Quitting Amazon

I think we all hate amazon for that it is your typical megacorp with too much power and too little moral. So far so obvious. But one must admit that it is sometimes very convenient, as you can simply order a bunch of soykaf and send back what you don't need without paying multiple shipping fees as with multiple seperate retailers. I mainly need this for ordering clothing, I'm living in the middle of nowhere and just getting a pair of jeans that is decent is really hard when the next bigger store is quite a drive away. So I usually end up picking a couple of different ones, order them on amazon and send back everything but the one that fits. But during this process, I more and more notice how much amazon is like kicking dead whales down the beach even beyond the obvious stuff: The webinterface makes my modern PC lag if I have ten or twenty tabs opened, I don't if they mine xmr with javascript or something but I hate it, then there's the prices: One might think that amazon is usually cheaper because they are basically monopolists and can buy at huge quantities, yet they often demand pretty high prices for stuff you can get very cheaply somewhere else. The search of amazon is also utter shiet, how can you make the interface so unusable as such a huge company? Sometimes 90% of the search results are products that are not available, ordering by lowest price does not always order by lowest price (no I do not speak of sponsored placements, just regular products) and the keywording isn't really fitting either in many cases. So, how do I live without this? I'm always low on money and ordering from multiple stores gets expensive fast when you have to pay for shipping. I found that sometimes the producer of the products has the best prices and no shipping cost but they often have only a very limited collection available. Then there's stuff like ebay, but that isn't really better than amazon, is it? I just hate online shopping so much, yet it is still required for me sometimes. What's your experience and personal solutions?

0. Stop being consoymer 1. Move out of soyburbia 2. Find other online stores 3. Shop in stone-and-cement stores

>One might think that amazon is usually cheaper because they are basically monopolists Are people really this clueless about economics?

How often do you buy clothes? If you are fashion obsessed and do it weekly you ain't poor, if you are poor you do it only several times a year which makes traveling to town a nonissue because you can just shop when you are in town anyway.

>>29675 >Move out of soyburbia Hahahahha fuarrrking americans really think the world only consists of city centers and surburbia?

I stopped using Amazon when I was 16 more than a decade ago, stop giving them money, ebay is usually better and even when its not its not worth giving Amazon money.

>>29680 In America there is only those two. The 'rural' area's are just factory towns in all but name. There is only one employer and no civil services 'hospitals, transit, etc.'

>>29683 Are corporate owned town really that plenty in us? Thought was the exception rather than norm. You only hear once in a blue moon about town X being solely one corp which is why council wont do soykaf about their illegal activities as they cant start a war with the entire city.

>>29684 that lain is just playing dumb. There's a lot of variety in places in the US, from dense city centres to suburbs, to smaller cities and towns, and actually rural areas, and the wilderness. There aren't too many 'company towns', but there are a lot of places where individual companies take up a big enough space in the local economy thatthey're pretty free to bully the local governments into doing what they want.

>>29684 >>29685 There are still company towns, but what I was refering to was the fact that most small towns are almost entirely employed by one company holding up the entire local economy. Here's a good video on the topic that goes pretty in detail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rzFyBdKLvU

>>29670 1. quit being a bitch 2. walk to the fuarrrking store 3. buy less soykaf 4. seriously if you're buying literally anything from amazon it's likely you're partaking in consumption of goods and culture. just don't do it lain, I've been toeing the poverty line my entire adult life and I still find ways to both never really use amazon or any big online retailer and afford the things I want in life, and I'm not affording that small, either.

>>29702 Seconded, also /Thread

>>29675 >>29679 >>29702 You never order stuff online?

>>29680 Judging y OP's complains about "living in the middle of nowhere" and shopping on Amazon, it is safe to conclude that he lives in some stereotypical walmartian suburbia with no sidewalks and cardboard sheds instead of housing. Everywhere else in the world there are other options in affordable shopping both online and offline.

>>29704 I buy stuff on ebay sometimes. And books & tech I usually have to order online. But the convenience of physically walking in to the store, shopping around, and being able to hold what you're buying is worth the markup. So you can guess how much a dollar means to me, I can't afford a car.

