I need a browser extension that does this for me.

If you can find a unique product or part number for the product, searching that will often bring up a short list of sites that sell that exact product.

I haven't bought a single thing off Amazon in over ten years, since they pissed me off. I don't even comparison shop Amazon to see whether I'm paying more, that's how much I hate them. I'll pay more to not use Amazon. Also, nothing I'm buying online is something I can't do without, and sometimes I just don't buy it--shocking, I know.

Try to not use google in the process too.

I tried that last year with a power supply, but the little German company that made it sold it only on Amazon :-(

Have issue with product. Return process is abysmal and chargeable. End up wishing you bought from Amazon.

One big antitrust issue with Amazon is that they require vendors to use their fulfillment services in order to get the best terms on being listed on Amazon: prime shipping, etc.

That deal for shipping/fulfillment itself isn't too bad, even if they charge a pretty high price to sellers for the service, because the seller is actually getting something valuable in return, and it's hard for Amazon to promise fast shipping not in their control.

But the FTC lawsuit a while back alleged that Amazon does more than that. They downgrade the search results of anyone who isn't a paying advertiser, so they're squeezing sellers in more ways than one. And worse, part of the contract for fulfillment is a prohibition on competing with Amazon's listed price.

So if you're selling something that you need $30 to earn a profit, and it costs you 40% to list on Amazon, you'll need to list it at $50 on Amazon in order to make your profit, and you've hamstrung yourself from selling that same thing for $30 on your own site and turning the same profit by cutting Amazon out. That's what's anticompetitive and harms the consumer, even when that consumer intentionally avoids Amazon and goes straight to the seller's own site.

For real brands this is the way. If you want to get the one made by hhsjneaq or something, then use Amazon.

Maybe that can work but you can't get rid of Amazon just by shopping elsewhere. It's important to also push for anti-monopoly legislation and enforcement, and of course that labor law be properly enforced so that Amazon has to pay people better wages.

Amazon is like a marketplace. People and companies should be allowed to sell their products on the marketplace, but any one company or person shouldn´t be allowed to own the marketplace itself, and abuse that position for their own benefit, because it would be to the detriment of all. The marketplace should belong to the people, should be open to everyone.

It would seem that such a model would be able to compete easily, so I reckon in time it will come to be, if people put the work in. Sellers and buyers alike all have an incentive to cut amazon out of the deal. The only problem is buyers are lazy, so although can they can bypass Amazon now, most of them won´t. So we need the fair open-access marketplace so people can one-stop-shop in a way that's just.

That company is more often than not Aliexpress.

2b. Company thinks their online store is a boutique and sell the stuff for 50% more than Amazon

Somehow it happens even more often with small businesses. My city is small and irrelevant, so when I saw a book with the history of it, I wanted to buy it. On Amazon it was sold for 15% off, on marketplace directly by the publisher + free shipping. So I went to buy it on the publisher website and... MSRP + need to pay shipping

This publisher was doing a war price against itself. A small niche book where you're the only one to sell it. Why would you need to discount this heavily on Amazon?

Numbers:

On Amazon: 13€ + shipping paid by the seller (+customer has free returns in one month). They can't have more than 50 cents of profit for each copy sold

On their own website: 15€+5€ shipping (+customer needs to pay 7€ to return it within 2 weeks). Healthy profit for each copy sold.

You need to be an anti-bezos activist to choose the second option, though.

2.a.i.) find out they don't have an actual shop, they just send you to Amazon

Nah. Amazon is quicker, no shipping fees, solid return policy and I don't need to break out the credit card and play challenge puzzles with my bank to use it online. I'll do my best to support local retailers on foot, but if I'm ordering online, I want quick and reliable. Sadly, that's Amazon for now.

Company sign contracts with Amazon saying they will not sell it for anywhere less than the Amazon price.

Order from them and it ends up being fulfilled by Amazon anywhere.

I buy local now wherever possible even if it costs a bit more, so Amazon orders have dropped right off. Weirdly the only thing I seem to struggle with is protective cases (for the brands I want) both for a phone and a switch. Their own store was more expensive than Amazon, so just had to take the hit on that one.

