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Nah. Amazon is quicker, no shipping fees, solid return policy and I don’t need to break out the credit card and play challenge puzzles with my bank to use it online. I’ll do my best to support local retailers on foot, but if I’m ordering online, I want quick and reliable. Sadly, that’s Amazon for now.
It kinda amazes me, some households can avoid using amazon forever, and other household have to make orders there like their life depends on it.
How can it be some people dont need to use the service, while others find it essential? Lifestyle cant be the only reason?
Convenience and variety. But mostly convenience.
Well, your comment and others ive read this morning have left me with some understanding, an understanding I already knew.
USians will never general strike or fight monopolies, their comfort under the little “free shipping” is just, too damn sacred.
The littlest bit of discomfort, it pangs yall so. everyone will bitch about bezos penis rocket, so many, wont put thier money where there mouth is.
whatever. enjoy your convenience.
And you enjoy whatever it is you’re doing. I don’t give a single dimpled shit what you think, fuckface.
absolutely delightful
Oh you are paying the shipping fee. It’s only factored into the item price. That’s why sometime you can’t simply buy one item but at least two or five. They won’t send you just one.
That’s not how it works for me. I don’t have to buy multiple items to qualify for free shipping and often times the prices are comparable,if not cheaper, than the actual retailer offers on their site.
Sorry, I was not clear. I have prime and almost everything has free shipping no matter how many items you buy.
What I mean is that, for smaller/cheapier items, they won’t sell you just one, because you will immediately see you ARE paying the shipment. So they sell you “sets” of something and factor the shipping cost in, so that if you calculate how much is for each item, the shipment fee is spread out and become acceptable for you.
Many websites offer you free shipping above some order value, but you wouldn’t shop on those sites so often and you wouldn’t consider to buy something small because you are paying and shown the shipping fee. Amazon doesn’t want you to wait too much between orders and doesn’t want you to go somewhere else for smaller items but also doesn’t want to pay for your shipment.
So in the end, we are paying for the shipment and also locking ourselves behind a monopoly just because it is convenient (at least I am, and I hate it)
My family mostly boycotted Amazon after their pullback from diversity initiatives, amongst other things (anti-union behavior). We spend 80% less than we used to. The drop is probably even bigger than that because we had a kid just before we started boycotting and so our spending increased significantly. We will buy from Amazon if we have no other options, but 80% of the time there are plenty of other options and often they are cheaper.
Amazon has Toddleroo products, but you can also buy them direct from the manufacturer at northstatesind.com and with the WELCOME10 coupon code it’s actually cheaper than Amazon, and you can use it more than once.
We also switched to shopping a ton more from Costco. Some products automatically get free shipping, like diaper genie refills. Costco didn’t back down from diversity initiatives so I basically said Take My Money (we already were avid Costco Warehouse shoppers).
The biggest challenge is shipping costs. I either have to order enough to meet the manufacturer’s minimum to get free shipping, or eat the shipping cost. That being said, Prime is like $180 a year? Even if I pay for shipping I think I am still saving money.
you guys actually use the diaper genie? Nearly every parent ive met abandoned that thing after a short time. Maybe theyve gotten better in the last ten years, but its a glorified and baby taxed trash can
good for you all though. thanks for taking a stand for something!
Yep. We had one break (the plastic tab that locks it is so thin and brittle), and used a normal trash cash after that for a while and the diaper smell was much more noticeable. Both were “buy nothing” finds. The second one is still going strong (I wrapped duct tape around the plastic tab which may have helped).
I like to joke that they make the most disgusting sausages in the world.
Is there a browser extension that does this automatically? There should be.
Came here to say this. Let Amazon provide the search and reviews. We can use that but spend our money elsewhere.
At the most basic level could get the store name via the current Amazon page and then open a new tab with a search.
But ideally it would actually provide a like to their own web store. Not sure how that part would work technically.
and reviews.
Not really any more. Unless you mean 3 reviews and totally-for-realsies-trustworthy AI slop summary.
Think this is as close as we got so far. Usual precautions of new random companies on the internet and installing their addons applies.
Apparently you attract more flies with vinegar than than honey
I havent touched amazon in 10 years and I cringe at how much friends and family still use it. Fueling our fascist billionaire fire ever more because they’re too ignorant to use their brains and not buy from a psychopath. Other people are the downfall of the world 🙃
Yeah, but having to do that for a dozen stores and than having to cancel a dozen mailing lists is a pain in the ass. Entering in card information each time so it’s not stored…
Convenience is worth the cost sometimes.
