this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2025
241 points (98.0% liked)

Ask Lemmy

30936 readers
1724 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

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 are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] JailElonMusk@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 day ago (13 children)

I cut out Amazon completely after ordering from them four to five times a week. Heres how I did it:

  1. 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.)

  1. 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).

  2. Buy directly from the vendor and look for promo codes if 1 or 2 don't fit your lifestyle.

[–] madjo@feddit.nl 3 points 19 hours ago (7 children)

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.

[–] JailElonMusk@sopuli.xyz 1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

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?

[–] madjo@feddit.nl 3 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

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.

[–] Bazoogle@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] madjo@feddit.nl 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Bazoogle@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

I see, I misunderstood your comment saying "I guess the experience of Ebay in the US is completely different from the experience of Ebay outside the US." was you saying your experience is from within the US. You didn't specify which one was your experience, nor did the person you replied to. I was thinking your experience was from within the US, and theirs was from outside the US.

[–] JailElonMusk@sopuli.xyz 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] madjo@feddit.nl 4 points 15 hours ago

I started out a bit high strung, I guess. My apologies for that

load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments (10 replies)