Amazon Prime Day’s Absolute Worst Deals of 2023

That’s right, it’s back. Like a great orca running headlong for your tiny vessel, Amazon is ready to slam you with proclamations of “deals, deals, deals.” The only thing Amazon seems to be priming today is my migraine, but that doesn’t mean the online retail giant has savings on all explicitly good products.

Not all these deals are cut from the same cloth. Just as in previous years, Amazon has some truly silly products it’s hoping to sell you on by shaving a few extra dollars off its asking price. As we’ve noted before, Prime Day is effectively a lie. Sites like camelcamelcamel track Amazon prices to show how often they go on sale. Take the 6.8-inch Kindle Paperwhite, on sale today for 36% off at $90. That’s not so different from normal promotions of the device. It regularly goes on sale for below $100, and it was similarly priced during Amazon’s secondary big sale late last year. So the take is: Don’t let FOMO force your buying hand.

This year, more than ever, Amazon is explicitly trying to angle customers toward its own Amazon brands like Amazon Basics. This includes a heaping helping of Amazon Brands clothing to really give you that “basic” look. Even when trawling away from Amazon’s own branded products, you’ll need to navigate through the company’s swathe of ads for sponsored products looking for that one brand of snail mucin serum that costs three dollars less than its usual price.

Oh, and let’s not forget the tens of thousands of Amazon workers who will inevitably be working close to 60 hours in overtime to fulfill customers’ orders. With yet another heat wave striking parts of the Southwest this week, beleaguered Amazon delivery drivers are going to be suffering even more than usual. Perhaps think about them while you trawl the retail site for deals on weird Lego builds and Star Wars characters with holes cut in their heads.

That’s right, it’s back. Like a great orca running headlong for your tiny vessel, Amazon is ready to slam you with proclamations of “deals, deals, deals.” The only thing Amazon seems to be priming today is my migraine, but that doesn’t mean the online retail giant has savings on all explicitly good products.

Not all these deals are cut from the same cloth. Just as in previous years, Amazon has some truly silly products it’s hoping to sell you on by shaving a few extra dollars off its asking price. As we’ve noted before, Prime Day is effectively a lie. Sites like camelcamelcamel track Amazon prices to show how often they go on sale. Take the 6.8-inch Kindle Paperwhite, on sale today for 36% off at $90. That’s not so different from normal promotions of the device. It regularly goes on sale for below $100, and it was similarly priced during Amazon’s secondary big sale late last year. So the take is: Don’t let FOMO force your buying hand.

This year, more than ever, Amazon is explicitly trying to angle customers toward its own Amazon brands like Amazon Basics. This includes a heaping helping of Amazon Brands clothing to really give you that “basic” look. Even when trawling away from Amazon’s own branded products, you’ll need to navigate through the company’s swathe of ads for sponsored products looking for that one brand of snail mucin serum that costs three dollars less than its usual price.

Oh, and let’s not forget the tens of thousands of Amazon workers who will inevitably be working close to 60 hours in overtime to fulfill customers’ orders. With yet another heat wave striking parts of the Southwest this week, beleaguered Amazon delivery drivers are going to be suffering even more than usual. Perhaps think about them while you trawl the retail site for deals on weird Lego builds and Star Wars characters with holes cut in their heads.