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)?
You could use Amazon as kind of a browser or search and then go directly to the brand’s web site. Any particular thing you’re looking for?
This is what I do. I sleep better at night knowing I costing them a few cents by only using them as a search engine.
You don’t cost them. You benefit them by giving them all the knowlege about what you want, how you search for it, what details are the most interesting for you etc.
Yep, this. Net positive for Amazon and you don’t even need to give them any of your money. Still better than giving them your money on top of it though, I imagine
While also being bombarded by ads by Amazon on their own website, so they even profit off of you. Or did you think those “Promoted” items in the search listings didn’t bring money into Bezos’ coffers?
I have a friend who’s high up at Amazon. He said they don’t actually do anything with the data since the algorithm already just puts ads based on what you’re searching. They don’t sell the data or process it in any way
puts ads based on what you’re searching.
they don’t actually […] process it in any way
Well, this is processing the data, isn’t it?
Back in the days, some decades ago when Amazon “invented” the tracking and processing of every single mouse click in their online shop, it was big news in the IT world. First from a technical point of view, because it needed some serious computing power on their end, and it used up some bandwidth on the user’s end, which was much more limited at that time than today. And from a data privacy point of view, because it was a huge step towards this world of total surveillance, constantly ongoing manipulation, behaviour based advertisement, George Orwell etc.
Today we have gotten used to all that, even so much that such extreme statements have become possible, somewhat…
they don’t actually do anything with the data
Your previous comment said you’re still doing them a favor by searching even if you don’t buy. If all they do is put ads on their site for your searches, then no, you’re not doing them any favors by just searching. If they were selling your data or processing it to use in other ways like market research or investments, then sure. Amazon only needs like four percent of their staff to run the site and push suggested purchases, there’s not a lot to it. Processing data is a very different beast when it comes to research and investments.
If all they do is put ads on their site for your searches
I think we should not believe it in a literal way. I guess this was simply the only kind of processing that this guy and/or his source knows and found worth mentioning.
Showrooming Amazon. How Ironic. I love it!
In a few cases I saved over 10% by going straight to the manufacturer. Shipping was slower but rarely do I need stuff next day.
This has also saved me on more than one occasion as I’ve tried to find the same “brand” of something I was going to buy on another site, only to find it was actually an Amazon product they were trying to push. Dodged that bullet for sure
I personally look to see if the company has their own storefront. And sometimes it pays off in unexpected ways.
For example I was in the market for a soldering iron. I found a solid Hakko one on Amazon, but I decided to check their site first and, lo and behold, they had the exact same one for sale for the exact same price. BUT I could choose what color I wanted; Amazon only had the standard blue/yellow, whereas they had two other color choices.
On top of that they included an extra goodie of my choosing, which I chose their coffee mug (I forget the other options).So because I took the extra time to look around, I was able to get one in a color I preferred, got an extra item out of it, and cut out the unnecessary middle man. Win-win-win as they say.
Sometimes, though, it’s just not possible. I was in the market for a triple monitor stand as I use a unique configuration (ultrawide as my main, with two regular widescreens side-by-side above it). The only viable stand I found was available either through Amazon or Walmart. They did not sell directly from their site. So I had to choose which devil I wanted to support.
From what I heard it is the same price because amazon doesn’t allow them to sell cheaper anywhere else.
It especially kills me when the vendor DOES have their own website, and it looks like they have their own store. You go to buy it and it redirects you to their Amazon page.
Buy directly from the seller. Due to most people using Amazon the past decade, created a modern shipping infrastructure. Everyone has similar shipping pricing and timeframes. Amazon doesn’t provide anything special now. Other big box store just use their stores as shipping hubs like edge computing. There’s a lot of same day delivery.
The seller usually charges more on their own site. I think Amazon gives them incentives to sell on Amazon.
A lot of that is also Amazon, but an individual can only do so much
When Amazon started it was next day delivery, now a lot of stuff is two days.
What are you talking about? Amazon started as an online book store in 1994. They were not doing next day delivery, that’s for sure. Amazon had a big push for “Prime 2 day delivery” for a long time, but from my anecdotal experience it’s more than often longer than two days. Sometimes they offer one or two day shipping, but it’s not the norm.
Ten years ago two-day shipping meant two days from order to delivery. It now means two-day delivery once shipped in one to five business days. Most prime eligible purchases now just mean “free shipping.”
I got attached to Prime as a student where two-day shipping and a $50 annual student subscription made it a useful service. There are Prime features on parts of the Amazon website I couldn’t find my way back to the same way twice. The site is riddled with dark patterns from customer service to Prime video.
I haven’t been able to transition my household fully off Amazon, but I have switched to alibris.com as an alternative storefront for books and other media. Used sellers like thriftbooks, half-price books, and goodwill are all Amazon booksellers on alibris for the same price. They’re all shipping via media mail anyway, so Prime is useless on both sites.
I’m in Germany and have never used prime. When I used to order stuff from Amazon, it would take 3-7 days to arrive. That’s how much they care about customers that refuse to pay their damn subscription.
I’m in Germany and next day delivery on Amazon is next day delivery.
Yeah that’s my point. You have to pay for Prime. Otherwise they’re slower than most retailers.
Amazon used to not deliver in my country so we developed our own, with 24h free delivery, blackjack and hookers.
Now that Amazon figured out the custom taxes for us, it is too late as we have our own local alternative.
Flapjacks*
Reminds me of a thread I saw here a while ago on “What if advertising were illegal?”
