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This article has been updated to provide more information about Amazon’s current small business promotions.

Amazon Prime Membership Day is scheduled to take place from June 21 to 22, 2021, and there will be more offers this year than ever before. Although some of these deals will definitely live up to the hype, it is recommended that you be wary of discounts and promotions in many advertisements. The Wirecutter Deals team will look for real Prime Day offers we picked from Amazon (and other stores that want to take advantage of the Prime Day craze, such as Best Buy, Target, and Walmart), but here some deals and promotions should be avoided from the beginning .

Miscellaneous brands are not bad in themselves, but you should remember that they may not spend money on many things—such as R&D, customer service, and quality control—for low-price sales. Wirecutter senior writer Lauren Dragan pointed out that counterfeit brands may also lack "refund and repair infrastructure", which means "if something goes wrong with your purchase and it exceeds Amazon's 30-day return policy, almost no one can Contact." Lauren added, "and there are no guarantees."

If you just want to buy a set of measuring cups, you may be fine. However, the more moving parts of a product, the higher your risk of wasting money on lower quality. When you consider miscellaneous brands, we especially recommend doing some due diligence on the following three product categories:

"As far as electronic products are concerned, miscellaneous products are basically made by putting together cheap parts directly provided by the manufacturer," said Lauren, who is also a resident headset expert at Wirecutter. For example, a manufacturer may make parts for high-end brand molds such as Sony, but once Sony’s order is fulfilled, the manufacturer can sell cheaper and less durable plastics into the same mold to sell to other brands. Counterfeit parts. The final headset looks just like Sony’s, but may not perform as well as Sony — and, Lauren added, “Unless you click to buy, you’ll never know.”

Wirecutter senior staff writer Tim Heffernan (who wrote our guide to the best air purifiers) found that in addition to providing poor customer service, brand-name purifiers often "exaggerate the size of the room they are large enough to hold," which means you end up You may unintentionally buy less machines than you actually need for your space. He also warned that although the price of a brand-name purifier may be lower than that of a brand-name model (especially on Prime membership day), "the savings are usually small compared to a reputable model"-if your non-brand purifier The purifier may not be worth the trouble. The function of the purifier is not as you hoped.

Now that the CDC has announced that in most environments, wearing masks is optional for fully vaccinated people, we expect there will be a large number of mask transactions during Prime Day-including that we will not recommend them at any price Of inferior masks.

Wirecutter senior writer Joanne Chen wrote our guide to choosing the best cloth masks. She admits that “even bad masks are more protective than no masks.” But if you plan to stock up Please resist the urge to buy inferior masks, because their prices may be lower. "Generally speaking, really bad masks have no bridge of the nose and no adjustable earrings (they should be easily knotted or corded)," Joanne points out. "The terrible mask is also made of fragile fabric, with less than three layers, unless there are two layers with filter bags."

Of course, Amazon has countless brands. So, how do you determine if the product comes from a miscellaneous company or just a company you have never heard of personally? For beginners, please cross-check the product you want to buy on Wirecutter to see if it is our recommended brand (or recommend avoiding it). Another warning provided by Tim: The rougher the brand, the more likely it is to carry "weird and ridiculous names." (For example, scroll down to the bottom of "Tests and Competitors 2019" in the competition section of our air purifier guide, and you'll find that Tim even made an ode to all these weird nicknames.) Lauren also suggested Do a quick online research to confirm whether the company has "a website with contact information [and] an active social presence." Ideally, the latter should show that the company responds promptly and helpfully to customer questions.

Here is what we look for when reviewing retailers and how you can check them yourself.

When is a transaction not a transaction? When the transaction price of a commodity is only a few dollars lower than the normal price, or when the normal price is artificially increased before promotional activities such as Prime Day, and then lowered to make it look like a deal. Wirecutter Deals senior editor Nathan Burrow said, “In many product categories, from kitchen and bedding to fitness and outdoor entertainment, overpriced is a problem.” But it’s also important to remember , Supply issues and shipping delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic will still be a factor in 2021, which may make it more difficult for you to determine whether you have received a discount. To figure this out, Nathan recommends looking at the price of a certain item in the past year: If the price has risen steadily over a period of time, this may mean that the cost is affected by supply and demand, not just the price increase on Prime Day.

