Amazon is always attempting to entice shoppers with big discounts and Prime-exclusive offers, but spotting a can't-miss offer from a bogus deal is a challenge that many of us struggle with.
After all, just because a retailer promotes an offer as huge savings doesn't mean that's necessarily the case. Amazon and its competitors are guilty of sometimes overselling certain discounts in order to suggest you're getting a better deal than you are in reality.
With millions of households feeling the pinch right, and the rapidly rising cost of living expected to increase even further over the coming months, stretching your money as far as possible is more important than ever. To help with this task, we curate hubs of the best deals we’ve spotted but sometimes you might want to seek out a specific item or search for offers in a niche product category.
In these situations figuring out what is a genuine deal and what is just overblown marketing, can be tricky. That’s where this extremely useful Amazon tool comes in handy. It’s called the CamelCamelCamel and it can be used to track the price history of thousands of the most popular items sold on Amazon.
Just enter the product URL on the Camel website and the site will bring up a chart outlining the item's price history. You can see how often it has gone on sale, its all-time low price and the average cost over a specific period of time. It’s the ideal way to ensure that you’re getting the best deal possible, and not just a few dollars off.
Personally, as someone that tracks deals for a living, it’s a tool that I couldn’t live without. Plus, if you use Chrome, there’s even a browser extension called The Camelizer that makes the whole process even easier. Once installed, you can bring up a price history chart without even needing to leave the Amazon product page.
It should be noted that the tool isn’t flawless. It doesn’t track everything that Amazon sells, and in particular, seems to struggle with items from third-party sellers. It's best used on products being directly sold by Amazon. The price history isn’t always 100% accurate either, but it’s nevertheless an excellent way to get a clearer idea if a deal is actually all it's cracked up to be. We especially find it help during Amazon Prime Day.
Next time you're tempted to make an impulse purchase because Amazon tells you the item on your wishlist has just got a massive limited-time discount, make sure to run the saving through CamelCamelCamel first. You might just find that it's more of a skip than a must-buy offer.
If you’re looking to get even more out of your Amazon shopping experience make sure to check out our list of the Amazon buying tricks that every Prime member should know as well as the best Prime member benefits.