OP here, I didn't expect this thread to receive as much hate as it did, I guess percentage of new people on this board is constantly rising while possibility of serious discussion is decreasing. Anyways, I'll try to explain: >>29677 Maybe you should have read the whole sentence you were quoting. Of course amazon has no monopoly on online shops, there is still competition and that's why they can't tune up the prices to incredible amounts. They probably are the biggest fish in the pond in essentially every area though and therefore could probably get the best prices for various products. >>29679 Why are you implying so much stuff? Clothes break eventually, and I got to buy new stuff. I had two pairs of pants I can wear on the daily, one now has a big hole and I can only wear the other. I do not have time to drive to the nearest city in the next days (see my reply below) and thus have no other option than shopping online. I would like to stay away from amazon but you are not helping me do that in any way. Your reply is off topic. >>29682 Is ebay really better though or is it just the same soykaf under a different name? My other problem with ebay is that shipping is often absurdly expensive, which is not a problem in many cases when the product price is low but it's still weird. Probably more honest though than "free shipping", where you just pay somewhere else. >>29702 >if you're buying literally anything Where exactly did you read that? >>29705 That is just plain wrong, do you really think you know the whole world? You are absolutely crazy. I live in poland and don't have a car. Riding my bike to the next bigger city with enough shops to find clothing not made for old people or a decent shop for electronics (which there isn't any actually, besides consumer electronics of course) takes 2-3 hours. I then have to spend a couple of hours shopping, and then drive back for another 2-3 hours. You see how that is not really practical if I need something quickly?

>>29707 Yes, ebay really is better once you learn how to use it, its far easier to find esoteric things, quality used goods and decently priced modern but not bleeding edge electronics and about as good for most new goods, consumables and Chinese garbage. I prefer buying used where possible (except for underwear obviously ) and ebay is a godsend for that, got three designer label good quality shirts for less than £20 shipped a few weeks ago when buying the same items retail would be £150+ and they look and feel like new Amazon is the most popular because of its monopoly position and unsustainable delivery service, ebay is actually better and far more ethical IMO, ebay takes a cut of sales but you have far more discretion over where your money goes and to whom, you cam buy from individuals only, charity shops or small businesses by preference etc. and it encourages thinking before buying because of the swapping offers and bidding system for buying stuff. Amazon's return policy is also really awful, it fuarrrks the smaller sellers on the platform really hard and creates a mountain of waste, ebay returns system is much better as the goods usually just get resold if the item is working and the postal cost of return is usually on the buyer wherever the seller is an individual rather than a business

>>29708 Thank you, this is exactly the kind of answer I was hoping for. I agree that buying used is in many cases the best option in every regard, especially with stuff like tools or furniture. Sometimes you can get incredibly cheap prices for stuff that's in top condition, and the seller is still happy about getting a couple of bucks for it. Do you buy your used t-shirts for example from a private seller or is it a specialized retailer on ebay who buys second hand stuff for cheap and sells it for a little more? I think, if ebay does its job as a platform for sellers good there is indeed nothing wrong with it, for the average small business it is probably too much of an investment to get a website, payment system, SEO, and all the stuff you need to get done in order to have a trustworthy online shop that people will actually use.

>>29709 I got the shirts from an individual but I've bought coats and other clothes from some small sellers that are a mix of charity shops with virtual storefronts and people that buy used clothes wholesale and divvy the worthwhile stuff out. You have to spend the time to search for stuff to get the best deals but once you find a pool of good sellers you can save them and just periodically check them when you actually need something. Basically my entire wardrobe is off of ebay and its all really good stuff too, stuff that will last ages, I got a proper goretex hiking coat for £40 for example and multiple pairs of actually good selvedge jeans for about £30 each that are still nice looking and in good condition about five years later. Got my watch from ebay, got my soldering iron, my phone, backpack, most of my books, gloves, actual leather belt that doesn't fall apart in 6 months, European made boots etc. All second hand but basically like new and between 25-75% of the retail cost

>>29670 Almost everything you see on Amazon you can find somewhere else if you search around. Even if it's more expensive elsewhere, it's still worth it because it's not Amazon.

Amazon is by far the easiest botnet axis to stop using. I deleted my account, casually didn't use it for 5 years, until I had to buy some toothpaste that was sold nowhere else and I still barely use it. >>29707 >Clothes Thrift stores, IRL or online. Ross. Walmart.com, Overstock.com >>29708 Yes eBay is sometimes cheaper than Amazon, and you get cool stamps on your packages sometimes.

