How do you find lightning deals at Amazon? Here's how to shop those limited-time promotions.

With Prime Big Deal Days (aka Amazon's October Prime Day) mere days away, the deals are in full bloom. While the big day doesn't officially start until Oct. 8 at 12:01 a.m. PT, 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 is "lightning deals," aka flash deals offering deep discounts. We noticed last Prime Day that these deals became mysteriously hard to find without explanation. Fortunately, as October Prime Day nears, these limited-time promotions are much easier to shop. Here's everything you need to know about lightning deals and how to find them. What are lightning deals? Credit: Screenshot: Amazon As you're getting ready for another Prime Day on Oct. 8 and 9, knowing the different types of deals can help 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. Did Amazon get rid of lighting deals? Strangely, some very keen Prime members noticed last spring that the category for lightning deals on the "Today's Deals" tab at Amazon had disappeared. They weren't completely gone but became inexplicably harder to find. One Reddit 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. For months, the lightning deals just blended into the regular deals. We're pleased to announce that the off