The Worst Prime Day Deals of October 2024

3 weeks ago 8

It’s Prime Day deja vu. Once again, we’ve returned to the halls of Amazon’s warehouses for the online retail giant’s ultimate deal-a-thon. Now that we get Prime Day twice a year, we’re doubly inundated with awful deals for products we want and slashed prices for junk we certainly do not want.

Here at Gizmodo, we like to remind consumers that you don’t necessarily need to shop on Amazon to get good deals. Hell, you don’t need to shop on Prime Day, either. Best Buy, Walmart, and other big box shops regularly put hot-ticket items on sale around the same time. Not to mention that Black Friday is on the horizon, and we suspect many of the products on sale now will have similar discounts at the tail end of November.

As usual, we find companies inflating the prices of their products to make the deals seem more dramatic. While you may certainly find a few hundred dollars off that phone you’ve wanted all year, we’re here to remind you not to fall for any “exclusive”-seeming deals. Always check price-checking apps and sites like camelcamelcamel for recent pricing history. Remember, if that smartwatch went for cheaper in the past, it would likely hit the same price again.

We have a separate guide for helping you spot a bad Amazon deal yourself, but if you need more advice for Prime Day shopping, you can find it here.

Literally Bake Your Lower Body in This Personal Sauna Blanket

Amazon is chock full of personal health products. On the last prime day, we found an ice tub claiming it was going 90% off (even though, in reality, it was only $20 on sale). The LifePro Sauna Blanket advertises its “Prime Big Deal” is taking it from $200 to $150. What you get is a large sleeping bag with slots for your arms. It even comes with a large thermal wrap to cover your body for extra heating.

It looks like a good option for those who ever wanted to feel like a steamed clam at the bottom of a pot. The $150 price is lower than where the product usually goes. Normal sales prices typically take it to around $170.

And if that’s not enough, there’s even more. This “Personal Sauna” from the company Sunakie may be the most awkward way possible to sweat yourself into better health. The company claims it gets hot in just 10 minutes, and you can still look at your phone thanks to zip-open arm sleeves and a hole in the top for your head.

For When Your Mets Game Seats Get too Chilly

The Mets are finally in the playoffs, and since it’s been a while for some fans, they may not be used to the feeling of chilly stadium seats going into late autumn. You could dress warmly for the weather or grab a heated massage stadium seat that warms your buns and makes you take over an inordinate amount of room on the bench. It supposedly folds up enough to take it around as a backpack, but it’s the most outlandish piece of bleacher tech you may be afraid to stand up to grab a beer.

The seat is $88 now, down from a typical $110. The real question for any potential customers is whether your warm butt is so important you take over two or three seats on the bleachers. You should check if your local sports venue allows you to bring an outside seat warmer.

Reversible Pillows Don’t Get Better with Nicolas Cage’s Face On Them

I know many folks who took part in “Caging” their friend’s room with actor Nicolas Cage’s mug. I also have a lot of experience with “reversible” sequin pillows, and I can tell you straight up that this Nicolas Cage Sequin Pillow Cover certainly isn’t worth it for just $3 off its base $15 price. Those sequins often get stuck in the wrong position, meaning you have to manually fix them and potentially break the strings holding them in place.

Plus, they’re just uncomfortable, not the least, because you’re literally sitting on Cage’s crazed eyes and shining white teeth.

Don’t Buy Prime on Prime

The last time I talked about Prime on Prime Day was in 2023. Since then, the drink company and the brand’s main face, controversial influencer Logan Paul, have been inundated with lawsuits for lagging sales and failing to pay vendors for the ingredients used in the drink.

So, should you jump the gun for a 24-pack of Prime drinks for a mere $18? Not so fast. The product normally goes for just $23, making the savings a mere $5.

Matching Holiday Pajamas Gives Me the Creeps

It’s one thing to buy color-coordinating clothes for your family during the holidays; it’s another to get matching Halloween pajamas sporting a mass of skulls. Listen, if your family is truly the goth band you’ve always wanted, you probably don’t require matching leggings.

Don’t Stick a Compressed Air Cannon Directly at Your Face

The Transwarrior-brand electric compressed air duster claims its fan goes 300,000 RPM with a 300G wind pressure. If that’s true, then why, oh why, does the company’s main image advertising its product include somebody sticking the product directly at their face?

You probably don’t need gale-force winds to blow the dust out of your case, and any compressed air can do the trick. This duster is selling for $60 with an outlandish 91% off a claimed $700 base price. Yes, as you can guess, that’s absolute bullshit. The blower normally sells for around $85.

This Xbox Cover Is Just Straight Up Porn

Amazon is advertising many kinds of console sticker covers for Prime Day, but one that caught my eye, unfortunately, was this Xbox Series S and Xbox One cover. It made me so uncomfortable that I debated censoring the image. It’s a whole $2 off the original price, advertising a “limited-time deal” that seems like the quickest way to ensure anybody visiting your home stops talking to you immediately.

Norton is Still Selling Overpriced Physical Software Keys

I get it. Some older folk still don’t understand that you don’t have to buy physical software keys for security software. However, Norton and its owner, Gen Digital, are still pushing the ridiculous notion that you can get an amazing deal for Norton 360 antivirus for $20. However, as you might expect, the company’s antivirus normally costs an average of $30, not $90. This means the deal may net you $10 off for a pre-paid year-long subscription.

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