Etsy is good for various things. Probably not vitamins. Do you not have a Vitamin Shoppe / similar around you? Or a specialty health/organic store tends to have a large selection of that stuff.
Anything against eBay?
Also sometimes an Amazon seller has their own website store too.
Props for doing this, that’s a tough one to give up.
One of my staples is kasha (toasted buckwheat groats). I eat it for breakfast every day with eggs (eggs are what stand between me and veganism). For some reason that neither I nor other people on the internet can discern, there is no such thing as good domestic kasha. If you cook kasha from Russia or Poland correctly, it comes out like rice, with firm individual groats. If you do that with domestic kasha (I’ve tried them all), it turns into mush. So anyway, Amazon is by FAR the best source for this stuff (Uvelka brand is superior IMO). Only other easy online place to buy it is Walmart, and I sure as shit am not doing that. There are people selling it on eBay, but yikes, buying food from eBay?
Los Angeles is chock full of Russian markets, so I guess I could start visiting them or calling them to find some place that has it. Which, like my pet supply store experience, really exposes why Amazon is so appealing. Rather than use Amazon I’m going to expend like 100x the time and effort, and probably pay more when I do find it.
I believe fish oil is one of the supplements with the most documented positive benefits iirc.
Update:
I have not purchased anything from Amazon or Whole Foods since starting this thread. In general, it hasn’t been THAT difficult. Sourced supplements from a few different places (manufacturer websites, Costco). Have used local retailers wherever possible.
My eBay experiences have been mixed so far. I did end up buying some kasha from somebody off eBay. It took two weeks to get here and was packaged in a way that suggested I had purchased food from a hoarder in a trailer. So I definitely still need to work on my Russian kasha sourcing.
Just got a new car and needed some license plate frames (got my car through a broker and the frames he put on are not appealing). This would be such a standard Amazon purchase - hop on there and be done in 30 seconds. Without Amazon was MUCH more annoying. No local retailer is going to stock more than a few varieties. After Amazon there are 1000 online options, none remotely as convenient. Ended up buying frames directly from the company Weathertech. But each time I buy something directly from a company online I’ve got to register all my info etc etc etc. And that means all these smaller companies have my credit card info as well.
Finally I’ve tried Target a little and they suck ass so they’re off the list. Bought something from them online with same-day pickup and they fucked that up when I really needed it that day. Plus, when I was in their store trying to pick up the thing they said they could sell me, I bought some milk and when I got home discovered it was expired. So fuck them. Besides, they would totally be Amazon if they could be, they just don’t have those elite Amazon world-domination skills.
Thanks for this thread. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.
Is it specific to Amazon, what you’re doing, or large corporations more broadly? I’m not going to give up Amazon just to subject myself to WalMart or Target, for instance. … is eBay better?
I don’t buy a lot of stuff so on the one hand, quitting Amazon seems easy. On the other, it’s incredibly useful for the weird and specific stuff I do buy, from art supplies to cheaper lamp oil.
This whole thread is the wrong way to deal with Amazon. It’s going to need to be fixed at the collective level not the individual level. I say this as someone who was, until very recently, super afraid that Amazon was going to show up and ruin my industry.
Amazon has some positive features and some negative features… but nearly all of those features good and bad are direct results of government policy and can only be fixed by reforming those policies.
I wish I could say I have a grand plan or goal. It really just started with a general sense of “Amazon bad, my friend’s pet rescue/supply store good”. This is a casualfan Amazon rebellion. If I had to pick one specific issue I have with Amazon, it would be its treatment of workers. So when I’m picking alternatives that’s probably the most important thing I’m looking for. In general if I can buy what I’m looking for from a small local business that would be my preference.
When I picture a (the?) horrific dystopian future, buying everything from Amazon with two clicks and having it delivered in 3 hours or less via a drone, thus further eliminating the necessity of ever having human contact, is definitely part of what I picture.
One of my abiding principles since Trump was elected is “do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good”. Carrying water in my car to give to homeless people when I see them isn’t going to end homelessness. My boycotting Amazon won’t stop Amazon. Small, daily personal efforts to be part of the solution make me feel better.
I ordered some glass straws from eBay and they arrived in an Amazon envelope yesterday, presumably via Amazon courier. I’m guessing that sellers can use Amazon fulfillment even for stuff that is purchased elsewhere. They got me!
Every time I see a double-parked Amazon van, which is every time I see an Amazon van that isn’t moving, I want to engage Ramming Mode 
Even if it were true that an individual’s purchases make no difference in the long run (which seems most likely NOT true; see Will MacAskill, Doing Good Better chapter 6), it feels good to live in line with one’s principles. It is for your own sake that you act on what you think to be right. Removing even a small amount of hypocrisy from your life feels good.
Spending your money (or not spending it) ethically accomplishes a lot more than voting ethically imo.
Uline has a lot of handy things, especially if you’re fine with buying in bulk. They seem like a not-evil company. They’ll send you a massive catalog for free if you ask.
I broke up with Amazon by moving to a country where shipping costs are prohibitively expensive for most items*
*You can get some items with free shipping from Amazon.de so long as you buy something worth more than 35 EUR. But the savings aren’t really there for most things unlike America.
So I got scammed on eBay. Bought an item (a light for my hat since it is now dark when I run in the AM). Heard nothing from seller, didn’t think about it. On the original “guaranteed to arrive by” date I messaged the seller asking if it had been shipped. They replied “ETA tomorrow”. Didn’t arrive, I messaged again, and they sent “tracking information” from some sketchy company called Bluecare Express. The next day that company shows tracking information that the package had been delivered and handed to a resident, which is impossible because nobody was home. I messaged the seller. They didn’t respond, but quickly filed a case or something with eBay, sent them the (made up imo) tracking information, and with a few minutes of opening the case eBay was like “fuck you, seller sent tracking info, no refund”. Seems like the seller knew exactly how this process would work. If you Google “Bluecare Express scam” this is not uncommon.
So that sucked. If it’s that easy to scam on eBay then obviously I can’t use it. I don’t care THAT much about the $15 or whatever, but the aggravation isn’t worth it.
eBay is a place I have always avoided. Never felt like it was worth the amount of work you might have to put into it.
Lol eBay not requiring people use legitimate shipping companies.
