Ebay, unfortunately.
Ebay has a long history of being a…controversial company.
I use Geizhals and see wheres the cheapest.
Else it dpends on physical vs speed vs convenience.
The manufacturer’s site.
@ALostInquirer@lemm.ee might want to add an edit to your post to get people asking for recomendatation and people giving recommendations to state what country and what locality in that country they are from without acronyms or nicknames
Might also want to state the country you’re from as well
Because I’m seeing a lot of what looks like US Defaultism in the comment and lemmy is a global platform
To anyone else reading this comment STATE WHERE YOU’RE FROM IF YOU’RE ASKING FOR RECOMENDATIONS OR GIVING RECOMENDATIONS!
Also this big text is just to get peoples attention so the comment doesn’t get buried
Bookshop.org allows you to buy books online, and 10% of sales (different from 10% of profits) support independent bookstores. I have a sort-of local bookstore whose hours don’t work well with my free time. I order online from bookshop.org and designate “my” bookstore to get the 10%. Win win!
Here is more info about bookshop.org
This site is pretty cool. Thanks for pointing it out!
Is the platform global or america exclusive
Don’t use US Defaultism on lemmy, reddit had that problem and I don’t want it here on lemmy as well
Ebay. Been buying most things through there and it’s been nice. As always, check to see if the seller has a good rating and usually it’s fine.
Posted most of this in another thread but I’m glad to spread the word. I usually find things by searching what I want to buy and then adding “-amazon”, “-etsy”, or “-wayfair”.
Some general recs:
B&H Photo or Microcenter for anything electronic or computer related
Sweetwater for music stuff, there’s a lot of great small music stores, or marketplaces like Reverb
For clothes, if you have any clothes you already enjoy, go directly to their brand website. If you don’t, go to local secondhand shops and touch, handle and try on some clothes to see them in person. I’ve discovered some brands I like by finding something in a thrift store that was well made but not my size or preferred color.
For house DIY stuff, we order from a local building supply store, but there’s also hardwareandtools.com, 1stoplighting, Waysource, Lightbulbs.com, Timothy’s Toolbox etc.
For food items, local grocery stores often offer online shopping and delivery. If it’s a specialty item or imported the import companies sometimes have their own websites.
For super fast, need it now shipping, Target has a lot of the same things Amazon does and even does same day delivery for an extra fee for certain items.
For something hard to find you can’t find another site for, try Ebay.
I do business with all sorts of independent retailers and have only had good experiences with them. These are sites that I’ve personally bought from but there are a lot of smaller sites just trying to make a place for themselves on the internet
I know you’re talking about american stores because I’m aware of those stores being from america from my time on the Internet but not everyone knows those stores are from america
So this is your reminder not to use US Defaultism on lemmy
follow brands and creators, not stores. shop directly from their sites or support local stores
even better: reduce, reuse
most products end up in landfills, buy used, ebay, local groups, thrift, etc
learn to upholster clothing, bake bread, etc, take money away from corporations
As a small business owner (blacksmithing), I fully support this. However, about 85% of our business is through an Etsy storefront, about 10% through Amazon, with the remainder through our own site.
I’d appreciate advice on additional storefronts.
Ebay. I buy new and used things there fairly frequently.
Have you looked into selling to reenactors?
They seem willing to pay for handcrafted stuff.
Haven’t focused on reenactors specifically. Most of our stuff is home furnishings. Hooks, plant hangers, curtain rods, pot rack bars, drawer pulls, joint braces for woodworking, fireplace hardware, decorative chains (like for chandeliers), etc.
Ren faire folks LOVE stuff like that, you should absolutely see if you have one nearby. If you’re in the states, each state usually has one.
By states I’m guessing america
Please remember that lemmy is a global platform and not everyone will know what states mean
remember that this is the internet, not america so please don’t resort to us defaultism
Jesus Christ. You’ve canvassed every fucking comment in this thread, and this one is actually doing what you want. Give them a break.
State where your from please
Lemmy is global
Shipping is global.
Most small creators do not have their own online stores. They depend on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, or some combination of the three
Buying a domain and a webhost costs money and people would need a regular income for that
What I’d like to see is some co-op online platform where people can collectively contribute to online costs though a small percentage of fees and / or donations
Ugh fuck Etsy. I used to sell on there. I’d make maybe $60 on a $100 item after their stupid fees
Great point. The limited times I have purchased from Amazon in recent history was accidentally in this manner. I think that purchasing directly from the creator’s/company’s website might send a message that some folks would like an alternative, but I don’t know that. Either way, it is less amazon.
I think if the only way to buy from them is through Amazon and you have the option to buy it from their site via Amazon you should definitely still take it! Like you said, at the very least they’ll see more traffic going through their site and folks who would’ve probably bought with or without Amazon.
Agreed. Except for one time last fall, I knew it was going to happen and did it anyway, thru the company’s website. That one company had their own portal and everything, didn’t know it came from amazon until it arrived 🤷 I’ll do it again! If I was selling stuff I am sure I would have to look at these few options out there.