If you want to buy the Wirecutter Collection, you can always confirm the street price of the product on our website; for other products, Tim recommends using price tracking tools such as CamelCamelCamel, which "can help readers view Amazon’s price history. And determine whether something that Wirecutter does not cover, or a model that we have not tested or rejected, is really a transaction or not."

Another trading mirage to watch out for: when outdated technology reaches its lowest price. It is very likely that those last-generation models from last year are being discounted because they are taking the path of dinosaurs. This is a phenomenon that we issued warnings about items such as game consoles and older unnamed TVs during the past Prime Days (although we occasionally see the latter category of surprisingly available models). In 2021, Nathan expects to see more "suspicious transactions" on TV; he also recommends being alert to Apple Watch 3 transactions. "At this point," he explained, "you'd better take advantage of the slightly higher selling prices of newer models to better meet the needs of most people, such as the Apple Watch SE."

This is what the Wirecutter Deals team is looking for every day of the week when looking for the best Wirecutter select prices.

As many Wirecutter readers know, we don't believe in the hype surrounding air fryer. Several rounds of tests conducted over the past four years have confirmed to us that the pod-shaped countertop appliances commonly sold as air fryers rely on the same technology in a convection oven, but their performance is rarely comparable to that of a convection oven, resulting in uneven cooking results. (But if you still plan to buy an air fryer, here are the reasons we have listed why air fryer is sometimes the preferred equipment.)

Another impromptu product that we think we should not buy even at a discount? It literally means a pan—especially popular "millennial cookware" such as Always Pan, Caraway's Sauté Pan, and Equal Parts' Essential Pan. As Wirecutter's dedicated writer Elissa Sanci reported in March, our testers have so far found that these pans seem to be durable. Although you may find them alluring because of their soothing, social media-friendly tones, they may not retain their original appearance for long.

Nathan pointed out that in recent years, Amazon has begun to provide "spend more money, save more" promotional activities, usually in the form of "spend 10 dollars for 10 dollars." This year they launched a small business promotion again: if you spend at least $10 in selected small businesses, you will get $10 in points, which can be used on Prime Day. Of course, this type of transaction may only be beneficial if you can truly control the total purchase volume. "If you can keep your spending at $10, or if this is something you intend to buy anyway, then this will be a very good deal," Nathan explained. Promotions like this are designed to get you in. They will be great if you are already a regular customer, but don't change your behavior just to take advantage of them. "

In several product categories, if you can postpone the purchase until after the Prime membership day, you are likely to get an additional discount of approximately 5% to 10%. "The prices of bedding and mattresses at the end of August and early September will be the best prices since Memorial Day," Nathan said. "If you missed the May promotion, if you can wait until the end of the year, outdoor equipment Discounts are also available. Season-for example, the end of August or the beginning of September." Nathan said, if you are considering starting holiday shopping as soon as possible, please note that "Toys will see some Prime Day offers, but if you can wait, they Will see better sales before Christmas," Nathan said, while clothing is a category, despite Amazon’s efforts, it has not really become a must-buy item on Prime Day. However, large appliances are a category of products you might want to buy in July, and July is usually the month when they are most affordable. However, "this year, due to product demand, delays and insufficient sales relative to typical conditions, this is a bad result," Nathan added. One thing to keep in mind: some states offer tax-free shopping weekends in August, so if you plan to buy eligible commodities, the difference in total cost may be worth the wait.

Wirecutter employees make a living looking for the best products and services for our readers. These are the Prime Day discounts that they actually bought themselves.

Here are the best deals on Amazon Prime Day 2021 for Prime Member Day 2, from Apple devices and Vitamix blenders to robotic vacuum cleaners and laptops.

Of all the transactions we have viewed and the very few transactions we have written, these are the most popular among readers.

These are the savings you have been waiting for-everything from robot vacuum cleaners to dog bites is at least 40% off.

Amazon Prime Day is no longer just about Amazon. You can also find great deals from retailers such as Walmart, Target and Best Buy.

Prime Day sales have brought the coveted Apple AirPods to the lowest point in history, but we think you can find a better choice of earbuds.

Rose Maura Lorre writes for the travel section of The New York Times and magazines such as Salon, Esquire, Dwell, Saveur, and Time Out New York. She has also served as a joint venture volleyball coach, bartender, cocktail blogger and restaurant critic for the award-winning St. Louis alternative weekly magazine Riverfront Times. She is in love with your dog.

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