With the caveat that right now things are Extremely Not Normal, sometimes I feel like I have a lot of stuff in my Amazon cart that I ought to be buying locally instead just because Bezos doesn’t need more of my money. I don’t necessarily know sources to order things from that are not Amazon, though. Local is good but some things I have no idea if they’re available locally.
One thing I’ve heard of recently as an Amazon substitute for books is BookShop.org It’s a brand new cooperative of indy bookshops so I thought maybe someone here would be interested.
Right now I’m trying to find good wireless over-hear headphones with a mic and noise cancelling. I need it for my work computer which does not have bluetooth so the headphones I’m using now have a little USB widget to help the headphones and computer communicate. The ones I have now are cheap ones I got at Best Buy to see if I’d actually use them before I spent a lot of money and I do definitely use them a lot (6+ hours daily at work). Where would be a good place to shop for good quality ones?
Abebooks.com has an amazing selection of used books. I love them.
Where do I get a screen protector for my phone? Normally I’d get one on eBay but they are shipped from China and right now the shipping delays are awful. Amazon will ship me one this week.
More and more I’m finding that for anything useable, etsy sellers have fair and affordable prices. My local outdoors stores have decent websites and the national coop has a clearance section online.
For homegoods I’m using Canadian tire curbside pickup, where I’d often use Amazon or Walmart.
For fancy headphones, could you buy from the manufacturer? Or curbside at best buy?
B&H photo and video is a good source for a lot of electronic stuff – they have a huge store in Manhattan (their only retail outlet) but ship globally. Their prices are typically pretty competitive with the big box stores.
I’m researching hammocks. Ebay is cheap, but I’m assuming any new hammock on there is the same bullshit sold on Amazon, under a different name. Do I pay more for a hammock from REI? I’ll get a dividend, and I have a small GC that brings the price down. Ebay/Amazon is cuter and has a higher weight limit.
Leaning towards this one - it includes a donation to the National Parks Foundation.
Personally I buy most outdoor stuff from REI when possible, even if it costs a bit more – the 1 year return policy + the dividend makes it worth it. Also I “own” a bit of the business, can vote for directors, they donate to parks etc. I do wish they treated their retail employees better (many complain about not being able to get enough hours reliably to get benefits, etc). But as larger retail outlets go they are not bad.
If you can wait a bit, we are coming up on REI annual sale season – they discount a lot of stuff 20-50%, and there is always a coupon for 20 or 25% off one full priced item.
Agreed - of you can wait until the end of the month there are usually big sales. Also check online to see if the local store is doing the spring Garage Sale or of it’s online only - I’ve seen hammocks a few times at them.
Eno double is my favorite. I have a single and have napped in lots of different brands and sizes. If I was buying again I’d get the double.
It is clearance so you won’t get the dividend, but you don’t get divedends on sale/coupon purchases anyway. You will still get the REI credit card bonus if you use that for the purchase.
Another vote for the Eno double. It’s amazing! I love to wrap myself up in it like a cocoon. The single is good too, I just like the extra room to spread out. I got mine on Sierra Trading post a few years ago for like…$35-40?
I just bought some period panties and reusable pads (if that’s your thang) from Rael and I’m really liking them. I’ve tried Thinx and Dear Kates before and Thinx are just insanely expensive and aren’t really inclusive size-wise on the smaller end, which made them not very comfortable/usable for me. Dear Kates were better for sizing, but also expensive and they didn’t sell pads too…plus they stopped doing cute designs, which was like their best feature, lol. Rael is cheap and so far it all washes really well. Color me impressed.
I also second @Elle’s Etsy recommendation. I decided to randomly try some natural deoderant on Etsy (New Day Organics was the seller) and it was delivered super fast and also works really well! I was super surprised. I also ordered some chapstick and candles which were comparable in price to the fancy store brands I used to buy.
I need a few shims to support a cabinet on my uneven wood floor. I could see if the normal home improvement stores ship, but smaller business suggestions would be welcome.
The thing I’d really like to know is, is there any way to tell my search engine I do not want results from Amazon? I hate that 50% of the first page of results are amazon on any given search.