When the planet is on fire and you’re starving to death just remember the convenience you once had
You understand that those dozen companies are going to be far less efficient and cause more harm to the environment… yeah…? They are also probably using amazons servers for the service, and adding onto it.
So… you’re barking up the completely wrong tree here mate. Using those dozen companies would actually cause more harm than a singular more efficient identity.
A dozen payment transactions is far worse than one as well. So yeah, I’m actually thinking about the potential harm, are you?
Or you find it on aliexpress for 90% off!
Allow four to six weeks to forget about delivery
Nah, its been good lately. Some stuff I ordered shows up before the Amazon stuff…like Amazon said a week but then shipping delays and nonsense and seller excuses. And Ali has been 1 to 1.5 weeks for things I ordered.
I thought i was ordering a product directly from a company and avoiding Amazon. The thing was delivered in an Amazon package
Yep. That’s “FBA”, Fulfillment by Amazon.
There’s no way for a consumer to avoid that if the seller opts in. But do tell the seller why you won’t buy from them again when this happens!
Here in a week fba will be much much much much much much much much much cheaper for small sellers.
I’m at the point I wish yall would understand how bad shipping has gotten. Like, it’s bad and it’s about to double in how bad it is.
3a it shows up in an Amazon box delivered by an Amazon truck.
This is the worst. Return it and email them that you like supporting small businesses and avoid Amazon. They may tell you to pound sand, but if they hear it from more of us it may (probably not) change things.
Or you go to their site and they just direct you to Amazon – and not because they’re lazy, to sell on Amazon you need to agree that you won’t offer the product cheaper than Amazon anywhere else, including on your own site.
And, that’s even assuming you can go to the manufacturer’s site. Often instead you’ll just get a facebook page, or maybe not even that.
Pro tip for manufacturers: sell a slightly different model number with more features on your own site if possible…
Or bundle one of them with something extra, so it’s not technically the same product and not subject to the price restrictions…
Yes, I’m sure you’ve outsmarted the multi-billion dollar Amazon with these hacks.
Not so much outsmarting as avoiding their wrath: like avoiding the eye of saurons gaze
What makes you believe these tricks, which took you 2-3 seconds to come up with, aren’t well known and already not permitted by Amazon?
Why wouldnt they be?
Because Amazon is known for not allowing that kind of thing, and has probably invested more than 2-3 seconds thinking of possible work-arounds.
I hate when I go to a manufacturers site and navigate to “products,” filter the list and find what I want, and on the product page it gives a description, no “add to cart” button but a “buy on amazon” button.
Like. FFUUUUCCCKKKKKKK.
[image of a computer leaving a broken window of a high-rise building]
Yeah. Especially if it’s a very specific version of a product you want, and they just link to their “amazon store”, which has terrible search filters, or doesn’t have that model available.
It’s not just that they give a big cut of their sales to Amazon, it’s that often the manufacturer puts a lot of effort into having different versions of their product with different features. But, then it’s dumped on Amazon. Amazon’s search is “helpful” and gives you similar products and then uses their “recommended” ranking to put products they make more money from at the top.
Yall don’t even try. Make up all the excuses you want. I see how little the majority give a fuck about giving money to bezos or whoever if a product of consumption is right there within your grasp.
If I didn’t try, how would I know that many manufacturers only have Amazon stores?
Or that even if you order directly from their site, the order is still fulfilled by Amazon. My partner actually don’t try any more because we’ve recently given up after trying for too long, paying more, and still ending up giving money to Amazon.
Don’t fucking blame us for billionaires rigging the system.
What the hell you talking about? The person you’re responding to is correctly pointing out that Amazon has some awfully anti-competition rules and a lot of their sellers can not legally sell for less than they do on Amazon, even though Amazon gets a cut. No one is “making excuses,” and no one is happy about it, it’s just a reality.
Same thing happens on ebay
To be fair, I have found some really cool products on Amazon, but then there is no website for the company and it’s all through Amazon exclusively. I tend to avoid those “shops” no matter how cool it is. Thankfully there aren’t many like that. I think I ran across only 3 so far.
Honestly I’ve mostly been finding items cheaper on Amazon either because you’d have to pay for shipping on it, or because they just entirely neglect their website since nobody uses it.
Also that only really applies to “real” brands, not the gibberish named brands. Those companies only exist to use Amazons brand registry for better SEO and probably don’t even have a website. AINOPE is not a “real” company, they just slap their name on whitelabel products. Of course the first random one I picked does have one, but it is more expensive than amazon.
