I’ve been trying to avoid shopping on Amazon for several years. For computer parts, I look at Newegg. For pet stuff, Chewy.

But what about all the miscellaneous stuff? What other websites do you trust when it comes to shopping online?

  • InformalSnow
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    32 years ago

    I use Target most, I think. For random household stuff I can’t get through Target I use Meijer (it’s a grocery+ store) or the local Ace Hardware and do same day pickup.

    Honestly those cover probably 75% of purchases. Everything else I google until I find what I want, then spend a couple hours trying to decide if the site is legit or if I can find the manufacturer direct.

  • @[email protected]
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    202 years ago

    Believe it or not I’ve never used Amazon.

    I’m old, I never left eBay. I’ve seen things I want a lot cheaper on there though. I just don’t want to give them my money.

    • @[email protected]
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      42 years ago

      I used to shop on Amazon, but now I’m all eBay too. "It just works"and even though I know it’s another mega-sized company, at least it’s not amazon.

      More than once though, I bought something on ebay, only to have it delivered in an Amazon box (because they fulfill for so many companies). Wish I could think of a way to avoid that.

      • @[email protected]
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        2 years ago

        It is against eBay policy for sellers to ship directly from Amazon. Report them and eBay will, after several months, end the offending account. Include pictures of the Amazon packaging. If you want to go the extra mile, go to the vendor’s storefront and search for their items on Amazon. If you find a bunch, tell eBay that the vendor’s storefront is full of relisted Amazon items.

        https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/resolving-issues-sellers/reporting-item-issue-seller?id=4022

        You can also leave negative feedback stating that the vendor simply ships from Amazon at a marked up price.

        It is also against Amazon’s policy for accounts to use Prime shipping perks to sell items. If your package has a gift receipt, the vendor is violating that policy. The receipt will include their account name, and you can report them to Amazon too. If it doesn’t have a gift receipt, they’re not violating any Amazon policy, and there’s nothing you can do on that end.

  • @[email protected]
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    562 years ago

    Honestly I just order from Target. I know the products are legit, and I can usually do same day pickup.

    (Lately I’ve preferred to shop in person. The stereotype is true – once you become a mom, getting a Starbies and walking around Target becomes your self-care.)

    • Obinice
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      32 years ago

      I googled it, and that’s unfortunately a local shop only available in one country (and it might help others if you specify which country).

      I think to be a truly viable Amazon alternative it’d have to be global, for example when I buy from Amazon, I might be buying from somewhere in Europe, and their shipping service handles getting it to me without me even noticing where it’s coming from, which is super neat! 😁

      God, I hate Amazon, but god, I love Amazon.

    • @[email protected]
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      72 years ago

      I’ve found that Target ships counterfeit items time to time, as well as shoddy returned items. Amazon does the same. I typically buy my electronics from Best Buy because i know they sort those items into Open Box deals instead.

    • @[email protected]
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      2 years ago

      I’ve been been using Target instead of Amazon Prime. Shipping takes a little longer but 5% off with red card is neat. Where it really lacks is quality control over shipping. With Amazon an item getting damaged during shipping was something like once every few years, if even that. With Target since they don’t control that part of the chain it’s out of their hands, and it feels like 1 out of every 5 orders had something damaged to some degree. The app make it super easy to get a free replacement though.

      idk if it still is since I haven’t used Amazons app since, but targets app is so much nicer

      Edit: off memory the worst case was some aerosol sunscreen was dented so it was empty on arrival and the the app told me I had to do an exchange in store for it. It’s not that bad, but just stuff that doesn’t really happen with amazon

      • @[email protected]
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        12 years ago

        I’d say just do in store pickup whenever you can. That way, you can refuse to pick up the merchandise if it’s too bad.

    • @[email protected]
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      132 years ago

      I’m a 42 y/o dude, not a mom, but I’m right there with you. My friend and I would walk along the aisle by the side of the building to see what kind of junk they have for sale at the endcaps. Then hit up the electronics and nerd stuff, like Funkos and new movie releases. Finally walk down the food section to pick up groceries. All the while with some drinks in hand. We usually avoid the clothing section unless we need something.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      2 years ago

      I can’t judge you for that. I’m just tired of obscenely wealthy people treating everyone else like shit without any repercussions. Bezos has enough money to single-handedly solve so many problems and still be very rich, but instead he blows it on his giant flying dildos while his employees piss in bottles because they can’t afford bathroom breaks.

    • @[email protected]
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      32 years ago

      I’m in a big city (Montreal) and about everything is delivered in less than 24h, I must say it’s pretty convenient…

  • @[email protected]
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    22 years ago

    I usually order form Amazon for convenience, but sometimes use shopping.google.com. I look up every site before ordering though. Some of the sites that show up in the results are sketchy or deceptive. I also sometimes use Ebay if I’m ok with buying something used, or something very cheap of questionable quality (from people who I’m guessing are just resellers of Alibaba crap).

  • jcrabapple
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    42 years ago

    Target. Best Buy. Walmart, if I have to. The Shop app is pretty good.

      • @[email protected]
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        22 years ago

        Abe books was my go-to in college for international editions of engineering textbooks. $40 for a book that cost $450 for the US edition. Only downside was that all the units were in metric and weren’t perfectly converted, so I had to check against a classmate if we had work out of the book. All the info was still the same tho, and it was 10% of the cost, and it let me take open book tests where a digital copy wouldn’t cut it.

  • @[email protected]
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    12 years ago

    I usually just use walmarts website, you can type in your zip code and find the physical walmart where you live and then filter items there are actually in the store, it tells you the price obviously but also the exact isle its in, so once you find what you need it you can just go get it in like 10-20 minutes based on distance

  • Nix
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    952 years ago

    Federated Amazon alternative coming soon?

        • @[email protected]
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          42 years ago

          That’s oddly specific.

          I would think for it to work properly there would need to be some sort of trust rating. I’ve used other (admittedly not federated) aggregator marketplaces and never had an issue. Not saying issues don’t happen, but they’re not guaranteed. You’d still get your standard PayPal or credit card protections if you used them.

        • Nix
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          32 years ago

          There would be reviews/earrings and In time certain federated instances would gain reputation for trust through some type of way. Certain instances could possibly due verification of some sort

    • sebinspace
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      2 years ago

      Only if you love long shipping times. I don’t see how warehouses or in-house logistics could be federated when there is no house, so it’d essentially just be private sellers going through traditional shipping avenues like USPS/UPS/FedEx/DHL, etc

      If that’s a trade-off you’re willing to make, though, then let’s fucken go

      • Nix
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        92 years ago

        That would be fine since itd take monopoly power away from amazon. Could possibly even leverage things like uber package delivery if someone in your city buys what you sell

        • sebinspace
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          52 years ago

          I can get behind this tbh. Rarely is anything so important that you need it next day. Businesses often need that, but privately, I don’t. I’m patient.

          • @[email protected]
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            12 years ago

            Walmart, Target for brand name household items. BJs for bulk food. Etsy for miscellaneous small weird items, or eBay when I really want some sketchy Chinese knockoffs.

      • @[email protected]
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        2 years ago

        Replacing Uber AND Amazon? And on top of that, this same country got sued a few years back for offering cheap, generic alternatives to expensive drugs to their populace. (Big pharma wasn’t happy)

        India is making a lot of good moves.