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?

To all those posters saying 'oh you don't have to use Amazon', there are so many other websites to use.

There is quite a lot of stuff I buy from Amazon I cannot source elsewhere

It's so fucking cheap and quick No quibble refunds. Lovely customer service. Free delivery.

Plus it's a one stop shop - an online market place.

Other than supermarkets. clothes shops and nice gardening sites, Amazon and Etsy are the only online ( market) places I use.

Amazon also refund you any delivery charge (and often give you the item for free) if it doesn't arrive on time too. I don't know any other retailer that does that. If they make a mistake, they often tell you to keep the extra items as well, rather than make you post them back.

^No they don’t. I stopped using Prime when they failed to deliver next day. Never had a refund ever.

I have Amazon Prime for the TV but whilst I have browsed Amazon I don’t think I have ever bought anything from them.

I look at what I want and use the reviews to make a decision then buy the thing from Argos or John Lewis because if anything goes wrong I have someone I can take the thing in and get a replacement

Amazon does pay tax - in Luxembourg - like (m)any other corporates with an international presence but headquartered in a lower tax jurisdiction

@misspiggy19 - they have always refunded me and typically give a gift voucher as well (Ocado style service)!

PS I don't use Prime

Aridne Do we know who was Fin min or PM of Luxembourg when this was set up? Wouldn't be JCJ perchance?

i get vouchers so i have to use it.

What I mean is if anything goes wrong in 2 years time I can get out the insurance and take the thing in.

Bought a nutribullet from Argos, I took out their 3 year warranty. (Read online that getting a refund/swap or repair was virtually impossible online)

It jammed when it was 2 years and 10 months old. Took it back to Argos who gave me a brand new one.

I doubt this would have happened if I had bought it through Amazon.

I find the indignation about amazon to be a bit precious, tbh. No one is forced to work there and they provide hundreds of thousands of jobs that all pay well over minimum wage (at least here in the US).

@misspiggy19

You must be unlucky. I used amazon pantry, bought over 80 quid of stuff. A couple of the boxes were damaged. I sent feedback saying the boxes were damaged, the contents were fine, but I wanted to let them know because next time it might be a problem. I said I wasn't looking for a refund, just feeding back.

They refunded the whole order.

I live many, many miles from a town and I'm disabled - so I use Amazon a lot. I love the fact I can order things from the UK such as food items.

The only issue I have with Amazon are the Chinese knock-offs.

My local shopping town charges a fiver to park and, if I go with the DH he always wants lunch so, even though I only ever have a cup of tea, that's another £8 or so. £13 before I have bought a thing. I cannot afford this as I'm an early retired teacher on an actuarily reduced pension and being also a WASPI woman, have another three years to go before I collect my state pension.

I am the second named person on my son's Amazon Prime account and it is a blessing to me to be able to buy goods without parking or Diesel charges.

I do, however, feel very sorry for high street traders who have been hit by a ridiculously high increase in the business rates, incredible council car park charges and online competition. My local town also allows street traders to operate at peak times and they, paying nothing like the fixed overheads of the shops, take all the business from under their noses.

I try not to use them. By which I mean that probably once a year they end up being the only place I can get something someone needs in time.

But it really is that rare, possibly more rare. Sometimes we end up paying more, or foregoing some convenience, but it’s worth it for my conscience’s sake!

I use them several times a week, I live rurally and popping to the shops (25 miles away) is probably not that great for the environment and I just don’t have the time. I have prime so get my moneys worth out of the free next day delivery. Most of my Christmas shopping has been done on there. I have going to shops, it’s always busy in town and often they don’t even have what you wanted anyway.

@misspiggy19

They always have with me, but you do have to raise a complaint/query about it. They also refunded me the cost of some de-icer when it didn't arrive for a week and I told them I had to go out of my way to buy some from elsewhere.

I've never had anything but excellent service from Amazon.

I use Amazon a lot even though I know I really shouldn't.

I use it but do feel a bit bad. I wish they'd sort their packaging out. I order quite a bit at xmas and then maybe once or twice a year in addition to that.

A friend of mine ordered a small pack of needles from Amazon and this is the package it came in

She did complain though.

I earn a full time living by selling on Amazon as a small business. A niche unusual product line, they would gather dust in local shops.
Amazon allows me to reach millions of potential customers and sell enough items to make me a profit- and pay tax.

I never use Amazon, not just for ethical reasons but I rarely shop on line. I work in retail, on the High Street, and it would be very hypocritical of me to shop on line & then complain when people don't use my shop , although we do offer our own on line service.
Also I am not very technologically minded and just don't like using on line services.

My husband had the misfortune to work at Amazon temporarily, until forced to stop by injury. I must say that it was an eye-opening experience, and these days when I hear people talking about all the "workers' rights" we have in this country I just have to grit my teeth.

For anyone who's interested there are plenty of news stories from journalists who have gone undercover at Amazon, you can easily google them.

We are on a tight budget, but I always look for alternatives to Amazon now. You can usually find things at similar prices elsewhere.

I have to say that if you need to advertise tours of your warehouse to show that your workers are OK, it's not a good sign.

I wish i didn’t use them, but whenever I try to buy what I want locally (30-45 min drive) I spend hours wandering around different shops and only find half of what I want. It’s frustrating.

Boycotted them a long time ago for many ethical reasons and won’t go back, there is life after Amazon

I use them several times a week

What on Earth are you buying? I buy from Amazon at christmas time and then maybe 2-3 times a year if I need some new electronic item or something like that.