>>29704 I rarely shop online, maybe once or twice a year when I can't find it anywhere and even then, it's specifically anywhere but amazon. I try local physical stores first, then local retailers with online stores, then big online chains, and if amazon is my only option, I reconsider the validity of my purchase. >>29707 There are two really important words right after that, lain. You missed them, they read "From Amazon." Convenience comes with all manner of hidden fees, I don't recommend it.

Have you considered clothes from a thrift shop? You wont pay shipping and the money won't even go to the clothes companies which often have shady practices. Another option is using a reshipper. Reshippers sometimes can charge less on shipping to your location than who you are buying from. Final option is learn to make your own clothes.

Something I forgot to mention. Instead of sending things back to Amazon it's ethically better you try and cut your losses by selling it. Amazon has been caught just trashing a lot of things sent back to it because they can afford to be wasteful.

re: clothes, also get durable clothes rarely and fix them when they break. Sewing adequately to make something last a little longer is a useful skill, and is anti consoomerist in general. I'd also ask, why not just go to the store once in a while and buy a whole lot of clothes. If you have room to store them, you can just keep them for a long time and use them as you wear through the stash. One trip every couple years to the nearest city with a stop at a decent thrift store isnt too hard to manage, is it ?

>>29708 I have nothing to add to my post from January but I just did the Kon Mari thing over the past two weeks and made over £1k selling stuff on ebay, I can also now see the walls in my spare room again. The ebay chads am winning again

Have you tried etsy? I usually enjoy shopping on that site for clothes.

Just stop. It's not hard. Most of what I order online are books, and I buy directly from the publisher when at-all possible. I also buy books from Barnes & Noble, not because I like it, but because if they have it in-stock I can purchase them with cash; sometimes I'm lazy and have it order books to the store for pickup as well, but that's less common. I had issues buying one book, because I didn't want to make an account with the publisher's website, so I finally had it loaned to my local library, from the state library, and read it that way. It was nice, and free. As for other product categories, I used to buy Japan-only games from Play-Asia, but eBay is probably the better option nowadays. I tried to buy a specific game from some nearby stores that specialize in older games, but after months of nothing I got sick and just paid an acquaintance to buy it on eBay for me, since I long ago deleted the account I had there.

>>34871 I am a Corpo at Amazon, and the following is my opinion only and not a statement from my employer: You'd need to stop using IMDB, because we own that. You'd need to stop using most websites, because https://isitonaws.com/ (Most websites are). You'd need to stop using the internet, because increasingly we own the subsea cables that carry your internet connection. You'd need to stop fapping to Hazbin Hotel, because we own that now too. Our retail business is optimized around product availability, so post-FBA (fulfilled by Amazon) the third party sellers are under a lot of pressure to maintain inventory levels in Amazon warehouses. If something happens in their supply chain and they don't meet an inventory target, mechanisms are in place to route traffic away from those products. That is why it is not uncommon to see pages and pages of out-of-stock~ Those third party sellers may have given up on re-stocking those items, but are essentially domain camping those listing pages. Sometimes sellers re-assign those listings that performed well in the past to new products they want to sell because the past performance metric makes it easier to be found in the future. I get it, the retail experience does have a flea market atmosphere where the customer needs to do some digging. It is like kicking dead whales down the beach and I hope some of the legacy features of our website are modernized to balance customer need for those obvious purchases "I want to buy a playstation" and less obvious, "everything store" retail concept items like "Customer Search: Polyeurathane lobster shower slippers" It will continue to get better. The scale of our operations makes it difficult to get it right 100% of the time.

Total sh!t company. All they sell are cheap knockoffs that fall apart, and decent products 10-20% more expensive than everywhere else. If there's a product I want/need I buy it directly from the manufacterer's site or from a legit business. They've scammed me three times over the years by charging me for Prime membership when I specifically de-clicked Prime membership. Chargebacked every time. Their site UI is really bad. They've ruined book publishing. They've ruined IMDb. They've ruined shipping. They've almost completely ruined the internet. The world is a much worse place because of Amazon. They also store paper coffee filters right next to perfume, so apparently their warehouses are run by morons, too. >>39428 Nerd. We use IMDb frontends.

your gay and amazon is gay in the 90s i could not understand what it even was, cus i dont have enough gay genes