What not to buy during Amazon's October Prime Day sale

Amazon will dish out millions of discounts during Prime Big Deal Days, its members-only "October Prime Day" sale (set for Oct. 8 and 9). But buyer beware: Not every "deal" is as good as it may seem. It can be difficult to decipher what's worth your hard-earned cash and what's better to pass on, so allow the Mashable Shopping team's experts to impart some advice. Keeping scrolling for our guide to things you should avoid on Amazon during Prime Big Deal Days. Any deal that seems too good to be true... probably is There are a few ways you can check if an item's sale price on Amazon is a legitimately good deal that's worth adding to your cart. One is by cross-checking the listing with its manufacturer's website to verify its MSRP; Amazon will occasionally inflate them to make discounts look steeper than they really are. We also recommend cross-checking sale prices at competing retailers like Walmart, Best Buy, and Target, which will sometimes match or beat Amazon's offers. Amazon put this Acer gaming laptop on sale for $769.99 in September 2024, which it advertised as a $75 discount. Credit: Screenshot: Amazon.com We found a listing for the exact same model on Acer's website, and it turns out Amazon's deal is only saving you $10. Credit: Screenshot: Acer.com The Amazon price-tracking website camelcamelcamel is an especially valuable tool during sales like Prime Big Deal Days. If you plug a product's Amazon listing into the search bar at the top of its homepage, you'll be able to see the products's going rate(s) over the weeks/months/years. The site occasionally misses short-term discounts, but it can give you a good general idea of whether or not a discount you see is actually as impressive as it seems. Take this Rockland luggage set, for instance. In September 2024, Amazon put it on sale for $97.26, making it appear to be 56% off a $219 MSRP. Credit: Screenshot: Amazon.com However, when we entered the luggage set's URL into camelcamelcamel at the time, we saw that it's