1y ago

The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last | If shopping on the site feels different now, that’s because it is

www.theatlantic.com The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last

If shopping on the site feels different now, that’s because it is.

The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last | If shopping on the site feels different now, that’s because it is::If shopping on the site feels different now, that’s because it is.

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47 comments

I'm just glad I just avoid Amazon entirely.
- Same. It’s changed like 10 years ago I would say. It was always a safer bet than eBay, but it’s sort of swung back. I use eBay more now .
- What are the alternatives you’re using?
  I cancelled prime years ago but still struggle to find a decent replacement.
  I mean, books alone are tough with AMZ often being 30% cheaper than most online retailers. In that case, I sometimes go to eBay to get a used book (if it’s not a new release).
  This past week though, I bought some athletic wear, waterproofing wax, a heat gun, and picture frames. Without prime, everything was delivered within three days. For free.
  
  I use Amazon for research and then purchase the product for about $5-$10 more on other websites, ideally the company selling on a Amazon has their own website. I’d rather pay a little more than give a dime to Jeff Bezos.
  
  Gotcha. I was hoping there were better market places but this works too. I’ve found sometimes that items are less on a seller’s site if it’s not something too generic. Shopping can add up though if you don’t hit their minimum.
  
  It depends on what you're buying - I don't buy (commodity) books much anymore so can't comment on those. What I can say is for "random tat" that I don't need quickly, Temu is an unabashedly "cheap chinese stuff" that is often the same as the Amazon version, but usually a lot cheaper. I'm assuming they charge less fees to the sellers. They deliver in under 2 weeks. AliExpress has now started offering the same service. Downside is there's not really returns - or at least I've never wanted to deal with the hassle. However, for most stuff under $10, I wasn't going to return to Amazon either.
  For "Brand Name Stuff" I kind of go to ebay and/or the specific retailer like Best Buy or B&H or the manufacturers site. They seem far less likely now to have counterfits because with e-bay the actual seller is tied to the specific product where Amazon isn't, and the other stores don't want counterfeits and have a more controlled supply chain.
  For stuff like spices or the like, ebay or Walmart.com seems reasonably good. Walmart also has a lot of random sellers, but as far as I can tell, they don't do the binning Amazon does, if you buy from Walmart it's from them, if you buy from a third party, it ships from that third party.

47 comments