order problem, know that you have an option to find “A-to-” of Amazon z Guarantee.” However, it involves a whole process of eligibility and requirements.

Last but not least: Stay away from Ring camera deals

We always see a ton of Ring deals popping up during Prime events, but we don’t recommend buying any of the Amazon-branded home security devices if you like your privacy and your neighbors. The company’s recent history is marred by security and data-handling issues, including sketchy law enforcement partnerships. (It finally shut down the tool that allows police to publicly search footage without a warrant earlier this year, but it’s not that far in our rearview mirror and we’re still skeptical.) To quote the great Randy Jackson: “It’s a no from me, branch.”