My family mostly boycotted Amazon after their pullback from diversity initiatives, amongst other things (anti-union behavior). We spend 80% less than we used to. The drop is probably even bigger than that because we had a kid just before we started boycotting and so our spending increased significantly. We will buy from Amazon if we have no other options, but 80% of the time there are plenty of other options and often they are cheaper.

Amazon has Toddleroo products, but you can also buy them direct from the manufacturer at northstatesind.com and with the WELCOME10 coupon code it’s actually cheaper than Amazon, and you can use it more than once.

We also switched to shopping a ton more from Costco. Some products automatically get free shipping, like diaper genie refills. Costco didn’t back down from diversity initiatives so I basically said Take My Money (we already were avid Costco Warehouse shoppers).

The biggest challenge is shipping costs. I either have to order enough to meet the manufacturer’s minimum to get free shipping, or eat the shipping cost. That being said, Prime is like $180 a year? Even if I pay for shipping I think I am still saving money.

Been doing this for a couple of years now. Sometimes I end up paying a bit more or have to pay for shipping but that’s better than using Amazon for me. If I can’t find it I do without.

6. you have issues with the product but can not reach the company or get your money back etc.
7. the company has a massive data leak and your data is now openly available.

This is not to defend Amazon, but I - we - sadly are dependant on big companies. That's what made Amazon big, service. I'd gladly pay more somewhere else but have been burned too much.

It's a bad vs bad situation and we ants won't solve it in a legal way.

This used to be a thing but hasn't been for quite a while now to the best of my knowledge. It's hard to outcompete Amazon's logistics as a small seller, their whole store business operates at less than a 3% profit margin and they have scale to drive costs down which small sellers don't. They effectively subsidize the logistics with AWS, there's a reason Amazon became a monopoly after all.

Last time I did this I ordered from the companies website actually paid a couple dollars more and it shipped from an Amazon warehouse.

I do not get the appeal of Amazon. Every time I go there to buy something its filled with knock of junk at regular prices.

6. Amazon still delivered the product because they use Amazon for their own fulfillment.

Literally just had this happen.

ah yes, i do love buying from GAAMALASORF LLC. the family photos on their website are so charming.

Sometimes.

I was getting something I wanted and their website just referred me back to buying from Amazon. I emailed them because I was curious as to why. It was a pretty niche thing to buy. The guy emailed me back saying that the sales through Amazon keeping his listing towards the top of their algorithm made him more than if he sold direct and his Amazon listing would drop down lower in the search because so many people just go to Amazon.

In other words, Amazon is a cancer trap, and as long as most people go straight there to buy shit, sellers have to sell as much as they can on there.

3a it shows up in an Amazon box delivered by an Amazon truck.

I'm not sure where many people in this thread are from, but I have a question in case some of you who are complaining about, "I don't really have a choice," are from the US. Do you guys not have other online retailers? I thought the US would have Walmart, Target, Costco, etc. so that you could avoid using Amazon.

In Japan we don't have brick and mortar retail stores like the ones I mentioned above that carry all sorts of random products, but we do have Rakuten, which is an online shop/marketplace similar to Amazon. Does Amazon really have a grip on all online retail there?

$4 XOOMJI sandals do not exist outside of amazon lmao

Edit: this comment is not pro-amazon.

Some places don’t. 3M, for example, in spite of how big it is. I needed P100 filters. I go to 3M which links me to Amazon. I could go to Home Depot, or buy from the Amazon 3M store and pay 2/3 to half.

WEN. A tool company that actually sells their own from their site. For whatever reason, their stuff is 10% more expensive on their own site, plus shipping.

And let’s not forget returns, which are free, easy and require no packaging most of the time with Amazon. I hate to say it, but they’ve got keeping people hooked figured out.

Walmart does well. The shipping is faster with no membership. And the returns are easier than Amazon. Provided you make sure the “fulfilled by Walmart” box is checked. But it’s Walmart, run by shitheads and associated with Heritage.

Michaels does alright on the crafting materials side. As does Blick, on art supplies. Fabric Warehouse is fairly solid for fabric though their selection is a bit random.

People I’ve talked to actually like shopping in just one place. So you’re combatting the “one stop shopping” thing as well.