Ask Lemmy

Fun side story. My first job as a developer, I was working in a small porn company in downtown Chicago. We had just hired a few people, so being the only techy in the company it was on me to order a bunch of hardware from NewEgg.

It was supposed to be delivered days later. But no, they had an employee, just like a regular dude, hop in his car and deliver the order on the same day. This was probably 2006, so same day delivery way NOT a normal thing.

I rarely get to tell this story because I don't want people to know I started off my (somewhat long) software engineering career in porn and because who cares about this in today's world.

However, OP mentioned NewEgg, so it fits here.

Federated Amazon alternative coming soon?

This isn't really an answer to the question, but I just saw a Mastodon post about an online store that's opening this October called Artisans.coop

It seems to be a cooperatively owned Etsy alternative, (and I can only assume it's a response to whatever shenanigans went on between Etsy and Silicon Valley Bank.)

B&H Photo Video is a decent place but stock is always iffy. More of a consumer electronics store than newegg in my experience.

I'm not an Amazon fan either. But you may want to know that Newegg is owned by a Chinese company these days.

For a lot of consumer electronics (and of course camera and video) I go with B&H

If it's something I know I want to buy from a specific brand, I'd rather just buy from the vendor directly if that's an option.

https://www.abebooks.com/

For used books.

A combination of Micro Center, FS.com, and eBay for computer parts. Anything worth researching I'll try and buy direct from the manufacturer.

Dumb cheap stuff still goes to Amazon because if I need a $2 female USB-B to male USB-C adaptor or something like that I'm not willing to go through more than about 5 mins of searching and I know there's some random blob of letters company on the Amazon marketplace that will give me something that functions. I definitely wait until I have something critical or reach $30+ before actually placing the order though.

eBay! Craigslist!

Craigslist is more fun but more limited. eBay for the things I can't find on CL. Both really enable you to shop locally too which is excellent

In Belgium & Netherlands, we have an alternative called Bol. I use it, but I wonder how much more ethical it is in the end.

For painters, dickblick.com sells Liquitex and Golden paint cheaper than Amazon.

I know it's not feasible for everyone, or even most people, but I just generally avoid shopping online as much as possible.

I have gone to the source and bought off the top 4-5 Chinese sites. Slow, but so far no issues.

Walmart occasionally, but their website is terrible and selection limited.

Microcenter for pc parts.

eBay for a few things.

Adorama and the other big NY camera seller (edit: B&H) often have deals on things like laptops.

Rock auto for car parts. Car-part.com for used car parts when my wife hits yet another deer.

Amazon, still way too much.

It depends on what you're trying to buy. For CDs and Vinyl I go with Discogs, usually. There's also Mllusicstack, though I haven't gotten around to trying it yet.

leboncoin.fr I'm in France. It's our local craigslist.

I use Ebay as an alternative for some purchases, but I primarily use Amazon.

I use Target most, I think. For random household stuff I can’t get through Target I use Meijer (it’s a grocery+ store) or the local Ace Hardware and do same day pickup.

Honestly those cover probably 75% of purchases. Everything else I google until I find what I want, then spend a couple hours trying to decide if the site is legit or if I can find the manufacturer direct.

I really don't like amazon. They are a scummy business that try to exploit their workers as much as possible. But jesus it's hard to find competition.. I sometimes end up using Amazon as it's mostly the less expensive choise unfortunately. My sister buys loads of books from there and I get it. They got better prices for that as well..

Wayfair occasionally

eBay for general stuff, ABE Books for... well books and HMV/Zavvi for films.

I love Chewy! I also like to buy gifts and handmade items on Etsy.

Interestingly Amazon is almost non existent in Switzerland. I think they didn't ship or only with high fees in the first years so it never became famous. We have our own solutions like galaxus.ch or brack.ch. I only ordered twice on Amazon and that just because the products were not available in any other shop.

Target. Best Buy. Walmart, if I have to. The Shop app is pretty good.