Amazon Prime Day Kicks Off Today

Amazon Prime Day kicks off at midnight Tuesday after the two-day shopping event was delayed from its usual summer date because of COVID-19.

So now it's just a month and half away from the Super Bowl of shopping -- Black Friday -- and 7 On Your Side has been tracking the best buys and busts.

"Just because Amazon puts 3 million things on sale doesn't mean it's a great deal, not everything framed as a deal is a great discount or buy," said Wirecutter deals editor Nathan Burrow.

Burrow scanned thousands of products, listed as Prime Day deals, and says less that 1 percent made their rubric for a great product at the best price historically.

An Instant Pot did however make the cut. It retails for $100, according to the site's price history tracker, Amazon sold it at $72 in February last year. It dropped to $60 in April, and on Prime Day 2019 the pot was $50, half off.

Other retailers may beat Prime Days prices. Shopping guru Andrea Woroch says download a web browser extension like Cently to search for coupons.

"This tool will search for coupon codes," Woroch said. "They will test those codes and apply those ones with the biggest discount and apply that to your order."

Other best bets include small electronics like headphones and speakers and Amazon's family of tech.

"Echo Dot, Kindle Fire, those kinds of products are going to be marked down," Woroch said. "So they are a good deal."

What's not a good bet: popular pandemic products, because supplies are limited and demand high.

"Chromebooks are tough to find in stock, much less on sale," cautions Woroch.

Ditto for dumbbells and other fitness gear. She says you won't save in that category but you can earn free money. That means don't pass up Amazon's deal to spend $10 at Whole Foods and earn $10 for Prime.

Plus there's a new incentive to help small businesses crushed by COVID.

"There is a list of eligible small business and if you shop at those small businesses and spend $10, you get $10 to spend on Prime Day," Burrow said.

And check out two other Prime Day hacks: If you miss out on a lightning deal, add yourself to the wish list. And if someone else doesn't take the item from cart to checkout, you'll get notified to grab it up.

Also, if something is out of stock, click "wait list." That's right under "add to cart" and Amazon will alert you when it becomes available.