As a business it’s possible to use Amazon for fulfillment only so that you can sell anywhere and have it shipped by Amazon.
Huh that’s interesting. I wonder if I’ve experienced this but didn’t notice
Many small creators also sell directly on social media. Unfortunately that’s mostly corporate owned social media, but at least they dont typically get a cut of the sale.
Even still, local creators will often pop up at events and conventions and stuff. They may not have a permanent presence, but you can still often buy stuff from them in person if you keep up with where they’ll be.
What social media are you talking about? If you’re talking about Facebook marketplace, they absolutely take a cut so it’s functionally the same thing.
These pop up events you are talking about are heavily concentrated in densely populated areas. If you have access you should absolutely take advantage of them but a LOT of people rarely have access.
From what I’ve seen, Instagram. I’ve never bought anything from Instagram so I’m not sure if it’s a built-in function, or if they use something like messaging and Venmo.
Instagram takes 5% of the sale straight off the top
I never thought to look it up (since I don’t use Instagram) but there is a way to set up a shop in Instagram and THAT is where Meta gets their cut.
All these years, I thought it was like some sort of Craigslist deal where people would advertise there but deal with payments in other ways. Oops.
All good. I do a lot of buying/selling of video game consoles and parts so I have a little more knowledge of these platforms than most.
The funny thing is Facebook marketplace is truly a Craigslist 2.0. It’s generally a great experience. I hate that zuck has control of it and I’m sure enshitification will hit it soon enough
And often a bit cheaper through outlets even if they do have their own store. Still, I’ll pay a little extra to keep it in the family.
This is what I do too. I try to go directly to the source either online or in person
This is great advice.
Do without. Buy less shit.
Your range is pretty broad. For digital media I have found myself using the Library more and more
Libby- ebooks, audiobooks, magazines
Hoopla- music, ebooks, audiobooks, and TV
Kanopy- films and documentaries
For real I cannot overstate how amazing a library card is with these apps.
wheres that’s peep with the info on the upcoming ActivityPub version of etsy
Flohmarkt?
Go local.
Idk what a local store is here. Everything is a chain.
Food? Publix or Winn-Dixie. Thats about it, save for the Asian market on the corner and a once a week farmers market that I never seem to be able to attend.
Meds? CVS or Walgreen’s. We have a local pharmacy, insurance doesn’t cover them.
Electronics? Best buy. There’s no mom and pop computer store
Furniture / clothing / household items? Thrift stores maybe?
Big Box stores didn’t just reduce mom and pops in my area, it killed them.
The only non-chain stores are for niche products like a smoke shop, the aforementioned Asian market, restaurants, and entertainment venues.
For electronics try Swappa or Jawa
Thanks I’ll check them out!
Reminder to mention the country they are in
Don’t resort to US Defaultism
I know these are american stores because you mentioned cvs, best buy and walgreens but I dont know about those other stores being from america and some people won’t be aware that these stores are located in america
Please don’t resort to US Defaultism on lemmy
Does it actually matter what the names of the stores are? From context, I know you know they’re chain stores, as opposed to “mom and pops” regardless of location, and more or less what they sell.
Do you expect me to know what country you’re from and tell you the stores near me are actually the stores near you?
I don’t live near a Tesco, or a Tim Horton’s, yet if I didn’t know what those were and you put them in a post about places you’re forced to buy food, as opposed to the small shops you wish you had, I could safely assume they were grocery stores.
Stop making “US Defaultism” an issue where it isn’t. It is real, and this isn’t it. I am a person describing my experiences and I happen to live in the United States. Why on earth would I write about how inconvenienced I am by a brick-and-mortar chain electronics store in Germany?
I need a local searchable storefront
Aren’t pretty much all storefronts searchable, or is it a Europe thing?
I shop primarily local and find stores with ddg/Google/Google maps. I live in a country where Amazon doesn’t exist, and shipping takes at least 3-7 days, so I’ve always bought stuff from local stores. Of course not everything is sold in a physical store, for which you’ll probably have to use ebay.
For large chain stores that happen to be local, Google is fine. But I can’t get an inventory from the local mom&pop grocery. Or even the local game stores that have a website with an inventory, Google doesn’t search among them, so I’m stuck going to multiple websites to search by hand.
It’s just a pain, and if it’s a pain, I’ll only do it half as much as I could.
Wish and Temu? Sell about 90% of the same shit for pennies on the dollar.
But you also didn’t specify that the alternatives have to be ethically superior. 🙃
Let’s say ethically better then, to be more specific and explicit. Although, if we want to talk rock bottom ethically, I think we’d have to go darkweb, no?
Not dark web, you just steal what you need
Nah my darkweb dealer network is unionized, so it’s better for sure.
I guess it depends on whether you want to buy drugs or people.
Just go to Alibaba bro. At least they also have high quality products
💀
Lots of mid-sized local stores opened web stores during the pandemic, at least here in Europe. I’ll often shop at those, even if they’re not truly local to where I live.
Bandcamp or 7Digital for music
