To ask how you can live with yourself if you use Amazon

[paperbeatsrock]

Just kidding! All those political threads asking how people can possibly vote for X or Y must be getting to me.

I use Amazon. (While I’m frequently ordering from a vendor rather than Amazon themselves, Bezos still gets his cut.) Yet, the more I read about them, the more I realise I’m part of the problem. So I guess my question is, do you have stern words with yourself for using them, but keep doing it anyway?

Yep, it’s a real conflict. I have a friend who never uses them but I’m constantly lured back by the ease of ordering and delivery and low prices.

There are some items I will buy locally though if it’s easy.

I admire those who resist.

Yes...I am always saying I will stop using them but then do anyway. If I didn't have a kindle I'd close my account so I wouldn't be falling into the trap of convenience.

No i order as it is convenient for me. I'm paying for the service I use. I can't always get to town due to time and transport and children. I pay for the service Amazon provides. If he doesn't pay his taxes that's on him not the customers

Have massively reduced due to packaging & ridiculous tax situation.

If I get it in a shop now I do as it goes straight in my bag without cardboard, plastic and that air-filled plastic packaging, all for one thing.

Still struggle with books as not many bookshops left thanks to Amazon. And my kids have dots and we have amazon music.

Am aware it's likely a futile protest.

I use amazon as can’t get some things in store and eBay takes much longer to deliver

I do use Amazon, but I cancelled my Prime account as I did find it stopped me looking elsewhere and I was ordering things I might not have done if I couldn't a) have them almost immediately and b) had to meet a minimum spend or pay for postage.

So, not great, but I did break their hold on me a wee bit at least.

They don't sell anything that you can't get anywhere else because it's just a convenient delivery service.

DH has prime and he orders from it all the time. I wish he’d get rid of it. I try to avoid using it as much as possible.

Just read a Guardian article about delivery, and it’s not even just Amazon. All delivery is causing us problems.

I’m really trying to cut down, especially as I have a large amount of shops easily accessible by public transport. But because of delivery there is so much less choice now in shops. For example as a tall fat person I struggle with clothes

Can I live with myself if I only buy Kindle books?

Genuine question. I don't see any harm in that.

I think it depends. Yes I buy kindle books which is bad for Waterstones and bricks and mortar booksellers. But good for the trees (I've got the tablet computer anyway, so the un-eco-friendly consequences of buying that have already happened).

My son has a Garmin running watch. The other day the strap broke. Now where on earth would I get a replacement strap. I was able to get one the next day via my husband's Amazon Prime. Without Amazon I would probably have had to have bought a whole new watch. £15 versus £200 or so.

I know there are big issues with it, but it's not as clear-cut "Amazon is bad, high street chains middling, high street independents good" as people make out.

I try very hard to use both the high street, chain and local, and online retailers (esp notonthehighstreet where they are often small sellers).

There should be plenty of business for everyone if people try to shop around a bit!

I use it, it’s the convenience of it, cheaper, quick delivery, don’t have to go out the house, just too many perks to refuse even though I’d like too.

I’d be lost without amazon since popping to the shops involves a wheelchair, lack of access and more energy than I have spare! All my shopping is online. Amazon is next day and easy returns. If there was an alternative great but I haven’t found one yet.

I use it for things I can't get elsewhere, eg liquid soap refills as the supermarkets round here have stopped selling them and I didn't want to go back to bottles. Bulk buy nappies as cheaper, soon to stop (fingers crossed!). We do make a concerted effort to order in one large order every so often, rather than lots of little ones to cut down on packaging.

I do love my prime account. But I do buy lots from instagram accounts as well which are all small businesses.

I’m not happy about using amazon... but there are things on there that are pretty hard to track down other places, some things are considerably cheaper.

Then on top of that, I’ve had to use them twice this week because I’ve ordered things weeks in advance from other places and they haven’t arrived in time and amazon can get me them next day...

A lot of Amazon is made up of marketplace sellers (from one-person businesses to much larger scale companies) who use the platform to sell their goods. Yes, some are importing from China, some though are companies who have their own website, but are found by Amazon users instead of spending on marketing to promote their own site and some are small businesses selling products they design/produce on a small scale so can't afford a shop or chain of shops or don't have the expertise to sell in to the larger chains. Amazon provides a platform for those businesses who are also paying Amazon a lot to use it....but, they are using it and you are buying their products.

I do use Amazon but not a huge amount. I like being able to read reviews (although a) that doesn’t stop me shopping elsewhere for the same product if I want to and b) you have to be careful that they’re real). Having the protection of a large company is helpful (Amazon replace and refund without quibble, in my experience). And I use the Merketplace a lot for secondhand books, and I pick charities where I can.

If there’s something specific I want, it cheeses me off no end to have walked into town, trailed round half a dozen shops then found that the product I’ve decided on is out of stock.

Yes, they could pay more tax, and I would prefer it if they did, but then it’s up to governments to change the tax laws so they have to. I can’t imagine many companies - or people, come to that - who’d pay more tax than they were legally obliged to. Campaign for governments to close tax loopholes!

There are a lot of small businesses trading on Amazon, including me, who do pay our way, so don't ditch the site completely! It has its uses.

I don't use Amazon on principle, but I do order a lot online. People who say Amazon is so convenient and cheap have never tried other online shops. They use Amazon because they know it, it's their first choice because it's so well known, not because it's the cheapest place to shop. I have bought clothes, cosmetics, second hand and new books, tech stuff etc. online and have always been satisfied with price and service. I often buy directly from the producer, so e.g. my last purchase were some organic spices, I bought these directly from the firm that produces them.

All it takes is the small effort of using Google to search for whatever it is you want to buy, instead of typing it straight into the Amazon homepage.

nope I use them, not my fault he doesn't pay his tax, surely it is someones job to make sure he does, they should feel bad about it (and him!) but not me.

I’m afraid I hate shopping with a passion, so I don’t even feel guilty about using Amazon. It saves my sanity every Xmas. I’d be lost without it tbh.

Well, they pay a higher hourly wage than Tesco.

I try to look elsewhere but I do still use it sometimes. The tax thing is shocking though.