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Do you folks use Amazon a lot, and if yes, then why? If no, then what alternatives do you prefer?

I’ll start - I don’t shop a lot, but if I had to buy stuff like hardware parts, I do use Amazon sometimes, but if I can, then I try to use Flipkart. Realizing how it has turned into a monopoly, I try to look for alternative websites, and check if they’re trustworthy.

If I remember correctly, the last three items I’ve bought online were hardware parts from some local websites. The chi-fi IEMs were bought through headphonezone.in, and they were super-fast in delivery - I had to wait for only four days.

oscardejarjayes ,
@oscardejarjayes@hexbear.net avatar

I avoid it basically wherever possible, but sometimes people give me Amazon giftcards.

I don’t buy a huge amount of stuff off the internet, transacting in person is often more convenient. Imo Banggood, Aliexpress, dhgate, taobao, etc. are often some of the best alternatives, because a lot of Amazon is just selling that same stuff, but for more money.

weeeeum ,

I used to use eBay instead but due to a recent incident I feel uncomfortable using it. I bought an item and after there was still no tracking number for a week or two, I contacted the seller. More time passed and they told me to wait again. The next time I just ask for a refund.

They ghost me and I decide to escalate to eBay, they have great protections right? Money back guarantee right? Turns out, if you do not report the item within 30 days of purchasing, you can’t do shit. Ok, I’ll just make a fuss to customer service. EBAY HAS NONE. There is a contact page but it is all automated and won’t apply to my item. Other than that there is no way to contact them. Abosolutely zero. There are no emails, they sometimes have a phone number but it changes and doesn’t even work most of the time. People are even saying yo DM their twitter!

I had a case where an item never arrived from Amazon. I simply contacted their customer service, answered their questions and got a refund within 10 mins.

It feels so shitty that just by trusting the seller for 2 months, I got robbed and there’s nothing I can do. Amazon, you are at least guaranteed to speak to a human and get some help.

And also eBay reviews suck, the seller that scammed me had over 90% feedback, tens of thousands sold items, so I assumed they were legit. All of their negative reviews were the same issue I had and they are still on the platform.

DJDarren ,

We ditched Prime a few months back after they pulled the adverts fuckery with Video. It wasn’t a terribly difficult decision, what with buying less and less from Amazon over the past couple of years.

What it has highlighted though, is how effectively Amazon has fucked our high streets. You want boot laces? Then your options are one chain store or online somewhere and that’s it. Which I guess has made me more mindful of what I’m buying.

averyminya ,

And the chain store is $20 for the laces while on Amazon it is $12.99, and Shien and TikTok it’s $8.99 and Alibaba it’s $4.99-2.49…

D61 ,

Not sure what “a lot” means but there’s some animal veterinary stuff that we buy every 6 weeks or so because… well… shit’s expensive and not always easy to find locally. It winds up being either Amazon or Chewie that has the stuff in stock and at prices (even with shipping) that are manageable with our budget.

Tabitha ,

amazon sent my friend a bottle of animal medicine, which was clearly already opened, with the liquid clearly refilled with a mystery fluid, and filled all the way to the cap.

D61 ,

Most of the stuff is in sealed and tamper evident containers, so at the very least, we’d know something was up before trying to use anything.

etchinghillside ,

Unfortunately the deliveries to the various pickup boxes is critical. I’ve tried looking into general delivery to a post office or to look at specific (eg Home Depot) pickup options with no success.

DaCrazyJamez ,

I use it as one of several sites…there are some things they are still the best / most convenient for. For cheap chinese crap (which is often all I need for small projects etc) temu and aliexpress now undercut amazon considerably. For quality items that are ok to buy used, ebay.

ANYTHING that costco sells will almost always be the best choice, but they have a very limited selection.

So in short, amazon is very much still in play, but as one of many, not the go-to anymore.

foo ,

I’ve been boycotting Amazon (UK) for a few years now. It’s not easy! Sometimes it doesn’t take much longer to source items, but other times it takes way longer. I have limits though, and occasionally I end up caving-in and just using Amazon, but it’s getting rarer all the time. Now I use them once or twice per year. I tried using onbuy for a while, but we got a couple of faulty items from them and their support completely ignored me, so I stopped using them. Generally, here are some of my most common alternatives:

general stuff and gifts: Argos, ebay, etsy
tech: overclockers, ebuyer, scan.co.uk
electronics: John Lewis, AO, Richer Sounds
books/dvds: hive.co.uk, Waterstones, WH Smith
pharma: boots, simpleonlinepharmacy, well
household: Robert Dyas, Dunelm, John Lewis
pets: zooplus
spare parts: buyspares.co.uk

And for a wishlist alternative I use wishlist.com. (edited to fix formatting)

cRazi_man ,

I have successfully almost completely cut Amazon shopping out. We would spend hundred of £s every month and would buy everything off Amazon. But the company is terrible (mistreating workers, avoiding tax, etc etc). They’ve allowed their site to get flooded with (low quality) trash. Reviews are unreliable. Prices are comparable or more expensive to elsewhere. I do still buy from there once in a while for quick delivery and easy returns.

