Amazon Prime Day 2020 dates leak: deals slated to start October 13

Prime Day 2020
(Image credit: Amazon)

The long-awaited Prime Day dates have finally been revealed, and you can expect the months-delayed deals marathon to start on Tuesday, October 13.

Amazon has reportedly blacked out vacation days for full-time warehouses workers from October 13 to October 20, according to CNET, which sites multiple sources familar with the matter, and that timing lines up with earlier rumors that said Prime Day deals would happen in early October.

Officially, Amazon hasn't revealed the Prime Day 2020 date, only pointing to a fourth quarter time frame during its latest earnings call. It'll have to announce the date soon, as October 13 is now three weeks away.

Does Prime Day 2020 start Black Friday?

The Prime Day 2020 date has been a long time coming. July is when we typically see the annual Amazon deals event, but the Covid-19 pandemic forced Amazon to delay it to a time when it could run more deals safely.

The second week of October makes a lot of sense for Amazon. It has waited long enough to see shipment times improve on non-essential items across most regions, but not so long that it'll compete with its own early Black Friday 2020 deals.

Essentially, Amazon is starting the Black Friday deals season incredibly early and will get a jumpstart on its rivals. Expect a lot of Prime Day deals counterprogramming from the likes of Walmart in the US, which just launched Walmart Plus to compete with Amazon Prime.

Once Amazon is ready to officially share the Prime Day date with us, we'll have more on what you can expect from this year's deals marathon.

Matt Swider