Which is part of why "voting with your wallet" is a fallacious late capitalist trap. You don't have much of a vote and you can't use it freely.
I've lived in places not covered by Amazon and they have much better local alternatives than the Western European regions where Amazon has sucked the air out of the space. You're not going to re-enable competition in logistics by buying from local online stores, you're re-enabling competition by breaking up Amazon and nationalizing their local branches (or taxing them to hell until they can't compete, I suppose).
I have the privilidge (or I might consider it a curse, since I’m under the poverty line and extra savings would mean a lot), of living in a country without Amazon. So the amazon shipping prices and customs mean it’s inconvinient and often more expensive to order from amazon.
Yeah, last time I was in a place under those same circumstances I was surprised at just how competent their local big online retailer was. It really did most of the same things Western Europeans and North Americans think only Amazon could do. Same day delivery in major cities, free delivery, no-questions-asked returns, the whole deal.
It was a remarkable confirmation that Amazon isn't deploying some secret sauce. Their model is entirely replicable, they're just so big that any local retailer doing the same thing is just crushed before they can compete.
True. Also, I believe that the contract is specific to the SKU. So a TV with a minor feature change would be a different item, as would a different count of items in a multi-pack. For example, poppi sodas have a 12 pack on Amazon and a 15 pack on Costco’s website for the same price.
I agree that it is preferable to use existing alternatives like geizhals.eu. But better to use idealo to discover European alternatives than buying from Amazon.
Thanks for the tip with idealo I always forget that you can check non tech items with it and found a few shops that sell the tegaderm roll for pretty much the same price.
I agree that one should always add this general warning whenever they are mentioned. I can't see how they benefit from my visit if i am using ublock origin and remove all the relevant cookies and parts of the url that would give them a commission.
I consider amazon as not even an option. If I think other prices are too steep, I just don't buy things or save up. It helps not to compare the prices.
Local shops had nilfisk pressure washer o ring kit for 50 eur.
Amazon had it for 10. And even that is overpriced.
Local espresso cleaning tablets (8 pack) are like 16 eur.
Amazon has them for 10 eur. Oh and its a bottle of 100 cleaning tablets.
Spray booths are like 200 eur here at local hobby store.
Amazon has the same one for like 80.
For that money I'll gladly sell out the yanks to russia and destroy local pop and mom shops.
Not to mention things like battery powered lightbulbs, iwata gas stoves, popular IEMS, other small weird odds and ends do not exist outside of amazon.