As the big day rapidly approaches, we've been preparing for the onslaught of Prime Day PC gaming deals heading our way. But, as we curate the best deals into one place, you need to make sure you use every tool at your disposal to maximize savings and come out on top on July 12-13.
One of the tools that'll make sure you save the most money will be your Amazon Prime membership; you will need one to qualify for most of Prime Day's more exclusive deals. Aside from free shipping, music, and video streaming, a few features come with your membership you might not be aware of. Even if you're only grabbing a Prime membership for Prime Day, you should still get your money's worth by taking advantage of all the perks that come with it.
A monthly subscription to Prime costs $14.99 a month, or $119 for a full year. So, grabbing a year of Prime is cheaper if you're willing to commit, but if you're just picking up a membership for Prime Day itself, the monthly tariff is the smart play.
You may even qualify for a month's free trial if you're a new member. Just remember to cancel after that free month as it will auto-renew and start taking your money. Cell phone and cable providers often give out Amazon Prime trials as customer rewards, so check your contract details, too.
The discounts and free shipping alone go a long way to justifying the $15 you might be spending on a monthly sub, but aside from access to Prime-exclusive deals, there are a lot of other benefits, too. And some that you may not necessarily know about.
What do you get with Amazon Prime membership?
- Exclusive Prime Member deals
- Free same-day/two-day shipping on Amazon, Woot!, Shopbop, and East Dane products
- Delivery Scheduling
- Amazon Fresh - Grocery Delivery
- Amazon Prime RX
- Prime Video
- Prime Music
- Prime Photos
- Prime Reading
- Prime Gaming
- Amazon Luna
- Amazon Kids Plus
- Prime 'Try Before You Buy'
- Prime Coupons
- Free trial to Grub Hub Plus
A whole lot of benefits, then, but I think these are the ones you really need to know about when going into Prime Day itself.
Free Same-Day/One-Day/Two-Day Shipping
Perhaps the most crucial Prime membership benefit is the free shipping, which is eligible for nearly all the Prime Day Deals. This means you can get free shipping on huge items like TVs, desks, and even bed frames which can easily cost an arm and a leg at other retail sites.
Prime Try Before You Buy
If you're looking to upgrade your wardrobe, Try Before You Buy is a neat service that lets you try on clothes, shoes, and jewelry before being charged. You basically pay for what you keep and send back what you don't like.
Free Games and DLC
One often overlooked benefit of an Amazon Prime membership is the ridiculous amount of free games and DLC that get handed out daily. Over 30 plus games are being offered for free for the month to celebrate Prime Day, like Rain World and the Mass Effect Trilogy. Plus there's DLC for games such as Destiny 2, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Rainbow Six Seige. Let's not forget that every month you're awarded one free Twitch Prime sub that you can use to subscribe to your favorite Twitch streamer, too.
Prime Video and Music Prime
Two services I use all the time, Prime Video is Amazon's video streaming service that rivals Netflix and has exclusive shows like The Boys, The Expanse, and Invincible. Prime Music works closest to Spotify, letting you stream music and podcasts from your phone. Hey, if you are only going to use it for a month, why not binge on some TV and true-crime podcasts?
Prime Reading
Do you like books? It's like TV but with text. Prime Reading gives you access to thousands of audiobooks, ebooks, comics, and magazines that you can read on your tablet, phone, or Kindle. Prime Reading members also have access to Amazon First Reads which gives you early access to a selection of new books a month before their official release date.
Free Year of Grubhub+
Grubhub+ might be the awesome secret reason to have a Prime account. Grubhub is a food delivery app, along the lines of Uber Eats, where you can order meals from local restaurants. Grubhub+ gives you free delivery on all your orders over $12.
Amazon Photos
Prime members receive unlimited photo storage and 5GB of video storage in the cloud which you can then use to upload images/video to Amazon smart home products like Echo Show and Fire TVs.
Amazon Luna
Luna is Amazon's cloud-gaming service where you stream games straight from your browser, tablet, and smart TV. All you need to do is connect a Bluetooth controller and you're good to go. A Prime Membership gives you access to its free tier of games. This month the games include Mega Man 11, Skatebird, and more.
Luna does offer different 'channels' for a monthly fee such as a retro gaming channel for $4.99 a month, or the Ubisoft+ channel for $17.99 which makes most of Ubisoft's game library available for streaming.
As well as all this Amazon is also giving every Prime Member the opportunity to earn another $10 credit against future purchases if you collect four virtual stamps related to your Prime membership. If you make a Prime-eligible purchase, stream a show on Prime Video, listen to a song on Music Prime, and borrow an eBook on Prime Reading then Amazon will credit you with a whole $10 to spend.
Now that you know more or less everything you need to know about an Amazon Prime membership, you can go into Prime Day ready to pounce on killer PC gaming deals.
