The Battle Royale of Sales and What Influencers Won’t Tell You

It’s a sale week bonanza, y’all! But if you’ve spent the last few days on social media, you probably already know that.

Basically, Amazon Prime Day has fierce competition this year, and we all get to reap the benefits. That day starts today!

I always like sharing great home deals on here to make your bargain hunt a little easier, but I feel like I wouldn’t be a true friend if I didn’t let you in on a little secret… the secret that a lot of influencers and bloggers who link these shopping guides don’t tell you.

Some of the deals in these sales are true bargains, and some of them are downright scams. Retailers like to jack up the original price of something to make it look like you’re getting a deeper discount, and some will even post fake positive reviews to screw their ratings. (Gasp!)

But here are some ways to fight against that:

• CamelCamelCamel: You can use this site to check the current price of items on Amazon to see if they are truly marked down the cheapest and see items’ prices from previous months to make sure you are actually getting a great deal.
• FakeSpot: Just copy/paste the URL for a retail item to see if it passes the test for fake reviews and counterfeits.
• Rakuten: I love this browser extension because I’m able to get cash back on any purchases. (It works ON TOP OF THESE BIG DISCOUNTS!) And for any retailers that don’t offer cash back, the button will alert you if the product is available for a lower price elsewhere. (But a lot of influencers won’t share this tip with followers because the cash back button deactivates affiliate links.)

So now that you’re fully armed with sale shopping knowledge, here are some of my top picks from Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Nordstrom for their big blowout sales. I’ll pop in throughout the 2 days as retailers add more deals to update this post.

(Affiliate links are provided below. Full disclosure here.)

Amazon – Prime Day

(Little tip: If you have the Amazon app, you can watch items for flash sales and set notifications to alert you when a deal goes live.)

Target – Deal Days

(Little tip: Sort by featured on their list of deals and then go to the last few pages to find the items with the deepest discounts. Target likes to hide them and puts their measly 5% markdowns at the front of the pack hoping you won’t notice. Sneaky sneaky.)

Walmart – The Big Save

Nordstrom – Anniversary Sale

(Little tip: If you’re not already a Nordstrom cardmember, this sale will open on July 19th. But if you are a cardmember, you can shop early now. Don’t go opening a credit card to save a buck though… seriously.)