speaking of alternatives, what brand do people hate that actually has a decent alternative?
speaking of alternatives, what brand do people hate that actually has a decent alternative?
I know people prefer to complain instead of act, but what is something people don't like but has an alternative?
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Amazon, sort of. It absolutely cannot be beat for convenience. Ordering something in 15 seconds, then having it shipped within 48 hours is unmatchable.
But if you plan ahead, and aren't an impulse buyer, you can find alternatives with better products and similar prices. Most stuff on Amazon is absolute junk with clickfarm reviews.
Ironically Reddit was really good for finding niche websites for whichever product you were looking for. Hopefully Lemmy will reach that point eventually.
Amazon recently removed a filter I used heavily - the "Sold by" filter. When searching for most things, I'd filter on "Sold by: Amazondotcom", and that would weed out all the junk by the keyboard-smash sellers. I'm really bummed that they removed that filter.
AliExpress is the alternate for Amazon if you can wait a month to get your crap. All the products are exactly the same except £2 instead of £20.
I wouldn't buy any electronics from AliExpress though.
Cheap electronics is all I buy from Ali exp.
Every order I've ever made on Ali:
- Me: Place order
- Ali: it will be there in a month
- A few weeks later, Ali: Your order was cancelled.
- Back to Amazon
But if someone makes a version of Ali that works in the states, Amazon's online store is already a dinosaur and can easily be dominated.
really?
Ive ordered probobly 100 things from Ali. Takes a while to arrive, but only had a couple items disappear in shipping, and never had them not at least ship.
Yes really
Would be interested in a community for general purchase recommendations (any product, no specific category). Having a thread site like this where actual humans who bought the product and don't work for the company can write honest reviews/recommendations is extremely valuable
Not the same but which (which.co.uk) is a non-profit consumer group. You can pay them subscription and they do non biased and quite detailed reviews of all the normal electrial stuff. I've used them for a washing machine, freezer, earbuds, TV, handheld vacuum cleaner.
It's a shit company with shit morals and shit practices, but I use it... If I have to. And usually that means I've checked locally, I've checked other big retailers, and if everyone fails me I'll reluctantly buy it on Amazon.
I agree. Now disclaimer, I am someone who still buys tons from Amazon. There is no one alternative. But you can get much better deals if you watch and wait instead of impulse buy. Best Buy is now my go-to for gadgets.
Ordering something in 15 seconds, then having it shipped within 48 hours is unmatchable.
My typical experience is
- ordering in 15 seconds
- amazon says it will ship within 48 hours
- actually ships 8 days later
I've been an Amazon customer since they only sold books, and the last few years have been a trainwreck.
Ordering something in 15 seconds, then having it shipped within 48 hours is unmatchable
you mean like online shopping in general?
I assume they mean having it arrive within 48 hours, which is not typical of most online shopping.
Even more so for free shipping. Most places will charge you a fortune to get express shipping and a moderate price to get shipping that takes like 2 weeks. If they even have free shipping, you'll have to spend a hefty amount to get it and even then, good fucking luck if you're not American (a ton of sites ship to both the US and Canada, but exclude Canada from any free shipping options, plus charge us extra to boot).
It feels like Amazon has no real competition where shipping speed and price are concerned.
which is not typical of most online shopping.
not
This is not accurate at all in my experience. Waiting 5+ days is typical for non-Amazon orders. I've waited 30+ days for books.
For those in DE/AT/PL/UK: https://geizhals.eu/
It shows many local online shops, including Amazon. Amazon usually isn't the cheapest IME in Germany.
If you're southamerican There is a real alternative to Amazon, Mercadolibre.
the convenience factor has tanked massively in recent years, at least in my region. prime shipping has become meaningless and most of the stuff I would get off Amazon ends up being shipped from china so I may as well use AliExpress and pay 3 bucks instead of 35