ROCHESTER, N.Y. – It is consumerism at its finest, Amazon Prime Day. And while there are thousands of items on sale, you need to know if it’s a deal or a dud.

In my last Consumer Alert on Monday, I told you about two tools that are essential on Prime Day, Keepa and CamelCamelCamel. Both are browser extensions that give you the price history of every Amazon product so you know whether to buy or wait. After all, things like TVs and toys are discounted more deeply before Christmas.

But you’ll find some of the best deals of the year on electronics. For example, the Blink Five Camera System is on sale now for $160. The regular price is allegedly $400. But never trust what you are told is the regular price. Instead, check the price history.

I copied and pasted the URL into the search engine of CamelCamelCamel. It displayed a graph that the highest price the Blink system sold for is $400 on Amazon. But in late June, Amazon sold the system for $200. Still, $160 is a great price because the CamelCamellCamel price tracker shows me that over the last 18 months, the price has never been that low.

By contrast, I found the Step 2 Best Chef’s Kid’s Kitchen Playset on sale for $85.50. Amazon says it’s 22% off and the list price is $110. But is this a good price? Let’s check out CamelCamelCamel. Its graph shows the price history since October 2016. And the graph indicates the item rarely sold for $110 on Amazon. In fact, since October of 2021, the most frequent price has been $90, just $3.50 less than the so-called sale price.

When I searched for the playset in Google Shopping, I found it selling new for $85 on the company website, Step 2. It sells for $90 at Walmart and $88 at Wayfair. So, is $85.50 during Amazon’s Prime Day sale a great deal? No. If your little one wants this for Christmas, you should wait for the winter sales for deeper discounts.

It’s important to note that I did find that kitchen playset for $55 and $58 on two other websites, but they were not websites I knew or trusted. So, I wouldn’t recommend them.

If you have an idea for a consumer investigation, email us at consumer@whec.com.