Prime Day 2020

[sufue]

After last year's Prime Day being a total bust for me, and the year before that being really sparse, this year was really good for me.

I got the Small Business $10 (on food I actually wanted, although a bit early, but it was bags of dry lentils, so they'll keep) in both my husband's account and mine, and I also got the $10 Whole Foods offer in both accounts, and since I occasionally already order from Whole Foods, for some better meat and produce, that wasn't anything special I had to do either. And, amazingly, I got the Amazon Video $5 in my account, after setting up some random video to run right before I went to sleep, even though we already watch Amazon Prime videos occasionally in that account. Then I also got the $10 gift card credit in both accounts. So that's $65 of credits for not much extra effort, so I'm pretty happy!

I was able to use all of the credits that had to be used during Prime Day on an Instant Pot Mini that was on sale, and some accessories (an extra pot, one of those nice glass lids for slow cooking, and some mitts) for my son and his girlfriend who just moved in together. With those credits, I effectively ended up spending almost nothing for the Pot itself, which was already a good deal on sale.

And I still have the two $10 gift card credits, which have showed up in email, and thus hopefully will show up in each of our accounts soon.

And none of it took any phone calls or e-mails to customer service - assuming the gift card credits actually appear as promised... So, I'm pretty happy (and lucky), woo-hoo!

Thank you to @TubeMonkey as always for all of your effort on this. I don't know how you have the patience, but I really appreciate it!



P.S. I wish I could give you karma right now, but apparently I have to give some to someone else before I can give to you again

[tubemonkey]

HEADS UP

This thread is now "unstickied". Please post any new deals in the Black Friday thread.

This thread is still active for further discussions about Prime Day 2020.

tm

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by sufue

After last year's Prime Day being a total bust for me, and the year before that being really sparse, this year was really good for me.

I did much better last year than I did this year.

And, amazingly, I got the Amazon Video $5 in my account, after setting up some random video to run right before I went to sleep, even though we already watch Amazon Prime videos occasionally in that account.

it's a good thing Amazon doesn't read these forums

Then I also got the $10 gift card credit in both accounts. So that's $65 of credits for not much extra effort, so I'm pretty happy!

Doncha just love free money

I was able to use all of the credits that had to be used during Prime Day on an Instant Pot Mini that was on sale, and some accessories (an extra pot, one of those nice glass lids for slow cooking, and some mitts) for my son and his girlfriend who just moved in together. With those credits, I effectively ended up spending almost nothing for the Pot itself, which was already a good deal on sale.

And I still have the two $10 gift card credits, which have showed up in email, and thus hopefully will show up in each of our accounts soon.

As it should be. I used lots of free money and a trade-in last year to get a Show 5 for less than $2.

And none of it took any phone calls or e-mails to customer service - assuming the gift card credits actually appear as promised... So, I'm pretty happy (and lucky), woo-hoo!

I had to call to get my video credit...

...and I actually watched the videos

Thank you to @TubeMonkey as always for all of your effort on this. I don't know how you have the patience, but I really appreciate it!



P.S. I wish I could give you karma right now, but apparently I have to give some to someone else before I can give to you again

You're welcome and I appreciate the thought

PS: the karma's not necessary, but thanks anyway.

[Barbara1955]

I dont think its FREE You had to spend money to get money & will Spend more to use it. So what Free? Nothing!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Barbara1955

I dont think its FREE You had to spend money to get money & will Spend more to use it. So what Free? Nothing!

But they were free. I watched a Prime Video and Amazon gave me a $5 credit. It cost me nothing extra to watch the video because I'm already a Prime member.

I dropped $30 worth of coins into Coinstar and got a $30 Amz GC; and because I did that, Amazon gave me another $5 credit. Then I bought a $40 Amz GC and Amazon gave me a $10 credit. Because I shop at Amazon all the time, this is money I'd spend anyway.

So yes, this is free money. I spent $70 and Amazon gave me $90 back ($70 in GCs + $20 in credits).

I so heart free money

[Apache]

The only thing I purchased this year was the $40.00 gift card.
Apache

[Fbone]

I received $60 in free money. Added debit card ($50) and gift cards ($10).

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by Barbara1955

I dont think its FREE You had to spend money to get money & will Spend more to use it. So what Free? Nothing!

It could be considered "free" money if you spend it on items you were likely to have bought anyway.

[sufue]

And for me, all of the things I bought to get the bonus credits were expendables (food) I would buy anyway, so I grant that I had to spend some money, but it was money I would have spent even without the bonus. So to me, that makes the bonus credit into a "free" credit, since I didn't spend anything beyond what I would normally spend. I just had to be smart enough to follow the rules.

And a couple of the bonuses were truly free, with no net expenditure required - the video $5 credit and the gift card bonuses...

I agree that if I spent money on something I didn't normally buy, or didn't need, just to earn a bonus, then it is not really free and the calculation of whether it would be worth it would be different. (It might still be worth it, but definitely different...)

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by sufue

I agree that if I spent money on something I didn't normally buy, or didn't need, just to earn a bonus, then it is not really free and the calculation of whether it would be worth it would be different. (It might still be worth it, but definitely different...)

Yep, that's one of monkey's rules for shopping:

free gift cards and credits only have value if they're from stores you normally shop at

Some of these deals involve a gift card/store credit. You buy the item at a set price and get a free gift card/store credit for later use at that store. I counted these as a discount and used them to calculate the final price for that store. Of course, this only works if it's a store you routinely shop at because it's easy to spend the gift card/store credit on items you would normally purchase anyway. If it's a store you rarely shop at, then these gift card/store credit offers are false savings because you're forced into spending them on something you may not want before they expire. Take that into consideration before making a purchase.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Did you try this offer? It's open to everyone. The banner is still up, so I assume it hasn't sold out yet.

I got that one, but thanks to the delay I didn't have the credit until I'd already bought the SSD drives. I'll have to use it later.

[Tarana]

All I bought this year was the $5 Amazon Smart Plug and a box of 60 packets of cocoa. These are very handy for lights.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Tarana

All I bought this year was the $5 Amazon Smart Plug and a box of 60 packets of cocoa. These are very handy for lights.

How does that work - the cocoa and lights?

[tempest@de]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

How does that work - the cocoa and lights?

you insert a packet of cocoa in the smart plug and get instant hot cocoa

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

How does that work - the cocoa and lights?

My high school english teacher would have given me crap for that line. But to continue, I can sit with my cocoa and have Alexa turn off the light so that I can enjoy the flickering lights my Dad installed decades ago. Closest to firelight as I'll ever get again.