This isn’t exactly where this belongs so feel free to delete this. I’m mildly infuriated there is no usable alternative to Amazon.com. I’m more than willing to buy products elsewhere, but it’s so easy to default to Amazon. Please help.
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There are people who sell products who are not affiliated with Amazon
Shocking I know
Those are getting harder and harder to find. I’ve had a number of occasions now where I went directly to a brand’s website or even their physical store in an attempt to avoid Amazon, only to receive the product in an Amazon box delivered by an Amazon courier anyway.
The most recent physical store was shoes: I found a size/style that fit well, but wanted a different color. I ordered the preferred color through the in store salesperson, but it was still fulfilled by Amazon.
Yeah. Lots of places may just use the Amazon warehouse side of the business. Especially if they offer products on Amazon.
I take full responsibility for myself. I try to shop independently when possible.
One thing I’ve realized about Amazon, at least lately, is that they don’t always have the lowest prices. For many items, I can go directly to the manufacturer’s site and get the same product for a lower or equal price with free shipping. If I have to wait a couple extra days, so be it. At least I’m not lining Bezos’ pockets.
Google shopping or duckduckgo shopping can usually find it. Or go to amazon and then search the sellers name.
If you cannot afford to shop elsewhere, then I don’t see how it’s reasonable to fault you for that. But if you can justify spending a little less and want to avoid it, then I’m sure you know what I would suggest. Do or do not, a wise man once said.
Are you frustrated that you can’t muster the willpower to avoid shopping there? The website was literally designed to get you addicted to it. The man himself has said as such. There are browser extensions that will block specific url families. I wouldn’t be surprised if entire extensions were designed for that website specifically.
I just wish there was an aggregator that isn’t Walmart or Amazon or Temu. I try really hard to spread my shopping around and actually buy local when I can. It just sucks Amazon is so easy.
Ebay and Aliexpress seem to work just fine. I’ve only once ever ordered something from Amazon.
I’m trying to use Ebay more often but the source is hard to verify.
Amazon sources are equally hard to verify. The only difference is Amazon has a little more customer satisfaction power (by returns to a main warehouse) than ebay (now warehouses but still favors the customer). There’s continuously new ways to get counterfeit product sold on Amazon.
On the subject of returns (Amazon and others) Climate Town just did a video on it, and holy shit. Even knowing the problem the scale is hard to take in.
Does it matter really? If it is not what you ordered send it back
Honestly I’ve been enjoying going to stores in person again. It definitely takes some getting used to after the convenience of online shopping has been a part of my life pretty much since I was in highschool, but I think the change is worth it. I’ll just make a list of things that I need and when the list gets big enough I just make a day of it and just go to a bunch of different stores.
I kinda forgot how satisfying it can be to actually go shopping. I got a couple new pillows and some new bed sheet sets last month and it was so nice being able to feel what I was buying before I actually got it. If I’d gotten the pillows from Amazon I guarantee I’d get something cheap and not find out until they show up that they are awful. And I probably wouldn’t return them and just justify it and convince myself they were better than my old pillows because they are “new.”
My issue with this is that, especially as a foreigner living abroad, I cannot always answer which shop might have the items I’m looking for.
I wish Google Maps allowed searching for shops by their inventory, like it does searching for restaurants by their menu. Even better, an open web protocol like RSS where shop websites can communicate to all crawlers what items are being sold where and which are out of stock, so that it’s not a Google Maps monopoly but an ecosystem…
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But not shipping. And sometimes, that’s the difference.
I’d honestly pay a bit more to buy from better vendors. Price, options, shipping aren’t the things why I end up using Amazon mostly (despite not liking it).
It’s the fact that if I need to return something I just click 2 buttons and no questions asked a guy shows up at my door tomorrow to pick it up and my refund is back in my account by the evening.
If other vendors started doing that without all the caveats and conditions and such, I’d never look back.
Companies pay for free returns by increasing their prices by about 10% to cover the cost of reverse logistics. Most of the items returned in online shopping end up in landfill.
Most of what it worthwhile to buy from Amazon can be found in a physical store or from the manufacturers website. Do a bit of research beforehand and it’s very easy to be confident that you’re not going to need to return what you buy.
Honestly after moving into our current home, we were able to avoid Amazon almost completely. We don’t buy cookware, as carbon steel, cast iron, and stainless steel cookware lasts at least decades if not forever; we have way too many mugs from market and thrift store; and all of our clothes are thrifted with some from Costco.
we get groceries from farmers market, local ethnic stores, or super market. We get shelf stable products like toilet paper or drinks from Costco in bulk. We barely replace our electronic, because I would fix them with spare parts from ifixit and eBay; when it do need to get replaced, I get them from bestbuy or manufacture. We get most of the cleaning products from refil store or supermarket; we would buy soap from farmers market or local supplier.
