Feels like I'm giving all my money to Amazon

[Curlewwoohoo]

I am shopping on Amazon so much I feel like I should just give them a set chunk of my salary every month. I know they're not a great company but it's a really hard habit to break - feel a bit like they've got me over a barrel where I'm prioritising convenience. Recent purchases have included a bikini, kids water bottles, paint testers, phone case, bedroom curtains, and a bike tyre. I would have had to go to several sets of shops and taken hours to get these things another way. Which is of course why they are so successful. On top of this is the prime subscription and music subs every month. I feel somehow uneasy! Is everyone like this, these days? If so, it's pretty nuts?!

No. I find Amazon pretty crap these days TBH. It can be hard to find things, some stuff is really expensive, and I prefer to feel the quality of things before I buy them.

I have stopped using Amazon. I find that many local businesses have started doing online sales and many are as fast as Amazon. I found Amazon is not cheaper anymore.

I developed a bit of an Amazon habit. This month I decoded I'm only buying once a month and will place one "big" order a month rather than all the bits and pieces - partly becuase it's embarrassing how often the van turns up!

So, we've got the the end of the month and I can't remember a single item I was planning to buy....

I gave up my (hugely overpriced) Prime subscription a couple of months ago, and I now find that I shop there much less.

Without the loveliness of being able to get whatever you want within a day or two with no postage fees, Amazon really is about as appealing as popping in to Poundland or B&M.

It's a tat megastore.

So I suggest just dropping Prime and seeing how much your purchases dwindle.

I run a retail business and used to sell on Amazon, a couple of years ago a customer messaged us through Amazon asking would we give him a discount if he bought two items, unfortunately due to Amazon fees we could not do that, but due to those fees we had to charge around an extra 15.00 pounds per item making them quite expensive compared to the normal retail price . so I replied to the customer that if he searched for us online he should visit our website and he could save himself 30.00 in total by buying from us direct, he said thank you and he would do, we actually tracked his IP , he found both items on our website but then went back to Amazon and bought them through there instead.

Its absolute madness, as a retailer, small businesses face a hell of a lot of charges for advertising through there and not only that we are supposed to happily give refunds if the customer asks even without querying it , ( there is a process you can go through but we’ve never been successful in arguing our case for no refund)

We no longer advertise on there due to those issues but our business has definitely been affected by not advertising, whether us small independents like it or not everyone shops through Amazon even if it proves more expensive, it is quite soul destroying and I do wonder what retail will look like in years to come

The easy refunds is what makes Amazon popular though. I'd have bought a high value item through them rather than direct from you, even if it was a bit more expensive, for that exact reason.

I’ve stopped entirely. Yes, it takes more time and effort but that just means I buy fewer things. Which helps with the money. Essentially, I buy less but higher quality and more local.

I was already boycotting but the Bezos wedding was a shining example of why concentrating wealth into the hands of scary, self-serving, narcissistic men is a terrible idea.

I love Amazon. Trying not to order more than once a week. There's always something I want.

We’ve stopped too, just started feeling uneasy about their business practices. It had become a habit but I resolved to avoid if at all possible and it’s been easier than I thought it would. We probably pay more for things but I feel better about not using them so it’s okay.

I try to only buy cheap things through Amazon.

Anything more than £50 I try to buy from someone else.

Absolutely, you as a customer are completely protected, but us a retailer have lost thousands and I mean thousands which we struggled to afford after a while, one high value item got sent by us via a tracked serviced, the customer demanded a refund due to non delivery but we had clear photographic evidence that it indeed had been delivered and to the correct address, we opened an investigation with Royal Mail, the delivery guy even knew the home owner and using his camera evidence also agreed it had been delivered and he remembered delivering it ( it was very unusual packaging so he remembered it well) but Amazon still agreed with the customer and we lots hundreds of pounds,

I pretty much stopped using them about 4 years ago. I do still buy the occasional phone charger if I need something now. But I really rarely need anything now. We've just got used to not waiting. What has made it harder is when a family member gets Prime for "free" with a new phone contract. Then it's hard to not use Amazon for an item that is significantly cheaper on there. Plus I have a Kindle... I hate them but know I'm a hypocrite to still use them a few times a year. But they are not my go to resource now.

