How Do You Go About Buying Stuff Online While Avoiding Amazon?
How Do You Go About Buying Stuff Online While Avoiding Amazon?
It's been ages since I've really done some deal hunting online with how ubiquitious Amazon is I've realized I'm not up to date with the current ecosystem for finding trustworthy online storefronts. Do you have any sources/tips for finding good quality products (especially with all the AI slop that exists nowadays)?
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I cut out Amazon completely after ordering from them four to five times a week. Heres how I did it:
- Make a list (I use Google Keep) and see if you can get it locally or from thrift stores
(Many people who do buy from Amazon immediately donate it after they're done.)
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If you can't find it used or local, use eBay! They have free shipping, an ethical CEO that doesn't make their employees piss into jars, and they are MUCH cheaper than Amazon 9/10 (not taking into account the prime membership).
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Buy directly from the vendor and look for promo codes if 1 or 2 don't fit your lifestyle.
They have free shipping
... depending on the seller. YMMV, widely.
If you can't find it used or local, use eBay!
About half the time I try that, the seller just buys it from walmart/amazon and has it drop shipped to me. So I'm not sure how much good that does.
How are they making a profit doing that? Unless I sell for very low prices (which I do sometimes) it can be difficult to sell even at market price.
They buy the item for cheaper than they sell it for
I’ve had this too. At least the fees don’t go to Bezos
Free shipping? On eBay? Are you high? Not even local listings have free shipping on that platform. Often they're even abused to make the listing seem really cheap only to find out that they offset that cheapness by very steep shipping costs.
Also their international shipping hub that they make you use has so little care for your purchases that there have been many reports of stuff being broken in that warehouse, despite careful wrapping around the packaging.
Meaning the seller gets screwed out of the money from the sale (because the buyer wants their money back), and the buyer gets screwed out of the product.Not high just someone that uses eBay and has had good results. There's no perfect option in capitalism.
"Approximately 71% of eBay purchases come from listings that offer free shipping."
I've had great results and I chose to share them, what's your suggestion then?
I guess the experience of Ebay in the US is completely different from the experience of Ebay outside the US.
As for alternatives to Amazon, in my country there's bol.com. Shopping local is also a good idea. Don't buy groceries at amazon, but instead in grocery stores.
Then there are thrift stores. It's better to thrift than buy new.
My experience with eBay in the US is also, more often than not, with free shipping. I'm not sure what items you're looking at but there are tons of options with free shipping
Outside the US?
There's barely any product with free shipping. It's also still more the auction site it used to be than a deals site. It's regular people/organisations selling their wares, and they have to pay shipping costs, so they'll charge shipping costs.
In fact, some people inflate the shipping costs, to offset the lower sales price that they set in order to show up higher in the listings.
I see, I misunderstood your comment saying "I guess the experience of Ebay in the US is completely different from the experience of Ebay outside the US." was you saying your experience is from within the US. You didn't specify which one was your experience, nor did the person you replied to. I was thinking your experience was from within the US, and theirs was from outside the US.
Thank you for the insight, that sounds like a great option!
I never considered the experience could be different based on where you buy from. My apologies for any confusion.
I started out a bit high strung, I guess. My apologies for that