We would only buy very obscure product from Amazon, like replacement knob for pot lid etc, but they are very very rare. One particular product we unfortunately relied on Amazon is the bamboo electric toothbrush brush head, we are trying to find some local salers that carry that, but cannot find any.
Same here. Sometimes the same/next day shipping can help in an emergency, but otherwise it’s local if possible, or direct from the vendor if not.
Amazon’s shipping has declined and everyone else’s has caught up to the point it’s not much of a difference anymore.
but otherwise it’s local if possible, or direct from the vendor if not.
The problem I find is that local usually means “you’re gonna pay a lot more for the same item you can get shipped for free off Amazon”.
So, who am I benefitting? It’s a horrible consumer dilemma that I hate to be caught up in.
And it’s not even an “Amazon” issue. Our local bike shop, as much as I really do like to support them, sells tires for 2-3x more than what I pay to get them shipped in from an online bike store out of Germany (I’m in Canada!). Supporting local only works when local isn’t trying to screw you over.
its the obscure parts and items that get me going back to Amazon…
You’re on a federated website, but think what we need is more centralized marketplaces?
alternatives would be possible if they wouldn’t be forcibly removed from Amazon from being present in alternatives
Companies like Getir which had attempted expansion were pushed out, meaning they couldn’t even begin to attempt a secondary market similar to Amazon
Turkey and likely other European nations has a lot of competition regarding this,
Getir originates from Turkey, alongside that there is n11, Hepsiburada, Trendyol, idefix, and pttAVM.
Amazon is one issue, but I think the larger enshittification is the proliferation of “marketplace” websites that allow any random imported junk to appeat right alongside quality products with actual manufacturer support.
It isn’t really a good alternative, but Walmart.com has nearly as wide of a selection and the same delivery times.
Not that Walmart is a better company.
Amazon is convenient and two day shipping rules
Barely anything I order comes in 2 days anymore. It’s almost always 3 to 5 days.
I have a Amazon warehouse near me so that probably helps
Same here. Alot of things are even available for same day shipping.
Of course it is, but why does convenience have to be built on exploitation? I would gladly pay higher prices for an ethical alternative.
Then by all means, do so. I’ll keep doing as I do.
Not sure how you interpreted my comment as criticism, but it wasnt. Nevertheless, there is no comparable alternative, so unfortunateIy cant “do so”.
The difference is I don’t feel bad nor care about where I shop. I go where the deals are
Um, sure.
When I want a cheap plastic thingy, or cheap hardware and electronics to play around with, I get it off aliexpress. It’s virtually the same stuff as amazon just for the patient. Most of that stuff is made in China already even if I get it from an online or local brick and mortar retailer, so it seems more direct to me, avoiding needless retransportation, warehousing and waste.
When I want a quality thing I buy it from a local shop, especially when I need to see it or compare before buying. I can often find a Canadian online retailer too with just a bit of sleuthing.
I can often find a Canadian online retailer too with just a bit of sleuthing I’ve tried this a few times and most of them end up just being drop shippers with their own website dedicated to a type of product (and are questionably Canadian), sometimes shipping from whatever country warehouse to me. Any ideas how to tell vs an actual located in Canada shop?
Look at their address and their warehouse, look at the website of the brands of products they sell and find their address. Are they Canadian or are they just a reseller of the same stuff coming from overseas?
This right here! If you are looking at something on amazon go to Ali or Temu.
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I think the point behind made is that the stuff on Amazon is literally the same items. People buy off Alibaba / express and resell on Amazon… With a pretty good markup.
I see way more dropshipping on Amazon than before. It’s gonna end up just being a front for the chineese stores.
I agree, but sometimes you just need some cheap shit. I’d rather pay 2$ for stickers for my kids than the same ones for 9$ on amazon.
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Also, check your local library for “creator” services. Our local libraries have 3d printers you can either use, or have them print stuff for you for dirt cheap. Really, really cool service.
But there is… Walmart.com in the US offers basically the same and often with 2 day shipping and in most cases same easy return.
Every big name store has something similar the issue is that its worse or the same as Amazon, never better.
Probably not aligned with the OP but id like a place that aggregates quality things from all over no cheap sketchy plastic things but also not just common big items that are already in every big box store.
I think he was hoping for something better than Amazon, as opposed to worse.
Probably. But I only recently found out walmart.com is comparable. With fast shipping and random contract drivers.
