Local online retailers are better than they’ve ever been. Takealot and Raru lead the charge with “traditional” store fronts, Bidorbuy is a competent Ebay-esque bidding site and there are a few options if you’d like to buy the type of crafts and sundry that Etsy offers.

But nothing can  come close to the American giant Amazon. The website claims to sell more than four hundred million unique items and makes more than R1.5 million per minute.

Another American mainstay is Black Friday. Held the day after Thanks Giving, the holiday is seen as the start of the Christmas shopping season and sees stores slashing their prices. How deep do the slashes go? Shops open at 4 AM or earlier to let in thousands of people who queue in snow and sleet to get the best deals. People have even been trampled to death by their fellow shoppers.

In response the the tradition of Black Friday, Amazon has countered with what they are calling “Prime Day”.  Named after Amazon’s premium service, Prime Day will apparently have “more deals than Black Friday” and will be offered exclusively to people who are currently Prime members.

If you think you’re out of luck in South Africa and without a Prime membership (which costs $99 or R1234 per year), then we have some good news for you. Amazon graciously gives any user a free thirty-day trial of Prime. Just remember that the trial can only be applied to an account once, and it is set to automatically renew the subscription by default, so be sure to turn it off.

With your Prime membership you still have a few hurdles to jump, though. Shipping will cost quite a bit, will take its time to reach you (especially because it has to go through the post office) and not all items are available for international shipping. That being said, we’ve had many successful purchases with both the US and UK versions of the site.

Prime also offers TV, movie and music streaming, but is not available in South Africa.