Is there a legitimate or significantly better alternative to Amazon?

Prime is worth it, imo, and works reliably well. It has some music options i like and use as well.

Ebay is #1 for me, quite a bit better than Amazon.

I only use Amazon if the price is significantly better an that's rare.

I do read the Amazon ratings and comments, and then buy from Ebay, Home Depot or Walmart.

Whichever has the best price and is most convenient for me.

P.S. Prime sucks.

I've never used it and Amazon is obnoxious the way they keep pushing it.

You could always support your local economy and go shopping in person, like a stupid caveman.

Prime shipping speed is very fast. Bought stuff on Ebay and commonly wait three times as long. Less buyer assurance and recourse on ebay if something goes sideways.

dunes runner wrote:

Ebay is #1 for me, quite a bit better than Amazon.

eBay usually wins on price, but the OP's issue was with shipping which is Amazon's forte.

Better alternative to Amazon ... for what?

Prime is great ... free shipping.

Amazon has everything ... gaskets for 20 year old gas cans, exact slider rails for my cabinet, furniture, tools, food, clothes, etc. I could order everything I need to live for the rest of my life off of Amazon ... and I could even purchase a casket for when I am departed.

Yes, I could get screwed by local mom and pop business ... over priced and limited supply. Mom and pop ain't doing me no favors.

Angry Willy wrote:

Better alternative to Amazon ... for what?

Prime is great ... free shipping.

Amazon has everything ... gaskets for 20 year old gas cans, exact slider rails for my cabinet, furniture, tools, food, clothes, etc. I could order everything I need to live for the rest of my life off of Amazon ... and I could even purchase a casket for when I am departed.

Yes, I could get screwed by local mom and pop business ... over priced and limited supply. Mom and pop ain't doing me no favors.

Sure you can, and you might be surprised to know that "Subscribe and Save"would keep it coming even after your in that casket. Now, that's some company!

Walmart.com has free two day shipping for orders over $35 on almost everything they carry and they have pretty much everything that Amazon does.

People exist that don't have a prime subscription?

And ebay? Lol, they are still around?

Amazon prime has unmatched shipping options - best shipping by far. And you also get a bunch of free movies, which is much better than Netflix.

Walmart shipping is second best, but it's only free for orders above $35.

Only problem with Amazon is that it's so good that it's gonna take over the world and put everyone else out of business. Hoping a blockchain solution comes soon that will save us from the evil monopoly.

Amazon isn't a store, it's a platform. They make most of their money from third party sellers. So you really aren't buying anything from Amazon; you're buying it from retail arbitrage "entrepreneurs" who buy stuff in bulk at brick and mortar stores and resell it on Amazon. Or you're buying it from drop shippers who just funnel garbage from some factory in China through Amazon. Platforms like Amazon and Shopify actually encourage this practice. There are no guarantees that what you are buying isn't fake or complete crap. Most of the time it is. The problem is when you search for a product on Amazon, it groups every seller together. Sellers with the best reviews get surfaced first. In order to get in the top 5 for search, these sellers pay click farms to order products and have them shipped to random addresses. Then they can leave verified reviews.

Either buy from a local shop or buy directly from a retailer and deal with a little inconvenience in your life.

You just lost your whole arguement right there with that one lie (Boldface above). I've used the site for many years and so has my whole family and there has never been the slightest indication as to the authenticity of what we were getting.

seattle prattle wrote:

Bought stuff on Ebay and commonly wait three times as long. Less buyer assurance and recourse on ebay if something goes sideways.

That's total nonsense.

I've been using Ebay for years, and the shipping is fast. I've received things from the opposite coast in 2 days.

The great thing about Ebay is that you're doing business with Individual Sellers, which is not the case on Amazon.

Every individual seller has a rating, and you can look through and see rating comments.

Plus the shipping time is posted at the top of each listing, and things usually arrived sooner than predicted.

Besides that, in decades of using Ebay, I've never lost a penny, besides if an item doesn't meet specs,

you can file a claim and get a full refund. That's not the case on Amazon, which has a much more difficult process.

I have used Ebay for years and pretty much never had a problem. Many Ebay sellers just drop ship from Amazon and I get two-day shipping that arrives in an Amazon box. Plus, I feel there are way more choices are on Ebay and I can be loyal to certain sellers.

If you live in Asia, AliExpress and Alibaba are way bigger than Amazon.

Look Elsewhere wrote:

If you live in Asia, AliExpress and Alibaba are way bigger than Amazon.

Thanks for that irrelevant info.

Look Elsewhere wrote:

If you live in Asia, AliExpress and Alibaba are way bigger than Amazon.

or flipkart too wrote:

Thanks for that irrelevant info.

Actually, I live in California and have purchased from them.

dunes runner wrote:

P.S. Prime sucks.

I've never used it and Amazon is obnoxious the way they keep pushing it.

You've never used it and yet you feel qualified to say it sucks. This is you and all your other phony personas in a nutshell.

Amazon's website to me is unattractive and full of distractions. I do not like buy from it. I typically buy from specialty stores that offer similar prices. For example, running shoes I'll buy from an online store. Price is the same or less, easy to navigate website and better shipping and return policy. I think Amazon will be a thing of the past in 5 years. Very low barriers to entry except making it simple, which for many people is hard to do.