Amazon Is Hosting Another Prime Day in October—Here’s What You Need To Know

Seasoned bargain hunters know that Amazon Prime Day comes but once a year ... except when it doesn’t.

For the first time ever in its history, the online retailer is bringing its popular two-day sale back for a second go-around in the same calendar year, meaning budget-savvy shoppers have a chance to score even greater discounts on everything from top-rated tech and home goods to books, movies, apparel, and more.

This new 48-hour event, which Amazon has dubbed the “Prime Early Access Sale,” is slated to kick off on Tuesday, October 11 at 12 a.m. and will last through Wednesday, October 12. Prime Day typically happens in the summertime—in 2021, it dropped in late June, while this year’s first event was held in mid-July—but there is some precedent for hosting the event during the fall season.

Back in 2020, the online shopping giant opted to forgo its annual summer savings bonanza because of COVID-19, instead pushing it out to early October. While historically, Amazon tends to stay mum about its overall Prime Day profits (estimates place their 2020 earnings at around $10.3 billion), third-party sellers netted more than $3.5 billion during the fall 2020 event, a record-breaking 60 percent increase compared to their Prime Day 2019 earnings.

All this suggests that the retailer is hoping lightning will strike twice in more ways than one. But for everyday shoppers, it’s a win either way, because it’s an opportunity to get a jumpstart on holiday shopping well before Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals ramp up in November.

If you want to make the most of this limited-run sale (which is expected to have many of the same Prime Day-quality markdowns we saw earlier this year), you’ll have to sign up for a Prime account, which will run you about $15 per month after the 30-day free trial ends. And although it’s unclear right now if Amazon has plans to host multiple Prime Days in the future, this rare second helping of one of the biggest deals events of the year couldn’t have come at a better time.

Stay tuned for the best early fall Prime Day 2022 deals to shop now, and while you wait, consider brushing up on these shopping hacks, which will help you save time, track down the best deals, and most importantly, minimize the stress you might feel going into such a massive sale.