Before you buy anything from Amazon use these two websites to decide whether the deal is as good as it looks (AMZN)
- Shopping on Amazon can be complicated thanks to similar product listings and constant sales.
- CamelCamelCamel.com provides free price tracking and price alerts so you can see the lowest possible price on Amazon products.
- Fakespot will scan product listings to make sure the reviews are real and you're not buying counterfeit items.
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Shopping on Amazon can be tricky business, with constantly shifting prices and dozens of product listings that look the same. Even in the midst of major sales like Amazon Prime Day, the sheer number of sales can make it difficult to figure out which products actually provide the best value.
Whether you're looking for bluetooth headphones, new shoes, or garden tools, you'll need to be ready to sift through hundreds of product listings to find the right item, and even then it's hard to guarantee that you're getting the best price.
Read more: These 8 Amazon shopping tricks will help you get the best deals possible on Prime Day
Whenever you're shopping on Amazon, you should consider using these two easy online tools to make sure you're getting the best deal possible.
Use CamelCamelCamel.com to see how much a product has been discounted in the past.
CamelCamelCamel.com is a handy price tracking tool that lets you see how far a product's price has dropped in the past. While hundreds of Amazon items are constantly on sale, their prices often fluctuate over time. Even if something is a few dollars off now, CamelCamelCamel will let you know the item's lowest lifetime price so you can judge the deal before you buy.
For example, I recently saw a Hamilton Beach blender on sale for about 20% off, which isn't bad, but checking CamelCamelCamel showed that the same blender was selling for nearly 50% off just a few weeks earlier.
To save yourself some time, you can install the CamelCamelCamel browser extension to get the price tracking information whenever you visit an Amazon product page. As an added bonus, CamelCamelCamel will let you set price alerts so you'll automatically receive an email when a product hits the price you want.
Fakespot automatically scans product listings to check for counterfeit products and fake reviews.
Fakespot will automatically check product reviews to see if other people have received counterfeit products after ordering. This can be particularly important when checking deals on discounted electronics and clothing, as some sellers might try and ship a non-official product in place of the original.
Fakespot will provide you with common keywords that reviewers used to describe the product, like great, cheap, or quality. The app will also try and determine whether the seller is using fake reviews to boost their rating.
Fakespot also has a browser extension like CamelCamelCamel that will pop up automatically when you visit Amazon and a few other websites, like Best Buy, Walmart, TripAdvisor and Yelp.
While these tools will do most of the work, you'll still have to use your own judgement to make sure you're getting the best deal. Happy shopping!
CamelCamelCamel and Fakespot make it much easier to navigate Amazon's sales, but you'll still need to decide which deals are best for you.