Amazon Prime Day 2022 is coming. Amazon has announced its annual sale will kick off on July 12 this year and offer 48 hours of deals. If previous years’ sales are anything to go by, it’s going to be an absolute whirlwind of price drops and promotions on everything from tech and gaming to household goods, fashion, fitness and more. 

While we can’t tell you exactly what’s going to be on sale just yet or what the discounts will be, we can offer up some advice on how to ensure you find the best Prime Day deals during the limited-time event. Prime Day 2022 is not our first rodeo and we’ve figured out several tips and tricks over the years to help make it a success for our readers. 

Grab an Amazon Prime free trial

First things first, you’re going to want to make sure that you actually have an active Amazon Prime subscription. Without one, you’re not going to be able to access all of the Prime-exclusive sales that will run during the event so it should be an essential part of your Amazon Prime Day prep. 

Thankfully, you don’t have to be a paid Amazon Prime member and can in fact be on the Prime free trial as long as your 30-day period overlaps with the event days which, if you start your trial today, will be the case. 

Start your shopping early

Though the official Amazon Prime Day date for the event is July 12 with deals running through July 13, the deals actually start much earlier in reality. Amazon has announced early Prime Day promotions that kick off on June 21 and there are a bunch of stellar deals already available with more cropping up each day. 

Early Prime Day deals available now

Know your targets

It’s easy to become overwhelmed with all of the deals during Prime Day so it’s wise to decide what products you want to try and grab on sale beforehand. Amazon makes it super easy to add products to your Wish List or Save for Later section which will make it much easier to try and check things off your shopping list once the sale kicks off. 

Better yet, if you have Alexa devices you can even be alerted if a product you’ve saved goes on sale during Prime Day 2022. We truly live in the future. 

Be open-minded to alternative picks

Sometimes the price of the product you really want just doesn’t budge. Instead of staring at its Amazon listing and missing out on other great deals, maybe have a backup pick or two in mind in case this situation arises. That way you can still ensure you’re saving money on a product that will fit the bill, even if it might not have been your go-to choice. 

Think about what makes your top pick the most attractive choice, assess its pros and cons, then see if any other products check some of the same boxes. Chances are, there’s an alternative product that gets you 90% of the way there and may save you a decent amount of money come Prime Day. 

Don’t be limited to Amazon

This sounds counterintuitive, but some of the best Prime Day deals don’t actually crop up on Amazon. In recent years, competing retailers have launched their own sales to coincide with Amazon’s big jamboree and try and steal away some buyers that are already primed to open their wallets. 

Competition is good news for consumers, especially if you’ve been holding out on making some big purchases until the summer sale season. We’ve already seen the announcement of Target’s Deal Days sale which just so happens to overlap with Prime Day 2022 and we expect other big box retailers will want in on the action. 

Keep checking back

Amazon Prime Day deals are ever changing so you’re going to want to peep the sale periodically throughout the event to ensure that you’re giving yourself the best chance of scoring the best Prime Day deals. 

If the event works like previous years, we’ll see the first tranche of deals go live at 3 a.m. ET when the event officially kicks off on July 12 with a second batch dropping at the same time on day two of the event. That being said, super limited-time Lighting Deals will be popping up and expiring throughout the two-day event and Amazon will also be trying its best to match any stellar sales offered at other retailers. There are a lot of moving parts and prices rarely stand still for too long during the event hours. 

Let us do the work for you

The CNET Deals team will be hard at work throughout the event surfacing the very best deals for our readers, so follow along with our coverage if you want to separate the signal from the noise during Prime Day. 

Follow the main CNET Twitter account for the best of the best deals as well as the CNET Deals Twitter account if you want to see even more of our coverage. 

If even that is too much deal hunting, you can let the deals come right to you by signing up for CNET Deals text alerts. We send daily alerts throughout the year highlighting the best price drops and promotions but during events like Prime Day we’ll amp things up a bit. If you’re busy during the day and don’t have time to check in on the best Prime Day deals, you can rest easy knowing we’re finding them and sending them your way. Sign up below.