Don’t forget to sign up for Amazon Prime before the waves of deals begin on Monday 15 July

(Image credit: Amazon)

Now established as the ‘other’ big online sales event of the year, Amazon Prime day is almost here. It represents a well-timed Summer opportunity to knock some things off your wishlist and take advantage of some of the Amazon Prime Day deals which will almost certainly appear. It’s only beaten by Black Friday in terms of serious price crashes so it pays to be prepared for anything that might pop up and takes your fancy—as well as those pre-identified items you’re after.

However, you can’t get any of the hopefully-excellent Amazon Prime Day PC deals if you’re not an Amazon Prime member. This is the membership that gives you next day delivery and access to the retail behemoth’s TV service, among other things. Just having a regular Amazon membership will not be enough to take advantage of this event.

On top of the Amazon Prime Day PC deals, there are also some other features and benefits to getting involved this year. There’s a prime Day Concert featuring Taylor Swift performing live and exclusively for Prime members. And there’s also some live gaming events on Twitch where you can watch teams of celebrities battle against each other in games like Apex Legends, only viewable for Prime members.

In great news, as of today, for UK Amazonians there’s currently money off the annual subscription fee. You can get £20 off right now, reducing the overall cost to just £59 for the year. Also, wherever you are, you might be eligible for a free 30-day trial, so it's worth clicking around a bit to see if that’s available.

If you’re brand new to the world of shopping at Amazon then you’ll need to head over to their sign up page: here for US shoppers; and here for UK shoppers. Amazon is truly a very useful online shop for PC gamers, and on Prime day is a great destination for getting any or all of those 7 essential PC upgrades you've maybe been delaying, or those expensive items you’ve been saving up for. It's also a great opportunity to nab some early items for loved ones as part of some (very) early Christmas shopping—like I’ll be (I know it’s only July).

We are well used to the whole Prime Day event now so can extend some useful advice on the whole show, and although PC gamers are some of the most discerning shoppers for parts, we recommend taking a look at how to avoid a gaming rip-off just to make sure you’re as prepared as can be.

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