Amazon Prime Day 2025 is this week, and with it comes tons of limited-time savings opportunities on essentials for your home, kitchen, closet, and more. One of the event’s main attractions is its Lightning Deals, which are especially short-lived, extra-low-priced discounts with less stock.
Amazon’s Lightning Deals are aptly named — they’re available for a brief window (usually just a few hours) and have limited quantity. Once the timer ends or the deal is 100% claimed, you’ll have to add yourself to the waitlist in case more items become available — we’ve seen it happen.
Below, I’ve broken down how to shop Amazon’s Lightning Deals for Prime Day. Keep tabs on the rest of our event coverage, featuring the best Prime Day deals on products we love.
What is an Amazon Lightning Deal?
Lightning deals are short-lived, limited-stock deals from Amazon. Not only are these deals set on a timer (usually anywhere from two to six hours), but they also end after they’ve been 100% claimed. If you manage to add one to cart, a timer starts during which you must check out, or lose the deal.
If the item runs out of stock before you can snag one, there’s still hope. You can hop on a waitlist afterward to snag the discount in case any shoppers change their minds, though it’s not guaranteed you’ll get one.
How to ‘watch’ a Lightning Deal
To stay on top of deal availability, you can visit the Upcoming Deals section on your desktop or in the free Amazon app (iOS, Android) to view all deals 24 hours before they go live.
Click “Watch this Deal” and you’ll receive push notifications on your phone when a deal is starting. This will be the best way to ensure you successfully grab a deal during the frenzy that is Amazon Prime Day.
What happens if the deal I want is 100% claimed?
The deals can get snatched up pretty quickly, but there’s still hope even if a Lightning Deal has been 100% claimed.
You can click “Join the Waitlist” in order to potentially get the deal anyway. Lightning Deal purchases must be made within 15 minutes of adding an item to your cart. If the purchase isn’t completed within that time frame, then the deal will be made available to the next customer on the wait list. Joining the wait list won’t guarantee you’ll be able to purchase the deal, but it’s certainly worth a shot.
If you want to shop Amazon Prime Day Lightning Deals, remember that you have to be an Amazon Prime member first. You can sign up for a free 30-day trial of Prime here.
Are Amazon’s Lightning Deals worth buying?
Lightning deals are some of the lowest prices we see for items and, therefore, absolutely worth buying.
What kinds of products are Lightning Deals?
Typically, Amazon Lightning Deals run the gamut from cleaning supplies to smart home gear. The product categories you’ll want to keep an eye out for are tech accessories, smart home tech, kitchen tools, and small home appliances. Items like USB-C hubs, indoor security cameras, Echo smart speakers, kitchen scales, and robot vacuums tend to see some of their best all-time prices in the form of lightning deals, but they go very fast.
Do I need to be an Amazon Prime Member to get a Lightning Deal?
Most times of the year, Lighting Deals are free game for Prime members and non-members alike. During Amazon Prime Day and the Prime Early Access Sale, however, they are Prime-member exclusive.
A Prime membership is $139 per year or $15 per month. Along with Amazon Prime Day access, members get tons of other Amazon Prime benefits like two-day and same-day shipping, Prime Video, Prime Music, and much more. If you’d like to sample the offerings before making the commitment, you can try Prime free for 30 days.
When is Amazon Prime Day 2025?
Amazon Prime Day 2025 runs from July 8 to 11. Though the event has historically only lasted 48 hours, this year breaks that streak by stretching for a total of four days.
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