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Prime Day was created by Amazon, which has an affiliate relationship with Shop TODAY. Whenever you buy an Amazon product through our site, Amazon pays Shop TODAY a small commission on that sale.

Amazon Prime Day is live right now and we're in the second day (nearly halfway through it): It ends tonight (as far as we know right now). In the sale's remaining hours, you’ll come across massive sales on significant items like TVs and mattresses, as well as noteworthy savings on distinct and lower-priced items like gifts, apparel, simple home electronics and even groceries both on Amazon and at other retailers like Walmart, Target and Wayfair.

SKIP AHEAD Top Prime Day deals right now

In our in-depth look at the history and impact of Prime Day, several experts told us that, as a result of the exponential growth of Prime Day (which started in 2015), other major retailers have begun running their own sales during the sales event. “Quite frankly, it has completely altered the retail calendar,” explained CNBC’s Annie Palmer. Some of those sales are running at Shopping reader favorite retailers like the aforementioned Wayfair, Walmart and Target. Outside of those, retailers large and small are running likewise substantial sales right now to match up against Amazon’s Prime Day sale. Here are some of the most relevant ones to Shopping readers:

In our other coverage of Prime Day sales at Amazon — which includes the best tech deals, best home and kitchen deals, best wellness deals and best style deals — we'll be noting top deals and highlighting comparable savings at other retailers to give you an idea of how each sale holds up against the competition.

Here are the best deals during Prime Day that are live right now. We’ve compiled some of the more general category and brand sales to give you a more coherent sense of what’s on sale. And we'll be posting new articles throughout the day on major categories for which Shopping readers have shown interesting over the last year, starting with a dive into the best deals on tech during Prime Day. If you want to keep things simple, shop the Prime Day sale by category:

These face masks' listed features meet CDC guidelines and expert guidance on face masks.

Product comes with $25 Amazon gift card

Save up to 60 percent on Amazon devices, from TVs to Echo smart assistants and more.

Save up to 30 percent on smart home products, like the Ecovacs N795 robot vacuum and Kasa’s indoor security camera.

Amazon has a plethora of vacuums on sale right now, including upright models, robot vacuums and more.

To get the most out of Amazon Prime Day savings, you’ll want to be an Amazon Prime member, which means shelling out $120 annually for the perks of membership (after a 30-day free trial), which include:

Given options like Walmart’s Prime-like subscription Walmart Plus and online shopping at similar major retailers like Target, Macy’s, Best Buy and Bloomingdale’s, consider where, how and what you shop for to determine if a Prime membership is right for you.

Catch up on the latest from NBC News Shopping guides and recommendations and download the NBC News app for full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak.

Gideon Grudo is the former editorial director of Select on NBC News

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