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?
Fun side story. My first job as a developer, I was working in a small porn company in downtown Chicago. We had just hired a few people, so being the only techy in the company it was on me to order a bunch of hardware from NewEgg.
It was supposed to be delivered days later. But no, they had an employee, just like a regular dude, hop in his car and deliver the order on the same day. This was probably 2006, so same day delivery way NOT a normal thing.
I rarely get to tell this story because I don’t want people to know I started off my (somewhat long) software engineering career in porn and because who cares about this in today’s world.
However, OP mentioned NewEgg, so it fits here.
Porn starts a surprising number of careers.
Maybe not that surprising.
It’s not really… Just look at how VHS, DVD and blu-ray became popular…
I despise the porn industry because it’s so exploitative. But sometimes there are positive outcomes…
Just to note that the blu-ray was mainly thanks to PS3.
Thinking about war as I read your comment and how it has had the same effect on driving technology and medicine forward… Obviously not in the nicest way.
you can just tell this story without mentioning you worked for a porn company?? lol
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.)
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
I’m not an Amazon fan either. But you may want to know that Newegg is owned by a Chinese company these days.
I have heard this and mostly avoid shopping there as a result. Is there a “new” NewEgg that’s like old NewEgg?
Closest thing would be MicroCenter. I believe they will ship, but their store locations are rare and spaced out. Closest one to me is almost an hour and a half away, but since the Fry’s 10 minutes away closed it’s my only other option besides BestBuy (barf).
And their customer support is now shitty.
B&H Photo Video is a decent place but stock is always iffy. More of a consumer electronics store than newegg in my experience.
I like B&H too but hate their holiday schedules. They take more holidays than anyone else on the planet so I’ve gone to my local stores half of the time when I need some photo or video gear.
I go to Amazon to look at what name brands there are. Or Google. Go and order directly from the company. Their customer service is better and they usually have cheaper options. Plus if you need a modification that you didn’t know existed, refer back to the the customer service part.
Plus, if you buy directly from the manufacturer, you know you’re getting a legit product with a good warranty. Some brands also have stores that double as service centers. If I order Nikes and they don’t fit, I can return them to the local Nike store. Many offer free shipping just like Amazon, easy returns, better color choices and no creepy tracking or crazy knockoffs.
Returns is the whole reason I stopped using Amazon. They sent me a pressure washer without a gun to use the pressure washer. I called customer service and asked them to send me just the gun end. It’s this part number on your site.
They said ok and shipped it. They insisted for weeks that they delivered it and I told them they did not. I live on my own (just my young son and dog at the time) and no roommates. Plus I have a ring doorbell. It was a whole fiasco. Where I drew the line is they accused me of taking it without telling them. It was a 20 dollar part.
Amazon entirely dominated by white label products from Alibaba, though. Where are you going to find a WXTMO Potato Peeler for cheaper and with better service?
I just skip amazon entirely. The search really isn’t useful anymore.
What is your time worth for some cheap potato peeler? I just go to Target and pay the extra dollar. I have it that day and if there is a problem it isn’t hard to replace it.
I mean, it’s still another pretty big company, but the Shopify “Shop” app is actually pretty great as an alternative to Amazon.
Basically, all the businesses using a Shopify online storefront are amalgamated and searchable in one app, and the UI is pretty solid, too. I really like that a business can have their own website with a storefront, but also be there for convenience and still be in the same system.
My small shopify business thanks you!
That’s actually such a smart move for Shopify to incentivise use of their platform over others.
I use Amazon to shop often times, and then just buy directly from the vendor. May take a little longer to mail or cost a tiny bit more, but worth it to me
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.
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.
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.
Very helpful. Thank you.
For a lot of consumer electronics (and of course camera and video) I go with B&H
B&H has a long history of racist and misogynistic hiring practices and work environments.The owners are ultra conservative religious nuts known for not hiring women, harassing minority employees, paying differently according to race and enforcing segregated bathrooms.They’ve payed out millions in lawsuits.
It sucks because I used to love wandering around in there browsing.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/02/bh-hit-with-discrimination-lawsuit.html
https://nypost.com/2020/10/18/bh-accused-of-discrimination-by-furloughed-workers/
Oooh, let’s see if they’ve got Bluetooth earbuds Edit: kickass
I like b&h, the only downside side is returns are not as easy
Bookshop.org for books
Scrolling down to see if anyone else had posted. Good for you.
https://www.abebooks.com/ great for used books.
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.
Just to add one more option to this list:
Great service, great people, doing good.
Abe books is owned by Amazon, unfortunately. Which stinks bc I loved them too.
Someone else just told me. I feel like an idiot.
I know it’s not feasible for everyone, or even most people, but I just generally avoid shopping online as much as possible.
That’s fine if you’re not a geek nor a tinkerer (or a musician), but unfortunately my hobbies aren’t sold in stores anymore.
I miss RadioShack, Fry’s Electronics, and music stores that don’t charge a 30% markup.
I do a lot of tinkering, I just spend months trying to find parts out of random thrift store electronics. It’s much more efficient than spending 30 seconds placing a mouser order.
It saves tons of time. Most of the things we buy on Amazon are not even available locally.
In Belgium & Netherlands, we have an alternative called Bol. I use it, but I wonder how much more ethical it is in the end.
eBay! Craigslist!
Craigslist is more fun but more limited. eBay for the things I can’t find on CL. Both really enable you to shop locally too which is excellent
Got any recommendations for websites that aren’t sketchy?
I learned years ago to avoid eBay and Craigslist. They’re more hassle than they’re worth. People suck.
Maybe try eBay again? I gave up Amazon three years ago and have almost exclusively used eBay. Never had any major issues. And if there were any issues, the seller was super responsive. Also can sometimes save a lot over Amazon on certain items. And I always look for refurbished/used to save a good amount.
The only scam now is people basically listing Amazon items and just ordering them for you from Amazon.
Facebook market, but same issues with people. But dealing face to face helps somewhat. I despise it and don’t use FB personally, but my wife does and unfortunately that is where local sales happen now.
You’ve got it all wrong! They’re the best. IDK where the idea that either are sketchy came from. Maybe that there isn’t a social media profile attached to the ad on like on Facebook Market?
Folks on both sites are just folks trying to sell stuff. There are scammers trying to sell scams too, but that’s everywhere.
Challenge the story society has fed you! Browse the free section of Craigslist today!!
For used books.
eBay for general stuff, ABE Books for… well books and HMV/Zavvi for films.
You know that abebooks is a subsidiary of Amazon, right? As is ZVAB in Europe. They really have the market by the reins.
I did know as it informs my purchasing strategy: if there isn’t a huge difference I buy from eBay (as the big sellers are on both) but if there is then the wallet takes precedence.
I think my oversight comes from my brain’s refusal to believe that, in a world with checks and balances on monopolies, the (I assume) largest seller of secondhand books wouldn’t be able to buy the (I assume) second largest. That could never happen, right? Right? See also most of Metas purchases.
Could try thriftbooks out.