Alternatives:

eBay - sucks for product reviews, but is good if you know what you’re getting (e.g. something branded). Delivery is through the post rather than mistreated delivery drivers needing to piss in bottles. I managed to help a hospice by buying excess stock it had via eBay.

HotUKDeals - a sales sharing website that links through to other small retailers with good bargains. I find stuff here frequently and always search this site first when I want something.

Overall I’m buying a lot less stuff and I’m really happy with that.

wuphysics87 ,

Yes. It’s the only big tech that I use by choice. It’s too damn convinient, and it makese feel guilty that I’m so reliant on it.

frickineh ,

I haven’t used it for personal stuff in years. My employer uses it for office supplies, so I’ve occasionally ordered work stuff, but even that is as little as possible, and only things where it won’t matter if the quality is just so so, because you can’t trust that you’ll get the real thing anymore. Plus, I don’t want to sift through 10k listings of sweatshop garbage to find the thing I’m looking for.

Chozo ,

Amazon is always the first place I check whenever I want to buy anything. I order frequently enough that Prime more than pays for itself every year, and I hate making new accounts on new websites to order anything elsewhere unless it's just not available on Amazon.

I don't like that it's this way, but it's the most cost-effective way of shopping for me.

saigot ,

These days most sites that do direct sales use a service like Shopify that let’s you 1 click enter your info. I’m quite wary of them consolidating power, but they are definitely still better than Amazon today and very convenient.

SeaJ ,

I do a decent amount but it has been less and less. I avoid buying no name stuff that is loaded with fake reviews. If there is something I specifically want and it is cheaper on Amazon, I’ll get it there. Oftentimes it is not cheaper for brand named stuff.

saigot ,

I try my best to avoid it, Although I still end up getting stuff once a month or so. There isn’t just 1 alternative, the fact amazon is a 1 stop shop is kind of the big problem with them. my priorities are: Shop local > shop direct from manufacturer > shop from a specialty store > google the amazon product name > buy amazon.

I actively use audible, there isn’t really any alternatives (spotify’s model for audiobooks is awful, I’m open to other suggestions), it hasn’t enshittified yet, it’s pretty cheap and I don’t feel right pirating something as niche and valuable to me as audible.

I don’t use prime video, even when I have access from getting prime (sometimes it’s cheaper to buy a month of prime than pay for shipping once). The ads on launch are simply unacceptable and I largely would prefer if their studios close so I surf the high seas.

tyrant ,

For audiobooks, Libby is free with a library card. Sometimes you need to wait for a book but its worth the wait.

fart_pickle ,

I used to buy almost everything on Amazon - electronics, books, kitchen/office/cleaning supplies, etc. Back then I was a Prime subscriber so I did not pay for the delivery. As for the delivery, it was blazing fast and the item was always in a mint condition. In case of any issues I was able to sort it out within a day or two. And the price was better than the other online or brick and mortar stores.

However, at some point the quality of the products went downhill. Support became unhelpful and the prices got higher than the competition. One time I had some issues with the order. It never got delivered and the process to get my money back was way too long and too complex. Eventually I have contacted my bank and reported the fraud. Eventually I got my money back. Turned out that such issues were not an anomaly and a lot of people reported shady sellers.

Since then I have unsubscribed from Prime and every time I found something I wanted to buy I’ve checked the seller and if there was a website I bought directly from them.

For past few years I didn’t buy a thing on Amazon.

As for the alternatives, I don’t have a single one. I have several websites I usually buy from but in general I always do some research and buy the product from the seller that has the best price and is trusted enough.

memfree ,
@memfree@lemmy.ml avatar

Cory Doctorow has been calling out this enshittification for years. The whole read is good, but here is a sample chunk:

Amazon’s monopoly (control over buyers) gives it a monopsony (control over sellers), which lets it raise prices everywhere, at Amazon and at every other retailer, even as it drives the companies that supply it into bankruptcy.

Amazon is no longer a place where a scrappy independent seller can find an audience for its products. In order to navigate the minefield Amazon lays for its sellers (who have no choice but to sell there), these indie companies are forced to sell out to gators (aggregators), which are now multi-billion-dollar businesses in their own right:

See also his piece Amazon is a ripoff.

A combination of self-preferencing (upranking Amazon’s own knock-offs), pay-for-placement (Amazon ads), other forms of payola (whether a merchant is paying for Prime), and “junk ads” (that don’t match your search) turn Amazon’s search-ordering into a rigged casino game.

newerAccountWhoDis ,

Don’t use it at all. If I need something I get it from the store

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