# Alternatives to Amazon **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 26, 2025, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848 "2025-02-26T22:51:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/21 "2025-02-27T14:03:54Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > If you search “shoe horn” and limit the search to shopping it’ll give you a variety of online places to buy one from. Also investigate your local brick-and-mortars. They’re probably still carrying a lot more stuff than you think. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/22 "2025-02-28T13:51:08Z")
I have a houseful of stuff. None of it bought on Amazon. It’s not that hard to shop outside of it. It’s annoying anytime someone mentions a product and provides a link it’s always Amazon. I just don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/23 "2025-02-28T13:57:53Z")
What don’t you get? The appeal of Amazon? It’s quick, easy, and has everything you’re looking for. I buy most stuff for myself on Amazon, minus clothes and food I can’t get locally. Sometimes, I’ve had stuff delivered from my Amazon order that would have taken me just as much time to go out and get. (Ordered at 6 a.m., delivered at 8:30 a.m. – that’s a record for me.) ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/24 "2025-02-28T14:20:20Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > The reality is if you are buying stuff online, or from pretty much any company, you’re supporting sociopathic corporations. Not really. If you are not buying from the billions-of-profits companies, no. I buy many things from small companies. I buy within the US, almost always. Occasionally Europe. These companies rely on internet business. I look for high quality and made in the US, or used, for clothing. Etsy for the first, Ebay for the second, by and large. I buy books almost always used, and from AbeBooks usually; this is a marketplace for thousands of small bookstores. If I have to buy an object made of plastic by sweatshop labor in Asia, I do so with great reluctance, but I do it. Two things I bought recently: a Waterpik and a battery-operated lint remover (I wear a lot of woolen clothing). I shopped these on Amazon and then bought them from the companies that make them. It’s really not hard. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/25 "2025-02-28T14:33:32Z")
I have a deep antipathy and resistance to one company owning the whole world. That’s my main objection to Amazon. I am aware, as very few people want to be, that Amazon, like Walmart and Home Depot and others, drive small businesses and local businesses out, so that they can become the only possible place to buy anything at all. They destroy the connections that small businesses have with their communities, and suck the life out of small towns. Think Amazon goes to Chamber of Commerce meetings? Sponsors the town pancake breakfast? Donates to the volunteer fire department Christmas gift drive for kids? Gives out Halloween candy? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/26 "2025-02-28T14:41:23Z")
Oh, I know the reasons to avoid them. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/27 "2025-02-28T15:11:47Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > buy books almost always used, and from AbeBooks usually; this is a marketplace for thousands of small bookstores. AbeBooks has been a subsidiary of Amazon since 2008. ThriftBooks is still independent, and works with libraries to source books and share revenue. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/28 "2025-02-28T17:31:37Z")
Sorry, I meant Alibris. Not AbeBooks. I get them mixed up. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/29 "2025-02-28T18:05:41Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I buy books almost always used, and from AbeBooks usually; this is a marketplace for thousands of small bookstores. [AbeBooks - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AbeBooks#:~:text=AbeBooks%20has%20been%20a%20subsidiary%20of%20Amazon%20since%202008). > AbeBooks has been a subsidiary of [Amazon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_(company)) since 2008 ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/30 "2025-02-28T18:07:37Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Also investigate your local brick-and-mortars. They’re probably still carrying a lot more stuff than you think. That’s true but almost none of them have an online catalog–so you often waste a lot of time going there, and more time searching within the stores–only to find out they don’t have it. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/31 "2025-02-28T18:18:55Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > you often waste a lot of time going there, and more time searching within the stores–only to find out they don’t have it. Try the phone. Most local brick-and-mortars can tell you over the phone whether they carry something, probably whether it’s in stock, and where in the store it is. Especially the ones that don’t have a web page that’ll do that. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/32 "2025-02-28T18:24:16Z")
Just for example: I just bought a shelving unit from Amazon. Home Depot doesn’t have the particular size I need. Lowe’s doesn’t have the particular size I need. So Amazon it is. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/33 "2025-02-28T19:31:00Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#): > > AbeBooks has been a subsidiary of Amazon since 2008. True, but the sellers are used bookstores around the world. I’m sure Amazon gets its cut, but buying from Abe supports a lot of small vendors. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/34 "2025-02-28T20:32:48Z")
I get the convenience of shopping from home, a game changer for the housebound. But for many many people I think it’s a hit of dopamine for Amazon acolytes to get what they want when they want it. Smacks of little impulse control. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/35 "2025-02-28T20:43:48Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Both the Walmart and Target websites list stuff for sale, Buying stuff from Target instead of Amazon kinda defeats the idea. no? > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Walmart isn’t any less evil than Amazon. neither one is really “evil”. > [@pulykamell](#): > > What don’t you get? The appeal of Amazon? It’s quick, easy, and has everything you’re looking for. I buy most stuff for myself on Amazon, We like Amazon, but we do one big thing- we buy nearly all our books etc from the Indy booksellers who list their books with Amazon. Yes, Amazon gets a cut, but you also support Indy booksellers. Some friends of ours own such a bookstore, and they say selling stuff on Amazon has saved their business. > [@Kropotkin](#): > > ThriftBooks is still independent, and works with libraries to source books and share revenue. They sell a LOT of stuff on Amazon, they are one of our first choices in books, along with non-profits. So, you _can_ shop on Amazon with a clear conscience. Note that Amazon did donate nearly $3Million to Harris for President. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/36 "2025-02-28T20:44:34Z")
Indubitably, but it is not a boycott of Amazon as such. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/37 "2025-02-28T20:45:28Z")
That’s the problem with the Devil: he gives you what you want. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/38 "2025-02-28T20:54:31Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@Kropotkin](#): > > > > ThriftBooks is still independent, and works with libraries to source books and share revenue. > > They sell a LOT of stuff on Amazon, they are one of our first choices in books Then go to [Thriftbooks.com](http://Thriftbooks.com), not Amazon (who takes a huge cut of the seller’s profit) and in the end is no friend to the seller. If you really care about a seller, buy from them direct if they have their own website. As an Amazon seller myself, I can assure you that they are an exploitive entity that we are forced to use because of their near monopoly of the marketplace. > [@DrDeth](#): > > So, you _can_ shop on Amazon with a clear conscience. No. You can’t. I’ll repeat: Don’t ever buy a product on Amazon from a third party seller if they have their own website and offer the same product and shipping prices. If you do, you are just forcing that seller to be more reliant on Amazon which will just take more and more from the seller as that reliance increases. ---
**Author:** ![We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/39 "2025-02-28T20:57:27Z")
> [@chela](#): > > It’s annoying anytime someone mentions a product and provides a link it’s always Amazon. > > I just don’t get it. you can be free to be annoyed at it but you understand why people do that right? Amazon is near ubiquitous, and I reckon it’s more likely that most people have an account there than [www.artisanalshoehorns.com](http://www.artisanalshoehorns.com) or whoever else might be selling the product in question. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848/40 "2025-03-01T00:07:02Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Just for example: I just bought a shelving unit from Amazon. Home Depot doesn’t have the particular size I need. Lowe’s doesn’t have the particular size I need. When I couldn’t find a unit I needed, I asked the locally owned and run Ace hardware whether they could order it for me. They could and did. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-amazon/1014848.md?page=3)