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.
I use bookshop.org for books, some of the profits go to Indy bookshops.
Otherwise I use Amazon like a search provider, find the item I like then go straight to retailer or manufacturers website.
I really hate to admit it, but I do use amazon quite a bit. It’s not “like me” to use a company or service I despise, despite the truth of “no ethical consumption under capitalism,” some businesses are just so evil that I feel it is wrong to support them in any way, even at the cost of convenience.
Here’s the situation though. I rely on foodstamp benefits to be able to afford food. Amazon allows me to buy food in bulk online with my ebt card. I also have a disability that makes it prohibitively difficult to go to the grocery store as often as I would need to, and bulk buying online also stretches the benefits I get much further than regular grocery visits. Walmart and Target also now allow ebt cards for online food shopping, but they didn’t used to, and they are evil as well!
I rationalize using amazon by telling myself that since mostly the only thing I get from them is food via ebt card, then it’s really just money going straight from my state government to amazon, and my state government (just like most others) gives amazon free money anyway, so I may as well get something out of their capitalist sweetheart deal too.
So for me, for larger things, i use Amazon to find which products i want and i hunt down the website of the store that makes it. For small stuff, or things that may be from a smaller site, or over seas i order on Amazon. I am sure the smaller sites need the boost even more, but Amazon gives me the extra layer of guarantee of satisfaction.
Same. It’s nice to have a way to quickly look through a bunch of options (even if 95% of them are shitty Chinese counterfeits). I’ll even look through the reviews and see if anything glaring jumps out. But I haven’t been a prime member since they put ads in prime video and haven’t really missed it.
I avoid Amazon. Deleted my account years ago. They treat their workers like shit, don’t pay their taxes, extract wealth and send it overseas, pollute like there’s no tomorrow, but most importantly, Jeff Bezos is not a nice man.
My shopping happens mostly online, at farmers markets and local stores.
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.
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.
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.
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.
For people in Germany or Austria, Geizhals is great. It shows you the cheapest seller for every product and has a ton of information for each product that you can filter by.
Also, there is this (German) collection of online shops sorted by categories.
I do for many things. It’s just convenient and their logistics muscle at this point is wild.
That said, I will go to first party online stores for things like hardware most times. It’s often just cheaper and delivery is about the same.
An interesting observation: Back when I lived somewhere else there was a local alternative, because it was a country far enough out of the way that Amazon didn’t directly support it, and it’s interesting that the local alternative wasn’t meaningfully worse at the logistics or availability. Amazon’s existence does, in fact, heavily suppress competition. You don’t need to be as big as they are to do what they do, it’s just impossible to do it if they’re already there.
Not for about 3 years now.
I took a stand against their horrible practices and frequently pay more for goods I could find there cheaper, plus arrive faster.
Just a bit. I live in Slovakia and we don’t have Amazon. However, I sometimes use UK Amazon to import DVDs. But BluRays are usually cheap too. Especially if you get them used.
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I actively avoid Amazon, however there’s a brand I really like that only sells through Amazon in my country, so I’ve used it a couple of times when I have no other choice.
I also have an audible account from before it was acquired by Amazon, idk if that counts, but I stopped paying for it over a decade ago
If you keep picking a single replacement for the big corporation that conveniently carries everything, you’re just following Southpark’s wal-mart pattern. Take two extra seconds and see if you can buy the product directly from the manufacturer’s website, some other niche/specialty retail site, or from a brick & mortar store down the street.
I normally try to find a niche site in my country specialising in the thing I’m trying to buy (like OP said in the last paragraph)
I use Mercado Libre because in my country we no longer have easy access to dollars to buy in Amazon and they don’t accept our currency (I’m Venezuelan)