At least with AINOPE or GJHUIRAJ or MBHJOILJRE you can go to Ali Express and get it more directly from China, often for half the price.
I tried Aliexpress before, and they blocked my account for no reason and their support wanted a ton of my banking information then never resolved the problem
That sucks. I’ve never had any issues. Are you sure you weren’t scammed? Being asked for banking information seems very odd.
Yes, you can also see on Reddit that it’s a common occurrence
Yeah but you’re almost definitely not getting that within the 2-8 days the OP quotes, compare that to being able to get shit within hours in some cases through Amazon and it’s curtains
Unless you don’t need your curtains right away and wouldn’t mind waiting a few extra days/weeks to get them much cheaper.
2-8 days? Is it being delivered by sloth?
Have issue with product. Return process is abysmal and chargeable. End up wishing you bought from Amazon.
Would you let your fellow man suffer and the earth be trashed, just for the convience of a return policy?
Not saying you are one of these people at all, but there are folks out there who for example, will buy 3 pairs of the same shoes, try them on at home, and then return the other two. For those I say, just go to the store. This is over consumption. The energy needed to move all this product has consquences… from labor and energy resources ,human health, and planet health.
I find it quite selfish and lame to use the excuse, “but its convienent!”
I understand its difficult for certain electronics, but, for most things, if you can look physically at the item before buying it, the chance youll need to return it go down because you can judge the quality before buying it.
I don’t know about you, but stores have realized this and simply don’t stock a lot of things any longer. I had it recently with a shirt brand I enjoyed, wanted to go to the store to buy it and check the size, and they indicated they only ship online now. So you buy through them, have to get various sizes and if you return you pay a restocking fee. Or you go through Amazon, buy the same shirt, overnight delivery and free returns.
Maybe it’s selfish, but it’s not any more efficient to drive to somewhere, to get told to buy it online, to buy online and have to ship or physically return to somewhere.
Mass online marketplaces are just advertizing companies that get commissions instead of upfront payments that people mistake for an actual store.
Ah yes. Amazon is basically a drop shipper with reviews and stateside warehouses and their reviews are worthless. They weren’t, but they are now.
I’m not sure how you justify the cost.
I’m not sure how you justify the cost
Popularity probably… It’s a way for smaller companies to be found if I were to guess…
I half feel they are the real product.
If you can find a unique product or part number for the product, searching that will often bring up a short list of sites that sell that exact product.
I haven’t bought a single thing off Amazon in over ten years, since they pissed me off. I don’t even comparison shop Amazon to see whether I’m paying more, that’s how much I hate them. I’ll pay more to not use Amazon. Also, nothing I’m buying online is something I can’t do without, and sometimes I just don’t buy it--shocking, I know.
Try to not use google in the process too.
Hang on now. I’m shopping on the Internet because I don’t know how to buy stuff in real life.
How am I supposed to not use Google?
Go into your browser settings and pick a search engine thats not google
Im currently using DuckDuckGo No ai
I used Ecosia for years up until recently. everyone has a preference, but there are plenty of other options.
Duck uses Bing, so not really that much better.
Largely Bing, but not solely
https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/sources
Doesn’t DDG literally just feed it through Bing instead?
And Google is able to harvest your information in a million other ways, literally from you simply going to a website.
Well IDK, I tried Bing directly a few times and it would just grab one of the keywords in the query and then completely ignore the others. Unless it’s a conspiracy of the big DuckDuckGo with Macroslop…
So far my experience with DDG is it’s not exactly great at searching either.
I know how to buy stuff in real life. I’m in the middle of nowhere and there is very little here to buy in real life. If I really need the mouse skids I just ordered yesterday, Amazon it is!
Sadly, I can spend hours searching for a company that sells mouse skids only to find they are available through Ali and requires a 4 to 6 week shipping and will cost $2 for 60 plus an extra $15US vs $5 per 60 with free shipping on Amazon in 5 days.
I can hate Amazon all you want me to, but the reality of cost and shipping times sets in pretty quickly.
I didnt know what a mouse skid was, but I searched it and found this right away, at the top https://www.newegg.com/p/173-00GN-00042
I dont know if newegg is reputable or not, but this seems cheap, and has free shipping.
In my life, Im okay spending $1-$5 more for a product if it avoids the monopolized markets.
Newegg used to be a good deal
I stopped using the years ago when they gave their sales data to state governments to extort sales tax years after the sale.
yeah, I assumed there was some bullshit
