I know there are similar communities like !buyitforlife@slrpnk.net about finding products that you don’t break after a year, and any number of buy<insert_country_here> communities. I’m looking for a community specifically for finding reputable products that aren’t sold on Amazon, regardless of where the seller or buyer is, and regardless of the ethos of the seller beyond making quality products.

Edit:

There’s also !deamazon@piefed.social, but that’s more about general anti-Amazon sentiment than specifically helping steer people away from Amazon’s online retail monopoly.

  • Blackmist@feddit.ukEnglish
    5·
    13 days ago

    I found the best way to avoid Amazon was just to buy a lot less pointless stuff.

    If you don’t buy that bluetooth shower speaker shaped like a cat, you don’t need to find a dodgy dropshipping company in a self storage unit that resells it.

  • LoafedBurrito@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    1·
    13 days ago

    I haven’t supported Amazon in over 15 years. I just stopped buying from them. Most of the stuff they sell, you can buy directly from the manufacturer or on eBay. There was one USB hub that amazon sold that i could only find on amazon, so i just chose a different brand and got it on eBay.

    Really not that hard to avoid amazon entirely.

  • TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    14 days ago

    I left Amazon 10 years ago. I try to buy direct from manufacturer’s websites, for instance, I just ordered a pocket hole jig from Vevor. I’ve never not gotten something because Amazon was the only source, that’s not a thing as far as I can tell. Everything Amazon sells can be bought elsewhere online, sometimes for less.

    • percent@infosec.pub
      1·
      14 days ago

      When I was an Amazon seller, I loved when people did this, and my website prices were always lower. Amazon takes such a large chunk from each sale.

        • percent@infosec.pubEnglish
          0·
          13 days ago

          Having different prices for different marketplaces? No, I think that was fine back then (almost ~10 years ago), but not sure about now. And if it wasn’t I guess I just didn’t get caught 🙂. My prices were highest on Amazon, lower on eBay, and lowest on my site. Amazon had the highest sales volume by far though.

          You couldn’t directly advertise your website to Amazon customers though, if that’s what you mean. Some sellers had other ways… I think I remember some sellers including a small card in their packages that would say something like “Register your purchase at https://… to extend your return period” (or activate a warranty, receive a coupon code for another purchase, etc.). Or maybe it would ask them to send an email instead of going to a URL (Amazon sellers can’t see their customers’ email addresses). Something like that.

            • percent@infosec.pub
              1·
              11 days ago

              Ah that sucks. Honestly, with their sales volume, it would have been worth it to raise my prices on the other platforms to comply with Amazon… Which sucks.

              Good to know though. I’ve been somewhat considering getting back into it if/when AI kills my current career.

    • Scrollone@feddit.it
      1·
      13 days ago

      Or maybe your country has local e-shops aggregator.

      For example, in Italy we have TrovaPrezzi. They just aggregate products from many different online shops.

      Then you can easily buy the products you want from small shops.

  • Apytele@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    14 days ago

    I tried to make one literally called not-Amazon but pretty much everybody had an opinion on how I was doing it wrong and I just didn’t have enough emotional bandwidth to deal with it. Would be happy to be a secondary mod if somebody else has the energy to deal with those people.

    • Canaconda@lemmy.ca
      04·
      14 days ago

      everybody had an opinion on how I was doing it wrong and I just didn’t have enough emotional bandwidth to deal with it

      Straight up why larger communities often have mods with terrible personalities. They’re the only ones who dgaf enough.

  • cymbal_king@lemmy.world
    0·
    14 days ago

    I want more on this too. Amazon’s monopoly has made it so hard to find alternative online stores to buy a lot of stuff, particularly if I don’t already know the name of a trusted manufacturer off the top of my head. Even competitor companies like Target and Walmart often offer less selection with higher prices and slower shipping. Also why is it that online retailers seem so scammy these days? Most brands seem to be new/disposable Chinese company names I’ve never heard of and reviews seem inflated/bot generated.

    It seems like my local thrift store has the best quality to price for a lot of stuff, but they don’t always have something I’m looking for

    • garretble@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      14 days ago

      I actually don’t totally agree with the shipping part of this.

      Anecdotally, I’ve found that pretty much all of the “big box” stores have good shipping now, and often for free (so long as you hit a price point, of course). And at least in my city, Walmart or Best Buy often ships within a day and it only takes 2-3 days to get the product(s).

      Now, there can certainly be a conversation on whether or not it’s good to buy things from these companies, which is a good conversation to have. But their shipping is often good.

      • turtlesareneat@piefed.caEnglish
        0·
        14 days ago

        A ton of brands and websites have rewards or loyalty programs that offer free shipping over $35 or whatever as a perk, which means I get a lot of free shipping off Amazon.

    • Holytimes@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      11 days ago

      Most online retailers have ALWAYS been scammy. Its part of what helped grow Amazon in the first place. They were actually trustworthy, reliable, and offered good consumer protections in simple and straight forward refund policies

      This is basically true of all the current giants. No company that gets that big can start out entirely fucked up. They have to get their legitimately THEN go to shit.

    • Bluefruit@lemmy.world
      0·
      14 days ago

      Drop shipping has become a really big thing online. I just watched a video about people creating fake sad stories to push “handmade products”. All cheap mass manufactured shit from China.

      Hard to find legit businesses right off the rip since it seems everyone is trying to scam these days.

      • ickplant@lemmy.world
        1·
        14 days ago

        I see it on social media all the time, some sob story about how “we are closing our store of handmade stuff due to personal circumstances, please buy our stuff at 90% off!” And it’s mass produced Chinese crap that is way overpriced even at supposedly “90% off”. People fall for it all the time.

  • birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    0·
    14 days ago

    No idea, but it’s great that many of y’all and us are doing this. Buy local, buy from worker co-ops, buy from ethical countries!

    I’d recommend to also use Buybeaver & No Thanks, to boycot the US and the like. Generally I exclude Russia & Belarus, most of the Middle East (Israel included), and North & Middle Africa.