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)?
Aliexpress. It’s the same shit.
I have a few specialty storefronts I’ll go to for specific items.
I wouldn’t trust any networking equipment, anything that can send data off your network back home unfortunately.
But yes, I’d say 90+% you can easily get off there. I got a Benchmade bugout knockoff recently, $150 for this tiny knife, $12 on AE. after honing and a drop of oil, beautiful useful knife. The mini griptilian is another great knockoff. Packaging came near identical to the real knife. I open boxes, not fight hand to hand, even though I’m sure it’d cut flesh just as well.
Honest question, not trying to be adversarial. Do you have any sources behind not trusting networking equipment (I’ve seen the claim from others apply to electronics more broadly) from AliExpress? I don’t buy much from Amazon or AliExpress so I’m not directly impacted but I’ve seen that caveat a lot and haven’t seen reasons why.
Why not? A fucking dishwasher will spy on you nowadays, why wouldn’t something that is 1 already connected to the internet and 2 already logs all of your activity?
If I get time to find it I’ll post it but there was a famous study where researchers in the UK looked at a smart thermostat and figured out how many privacy disclaimers you would need to agree to to use it lawfully. It was in the hundreds. There was also those photos of kids on the toilet that were taken by an Amazon robotic vacuum cleaner that got leaked. And police getting called out to a murder in the US that was recorded by Alexa.
I don’t specifically, just that everything is phoning home nowadays and stealing data, not interested in entertaining it. Even some us products have backdoors open by default, which sucks. I dont really skimp on network gear, I upgraded to ubiquiti a few years ago and am very happy and trust it.
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.)
-
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).
-
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
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.
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
I like iherb.com for supplements, tea, olive oil, and castile soap. And whatever else you may find there amongst the strange assortment of things they carry. Other than that, I’ve been going right to manufacturers websites, except for mechanical keyboard stuff, where I search a whole bunch of different specialty vendor sites.
deleted by creator
There are some simple steps:
- Use Amazon as a catalog to find what you want
- Copy the items name/brand and find it elsewhere
- Find out you live in a high cost are for deliveries and buying anywhere but on amazon outright doubles the price of the item.
- Give up and buy on Amazon anyway.
Here in Canada I’ve started ordering from the Canadian Tire app instead.
It’s very easy in Sweden - there are plenty of e-commerce alternatives present, and you can use a comparison website to find the best price for any given item.
For various cycling gadgets and other cheap stuff, I’ve started ordering on AliExpress, with a pretty decent success rate so far.
I’ve learned to live with less. I don’t need a new gadget or the latest shiny plastic distraction. I buy food, gas, beer. If I just have to have something, Costco or eBay. Closed my amazon, walmart, target accounts. Don’t miss them.
Not perfect but if you can’t get it from the company’s website or at a local shop, try Target and Walmart they both offer free ship options too. Lastly, something like Google shopping sometimes works.
Is Walmart really any better than Amazon?
There’s no walmart in my country so I wouldn’t know, but probably yes, it is hard for me to imagine anything worse than amazon.
Walmart is, unfortunately, not better.
They are notorious for going into small towns and undercutting local businesses until they go out of business then raise prices, they also severely underpay employees. And the owners are the wealthiest family in the world who use their money to lobby for right wing policies
I shop at the bin stores where they have a ton of Amazon and WalMart products. Some are returns but I always test them at the store and have found a ton of stuff for $4 or $10. I just bought a wet suit, 7 head electric shaver, fog machine, 4 smart bulbs, 3 USB plugs, hand warmers, queen sized inflatable mattress, ice bath tub (to wash my dog) and a Dirt Devil all for $72.
I barely buy from Amazon nowadays, quit the subscription 3 years ago. Except for very specific items anywhere else is cheaper, better quality or both. Besides trying to search for something on Amazon has become a nightmare.
Search for real businesses that sell items near you or online. Also, eBay. It has a sort by distance option so you can see if there’s something near you for faster shipping. eBay is full of Amazon dropshippers so if there’s free expedited shipping and free returns and they have thousands of feedback, they may be a dropshipper.
I go rob container ship
If your search engine allows you to configure your results, you can set it to block any results from amazon.com. I use Kagi and have been pretty happy with that feature.
I’ve always considered Amazon a store that mostly Americans use. Personally I’ve always just used eBay and Aliexpress myself.
I used to use eBay as well, before I was scammed, and eBay did absolutely nothing. On top of that it was impossible to reach a human. Ever since I never felt comfortable buying from there, knowing that if the automated service page can’t help me then I’m just fucked.
I once had a problem with amazon, a 100$ item was missing from a package, and after talking to a representative for 10 minutes they completely refunded me.
Amazon is monopolistic, and evil, but in my experience have excellent customer service.
