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Amazon’s two-day Prime Day event kicks off October 13th

Here comes the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season.

Amazon

We now officially know the dates of this year's Amazon Prime Day. The online retailer will hold its annual shopping event on October 13 and 14. Which means, like last year, the event will take place over the course of 48 hours. Prime Day 2020 kicks off at 12AM PT on Tuesday, October 13th and will end at 11:59PM PT on Wednesday, October 14.

Amazon Prime Day has been happening for several years, so you probably know the drill by now. The annual shopping event not only drives a ton of Amazon sales in a short period of time, but it also prompts people to sign up in droves for Amazon Prime subscription at the $13 monthly or $120 annual rate (that’s after a 30-day free trial). Prime Day deals are only available to active members, so you’ll need to sign up for the service if you want to take advantage of any Prime Day discounts.

As with so many other events over the past six months, the fate of Amazon Prime Day has seemed unclear. Amazon usually holds the shopping event during the summer, but the season came and went and Prime Day didn’t happen. Reports then surfaced of Amazon’s decision to push Prime Day back due in part to the strain that the pandemic placed on its warehouses — customers started to rely heavily on online shopping for essential goods as quarantine orders forced many to stay away from brick-and-mortar stores.

But Amazon is apparently now confident enough in its infrastructure that it’s encouraging the usual flurry of Prime Day orders. Based on this year’s sale dates, it also appears that Amazon wants to position the shopping event as a sort of kick-off to the holiday shopping season.

Yes, we know it's October, but it’s not too early to think about the gifts you need to buy for the holidays. Concerns about shipping delays may persist as we get closer to Black Friday and Cyber Monday due to online shopping being many people’s primary way of buying not only gifts but, well, everything.

Engadget will be covering the entirety of Amazon Prime Day, so check the site during those two days for coverage of the best tech deals that are worth your money (both from Amazon and from its competitors). You can also follow our Engadget Deals Twitter account for real-time deal updates throughout Amazon Prime Day.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.