Amazon's Great Indian Festival is running now. Amazon India says the opening was its biggest so far, with the number of products ordered double last year's. Sales like this are a good time to buy something you already planned to buy, and a bad time to be talked into something by a large percentage on a badge.
This guide is about doing the first and avoiding the second.
Start with the price you pay, not the discount
A badge that says "60% off" compares today's price with a list price. The list price is a number the seller sets. It is often a price the product has rarely or never sold at. Two listings at the same selling price can show 30% off and 70% off, and the second one is no better.
So ignore the percentage. Decide what the product is worth to you, look at the selling price, and compare that with what the same product costs elsewhere. We wrote more about this in Is That Deal Actually a Deal?.
Work out the real final price
During the festival the number on the page is rarely what you pay. Before you decide, add up:
- Bank offers. Amazon is advertising a 10% instant discount on SBI debit and credit cards, with terms and conditions. These offers usually have a minimum order value and a maximum discount, so read the offer text on the product page.
- Exchange value, if you are trading in an old phone or appliance.
- No-cost EMI. Amazon says about one in two festival shoppers used EMI this year. Check whether a processing fee applies and whether choosing EMI removes a card discount you would otherwise get.
- Delivery and installation charges on large appliances.
The cheapest listing before offers is not always the cheapest after them.
How a bank-offer cap changes the maths
A "10% instant discount" almost always has two limits: a minimum order value, and a maximum discount per card. The maximum is the one that catches people out, because past a certain order size the offer stops growing.
Here is how it works with made-up numbers. Suppose an offer is 10% off, up to a maximum of ₹1,500. These are example figures to show the pattern, not Amazon's actual terms.
Above the point where 10% equals the cap, every extra rupee you spend gets no discount at all. On a large purchase, a "10% off" offer can be worth two or three percent.
So before you treat a bank offer as part of the price, find the actual cap. It is in the offer details on the product page, and it can differ between debit cards, credit cards and EMI, and between product categories.
Do not buy in a hurry
Countdown timers and "only 2 left" messages are there to rush you. If you were not planning to buy something before the sale, the sale has not changed whether you need it.
See what other buyers chose
If you want a starting point, our most popular products page lists the products the most buyers have rated in each category, all rated four stars or higher. It is ranked by number of buyers, which tells you what many people settled on. It does not tell you what is best for you.
We do not test products, and we have not checked any festival price ourselves. The store's page is the authority on what you will be charged.