I’ve found the best method for reducing my need on Amazon is to just buy less crap. Online shopping is simple because you can get stuff immediately, but I don’t think anybody “needs” 3-4 new products per week.
Aside from that, I try and support local: find local shops that sell items similar to my style, or trust word of mouth for online retailers that are good. At the end of the day, as long as you’re buying good-quality stuff (which oddly seems to spend less on advertisements) it doesn’t really matter where exactly you buy from, as it’s all pretty similar in price / quality.
Go directly to the manufacturer isn’t the bargain hunt, but it’s the best option. Amazon won’t even send you the right product occasionally. Even if you buy it from Amazon ultimately because the manufacturer uses them, they’ll be alerted to the sale.
I just go directly to the company’s website and go from there. Usually it’s the same price, on rare occasions it’s a few dollars more but to me it’s worth it not to do business with Amazon. I’ve passed up on buying things entirely because they were only available on Amazon.
In fact, over the last couple years I’ve been transitioning from buying online to buying from small-business brick and mortar stores. Sure it’s less convenient but it’s also less wasteful, it keeps resources within my local economy and I’m buying a lot less junk that I don’t really need.
I try small brick and mortar as much as possible but the up charges for the identical product can really hurt, like why is the same brand of pet food twice the cost if I drive 10 miles for it vs if I order it online
Because retailers are middle-men by definition. Large online resellers just have much less overhead, so the cut they take for being a middleman is much smaller. They often also have the bargaining power to reduce their cost price with the supplier. You should look for things that are produced in large quantities locally, and find ways to purchase direct from supplier, if you want to save money buying locally rather than spending more to support local business. Buying from independent local retailers is for indirect social and economic benefit. We should all endeavour to do it as much as we can but it’s also very hard to justify when cost differences are large.
Because retailers are middle-men by definition.
Hell, a large amount of local businesses’ stock is probably bought on Amazon Business.
My problem is that so many small businesses in my region are run by shitheads with terrible customer service, or they don’t treat their employees well, or they insult younger people, or they’re straight up broadcasting their politics in their business.
Unlike Amazon and all the other giant tech corporations?
When both sides are dickheads, you go for the one that’s best for you personally which for shopping usually means going for the cheapest depending on your morality stance and how strong it’s compulsion is.
Usually it’s the same price
Notable exception to this would be the Spigen phone case I recently bought. It’s 20.99 on Amazon, but 39.99 on Spigen’s website.
It’s true for a lot of other things, though, Amazon especially here in Canada hasn’t been the cheapest place to buy stuff in quite some time.
Ebay, first party sites, dedicated sites.
If you have chase cc, eBay gift card is 10% off with pts quite often
Dope, unfortunately I don’t use chase
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For my country there is a price comparison website at geizhals.at which is where I usually start. They also seem to be a thing for Germany, the UK, and Poland. Maybe there are similar services for other countries too?
If I need something bad enough, I start within my range of locality and then work outwards. Like for instance, I’m currently looking for a full set of seat covers for my car. If I were to use Amazon, wham bam I’d get the cutest ones by tomorrow. But instead Ive been looking up the availability of the auto goods stores nearby for delivery or pickup. That way i can go see the quality with my own eyes.
If there aren’t any cute or affordable seats covers nearby, Ill end up going straight to the websites of the manufacturer qhile cross referencing whatever reviews i can find online. A lot of times the manufacturer or distributor website will have coupon codes at checkout. And yes, the websites can be seedy, but I have in the past gotten some really high quality products from sus websites that like never sent me a confirmation email.
Sometimes there are really specific or niche things that seemingly almost only are on amazon, (like my damn vaccuum filters that dont exist anymore,) about 99% of the time youll find them on ebay too.
Just go to covercraft.com
Looking for anything via Amazon is always a terrible idea. You figure out what you want exactly, then buy from oem, eBay, second hand etc.
Blows my mind when people browse Amazon for something before knowing what’s a quality product or what they want.
- Search Amazon for product you want.
- Check reviews
- Throw out reviews because a) they’re for the wrong product or b) they’re bot written.
- Use the product numbers to search for the the same product elsewhere, preferably from the company’s own website or brick and mortar.
- If it’s something you actually need and can’t find it elsewhere, it’s ok to buy Amazon, just don’t pay for a Prime account. No one needs shit that quickly.
I go rob container ship
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eBay
Several times I have purchased an item on email only to have it arrive from Amazon. The sellers were using both sites and there was no way to tell from the eBay listings. Big sad.
i feel like it’s important to note that this is against the ebay seller agreement, and though ebay does nothing about it if you report it after the fact, leaving feedback with a statement like “this seller drop shipped the item via amazon” helps other shoppers.
generally, though, it’s getting easier to tell: higher volume (we’re talking 1k or higher, usually) of feedback with less than ~97% positive feedback, is a good first indication of some kind of reseller/dropshipper.
personally, i started shopping on ebay to avoid amazon, so it’s a supreme annoyance to have something drop-shipped or gift-shipped through them. I get why some sellers do it, but that doesn’t make it right.
Is it delivered via Amazon or just in Amazonian packaging? I guess I don’t mind either as much, since I can’t expect a small seller to keep two separate streamlined processes…
I have actually gotten shipping notifications from Amazon when I placed the order on eBay.
This! I use eBay very often
While I don’t put enough effort into it to really make a difference, I’ve had decent luck using Amazon to narrow down a search, then purchase from a company’s store.
Of course that’s quite possibly Amazon also
Yeah lol a couple of times I’ve tried to do this only to get to the cokpany’s site and see “pay through amazon” in the checkout
