MILLIONS of shoppers are ready to log on for next week's Amazon Prime Day, and you can bag a bargain if you know how.

Despite it being called Prime Day, this year it's actually being held over a 48-hour period – which hopefully means double the chance to get some goodies.

This year, the much anticipated annual shopping event will take place from midnight on July 12 to 23:59 on July 13.

Andrea Knowles a budgeting expert at vouchers.co.uk, has offered up her seven top tips to help you get the best deals across the two days.

What to do before Prime Day

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It goes without saying that if you don't have an Amazon Prime membership, you won't be able to take part in Prime Day.

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Usually, a membership costs £7.99 a month or £79 a year but Amazon is currently offering customers 30 days free on a trial basis, Andrea said.

And if you're a student, you're in luck, as it's offering six months for free if you sign up ahead of June 12.

After the six months, you can get 50% off, putting the membership price at £3.99 a month.

If you don't want to pay, put a reminder in your calendar to cancel the membership before the free trial period ends.

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Buy a gift card

For shoppers planning on splashing out next week, it could be worth buying a gift card before the big day, Andrea said.

There's a deal on currently which gets you an extra £6 added to the balance when you buy a £60 gift card.

However, Andrea added: "Be aware that this deal is only available to those who haven’t topped up their gift card balance in their Amazon account in the past 36 months."

Set yourself a budget

It's easy to get carried away and spend money on items you don't really need, Andrea said, so make sure you draw up a wish list.

Andrea said: "Ask yourself which items are a 'want' and which are a 'need' and place them in priority order on a piece of paper.

"Beside each item, you should write down your maximum budget for each product so that you avoid any unnecessary spending."

Remember, it's only really a bargain if you wanted the item in the first place – so don't be tempted into splashing out on something just because it's on offer.

Club together

One of the biggest perks of a Prime membership is that you can share the benefits within your household, which includes Prime Day shopping.

That means you can add others who live with you to your account, so you're not each paying for your own Prime membership unnecessarily.

A household is considered to be "up to two adults and four children", according to Amazon.

To get someone else onto your account, Google "Amazon Household".

On Prime Day

Make sure you're really getting a deal

It can be overwhelming being faced with so many offers and products on Prime Day.

Before buying anything, check out the product on the free Amazon price tracker website, camelcamelcamel.

It shows you a price history chart, highlighting when the product has been cheapest – so you can tell if you're really getting a good deal.

Andrea said: "Sometimes, the product has been cheaper on a non-discount day, so it may be worth holding off purchasing."

Which? found that on Black Friday, more than nine out of 10 discounted items were actually the same price or cheaper before the big shopping event.

Look for lightning deals

You might not be aware that Amazon hosts flash sales, also known as Lightning Deals.

During these sales, prices are available at heavily discounted prices – but only for 30 minutes or even less if they sell out quickly.

Check out the "Today’s Deal" page on the site to see if a flash sale is on.

Andrea added: "But keep in mind that products aren’t kept aside for you when they’re in your basket – you must check out for it to be yours."

Go own-brand

Just as own-brand products are often cheaper at the supermarket, so too are Amazon branded goods on its websites.

Thousands of products will be reduced over the two days, but Andrea said the best are always those made by Amazon.

That means you'll get the biggest deals on items like the Amazon Echo and Kindle.

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Andrea said: "If you’ve been after one of its products for a while, then now is the time to buy."

It comes after Amazon Prime struck a deal with Grubhub which will offer Prime members in the US free membership to the food delivery service for a year.

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