I sometimes delete the app and marvel at how much money I save! But it’s so useful, that I always go back. As a busy working mum it’s a lifesaver for when you need something for the next day and also I love the subscribe and save element which means loads of our “essential” household stuff arrives automatically reducing mental load for me.

I stopped when they started letting other companies advertise directly and it got swamped with Chinese tat.

I’ve stopped because of tax issues, treating employees like shite, trump boycott and it’s so easy to just buy shit on there.
So now I buy less shit (brilliant for the environment) my local businesses have picked up the slack as has Argos (bloody love Argos). I was never one to buy household stuff there but supermarkets, dunelm, range and home bargains are so much better. You can see the stuff and touch it.

I detest Amazon with a passion. The way they treat their staff is awful.

But, more importantly, do you really need all that stuff? Isn't it the idea of having to get all the 'right' things in the 'right' way the source of the stress? It's certainly polluting the planet, even if you buy from another purveyor of tat!

I used to use them (only for items from suppliers I knew and fulfilled by Amazon, I agree that their "marketplace" is full of absolute no-quality-control garbage) and have consciously stopped. I completely understand it feeling difficult or even impossible; I'm in the middle of nowhere (there are shops, but mostly pretty basic chain) but if I genuinely need something then other places do deliver and you can often even get free delivery on a first order, with a code, over a certain amount, etc. It is more time and work (research) though. I think the hardest thing for me is books, because I do use ebooks and they have kind of cornered the market but there are other options for those, too.

No - other than books there is nothing on Amazon that I would want to buy.

I do have a Kindle but try to get second hand books on eBay or use the library, which is very nearby and still lets you reserve and order in books for free.

I cancelled my prime account as I really dislike amazon, but I have a physical disability and no car so amazon is often a bit of a lifesaver.

I still use it for books, my preferred tampon brand (organic) which they never stock in shops, and odd bits & pieces. I do check if I can get them more cheaply elsewhere first.

In a few years I hope to move somewhere more central to town which would mean I don't need to rely on it half as much. If I can increase my earning power I'll be in a position to make more ethically-conscious shopping decisions too.

I recently stayed away in a town for a holiday and it was sooo much easier - I had much more choice about where I shopped and how I shopped.

most of what is bought on Amazon is a want not need, so if trying to cut or reduce habit, just add what you want to your basket but don't go to checkout comeback 48 jhours later and double check you still want it or better still wait until the end of the moth see the total of all your wants in the basket and decide whether you can afford it and if so is that definitely what you want rather than extra savings. I would guess by the end of the month you will be wondering why half of it is even in your basket

I am not talking about ordering essentials but spotting stuff you "want " when scrolling

most can be found elsewhere and all UK buisnesses have to give you the right to return anything for a full refund including original postage for any reason whatsoever. provided still in same codition etc for 14 days from receipt of goods (unless customised made to measure perishable or something that dates ie concert tickets)

Apparently your local library can do ebooks now for free.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5364443-free-newspapers-did-not-know-this?reply=145361879

I try to avoid Amazon, though I’m not a big buyer of random stuff anyway. I do quite a bit of “click & collect” these days, which I find handy. As someone said above, Argos is great for random things, and libraries do free ebooks (and newspapers and magazines).

I find argos absolutely useless these days. I've tried to buy from them many times in the last few years and it's always something which doesn't deliver to my area and its out of stock at nearest argos stores.

@Summerhillsquare
Have you seen Life and Death in the Warehouse? It's shocking. It's at pains to say it's not alluding to any specific retail corporation, but the message is loud and clear.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00157z7