Amazon lightning deals offer big discounts within a limited time frame, but where do you find them? Here's how to shop lightning deals.
With Amazon Prime Day mere days away, the deals are in full bloom. While the big day doesn't officially start until July 16 at 12 am PDT, deal hunters like us are on the move, seeking out the markdowns that are actually worth it (and what you can skip.) One of the pillars of Amazon's daily deals are "lightning deals," aka flash deals offering deep discounts. However, keen Amazon Prime members noticed that these deals are suddenly hard to find.
So where did all the lightning deals go? They're still around, but Amazon made them difficult to see.
Read everything you need to know about lightning deals and how to find them below.
As you're getting ready for Prime Day on July 16 and 17, knowing the different types of deals helps you shop smarter.
Lightning deals are offers on products only available for a specific amount of time and in limited quantity. They're signified on product pages with a little bar that reads "X% claimed." The deals are available until all units have been claimed or the deal timer runs out — whichever comes first. Lightning deals are usually limited to one day, sometimes only lasting a few hours, and new deals rotate daily.
They're certainly tantalizing — since these deals don't hang around for long, they put the pressure on to buy ASAP. Lightning deals are also only available to Prime members and may not appear to non-members.
In the past, lightning deals were a centerpiece of the deals experience on Amazon. They used to be featured in their own category on the 'Today's Deals' tab, however, that showcase appears to have disappeared. Now all the lightning deals blend into the regular deals.
These changes appear to have occurred around April 2024, with Prime members taking to Reddit to discuss the issue. One poster noted that they called Amazon after lightning deals disappeared and were told that the company was updating the system to make it better for users. As of July 2024, lightning deals are active, but the category page has not been restored.
With the lack of organization around lightning deals, they've lost some of their luster. However, they're still around and fairly easy to spot. All lightning deals can be found on the 'Today's Deals' page of Amazon, according to the customer service page. Since they're not in a separate section, you have to browse through all the product listings to spot a lightning deal.
All lightning deals will be marked with a bar that says "X% claimed" that sits right under the product listing. The higher the percentage claimed, the closer the deal is to ending. Occasionally, you'll also see a countdown clock on the listings, but usually it's just the percentage claimed bar.
Lightning deals don't last long, but how long do they usually last? There's no standard time frame. Typically, they last between a couple of hours and up to 24 hours, but because they're also available in limited quantity, the deals may go before time runs out.
Amazon doesn't tell you how many deals are available, only the percentage claimed, so the higher it gets, the closer it is to running out.
Lightning deals expire when either time runs out or when all the available products have been claimed — whichever comes first. If there's a lightning deal you really want, we recommend purchasing it right away, since these deals are guaranteed not to last.
We can't categorically say all lightning deals are good or bad. Like any deal on Amazon, it totally depends. Sometimes lightning deals are on products from sketchy third-party products with no name recognition — those you want to skip.
But other times, big brands will be featured with products up to 50% off, and those are the deals to catch. If you're unsure, tools like camelcamelcamel are a fantastic price-tracking resource to utilize. If you find a lightning deal, use the camelcamelcamel extension to check the product's price history to see just how good the lightning deal actually is.
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