Ebay. Been buying most things through there and it’s been nice. As always, check to see if the seller has a good rating and usually it’s fine.
Wish and Temu? Sell about 90% of the same shit for pennies on the dollar.
But you also didn’t specify that the alternatives have to be ethically superior. 🙃
Just go to Alibaba bro. At least they also have high quality products
Let’s say ethically better then, to be more specific and explicit. Although, if we want to talk rock bottom ethically, I think we’d have to go darkweb, no?
Nah my darkweb dealer network is unionized, so it’s better for sure.
I guess it depends on whether you want to buy drugs or people.
follow brands and creators, not stores. shop directly from their sites or support local stores
This is what I do too. I try to go directly to the source either online or in person
Most small creators do not have their own online stores. They depend on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, or some combination of the three
Buying a domain and a webhost costs money and people would need a regular income for that
What I’d like to see is some co-op online platform where people can collectively contribute to online costs though a small percentage of fees and / or donations
Ugh fuck Etsy. I used to sell on there. I’d make maybe $60 on a $100 item after their stupid fees
And often a bit cheaper through outlets even if they do have their own store. Still, I’ll pay a little extra to keep it in the family.
Great point. The limited times I have purchased from Amazon in recent history was accidentally in this manner. I think that purchasing directly from the creator’s/company’s website might send a message that some folks would like an alternative, but I don’t know that. Either way, it is less amazon.
I think if the only way to buy from them is through Amazon and you have the option to buy it from their site via Amazon you should definitely still take it! Like you said, at the very least they’ll see more traffic going through their site and folks who would’ve probably bought with or without Amazon.
Agreed. Except for one time last fall, I knew it was going to happen and did it anyway, thru the company’s website. That one company had their own portal and everything, didn’t know it came from amazon until it arrived 🤷 I’ll do it again! If I was selling stuff I am sure I would have to look at these few options out there.
Huh that’s interesting. I wonder if I’ve experienced this but didn’t notice
Many small creators also sell directly on social media. Unfortunately that’s mostly corporate owned social media, but at least they dont typically get a cut of the sale.
Even still, local creators will often pop up at events and conventions and stuff. They may not have a permanent presence, but you can still often buy stuff from them in person if you keep up with where they’ll be.
What social media are you talking about? If you’re talking about Facebook marketplace, they absolutely take a cut so it’s functionally the same thing.
These pop up events you are talking about are heavily concentrated in densely populated areas. If you have access you should absolutely take advantage of them but a LOT of people rarely have access.
From what I’ve seen, Instagram. I’ve never bought anything from Instagram so I’m not sure if it’s a built-in function, or if they use something like messaging and Venmo.
Instagram takes 5% of the sale straight off the top
I never thought to look it up (since I don’t use Instagram) but there is a way to set up a shop in Instagram and THAT is where Meta gets their cut.
All these years, I thought it was like some sort of Craigslist deal where people would advertise there but deal with payments in other ways. Oops.
All good. I do a lot of buying/selling of video game consoles and parts so I have a little more knowledge of these platforms than most.
The funny thing is Facebook marketplace is truly a Craigslist 2.0. It’s generally a great experience. I hate that zuck has control of it and I’m sure enshitification will hit it soon enough
This is great advice.
As a small business owner (blacksmithing), I fully support this. However, about 85% of our business is through an Etsy storefront, about 10% through Amazon, with the remainder through our own site.
I’d appreciate advice on additional storefronts.
Have you looked into selling to reenactors?
They seem willing to pay for handcrafted stuff.
Haven’t focused on reenactors specifically. Most of our stuff is home furnishings. Hooks, plant hangers, curtain rods, pot rack bars, drawer pulls, joint braces for woodworking, fireplace hardware, decorative chains (like for chandeliers), etc.
Ren faire folks LOVE stuff like that, you should absolutely see if you have one nearby. If you’re in the states, each state usually has one.
By states I’m guessing america
Please remember that lemmy is a global platform and not everyone will know what states mean
remember that this is the internet, not america so please don’t resort to us defaultism
Jesus Christ. You’ve canvassed every fucking comment in this thread, and this one is actually doing what you want. Give them a break.
State where your from please
Lemmy is global
Shipping is global.
Ebay. I buy new and used things there fairly frequently.
Your range is pretty broad. For digital media I have found myself using the Library more and more Libby- ebooks, audiobooks, magazines Hoopla- music, ebooks, audiobooks, and TV Kanopy- films and documentaries
For real I cannot overstate how amazing a library card is with these apps.
Is that platform avalible globally or is it just limited to the country you’re from ?
State where you’re from because lemmy is a global platform
Who are they?
deleted by creator
From: https://www.baen.com/faq
Founded by Jim Baen, Baen Books has been bringing readers pulse-pounding, thought-provoking adventures straight from the heart of science fiction and fantasy for decades. We publish books in hardcover, paperback, and electronic form, and are one of the few traditional publishers that maintains its own ebooks webstore (with at least four new titles added every month). We are also perhaps the only book publisher to make our electronic advanced readers copies (eARCs) available for sale to devoted fans before a book’s official release date. In addition, we also sell ebooks from other publishers. We sell more than 2000 books from over 500 authors published by 24 different companies. Good reading to all!
One of the first and longer lasting ebook publishers for a LONG time.
Well at first glance it definitely seems a lot better than supporting Amazon!
Ebay, unfortunately.
Ebay has a long history of being a…controversial company.
Is that america exclusive or global
I’m replying to a lot of people on this post reminding them not to use US Defaultism
Bandcamp or 7Digital for music
mercadolibre.com is like Amazon, but in the amazon…
Mercado libre is literally the Spanish eBay.
I use Geizhals and see wheres the cheapest.
Else it dpends on physical vs speed vs convenience.
wheres that’s peep with the info on the upcoming ActivityPub version of etsy
Flohmarkt?
Lots of mid-sized local stores opened web stores during the pandemic, at least here in Europe. I’ll often shop at those, even if they’re not truly local to where I live.
deleted by creator
Google shopping or duckduckgo shopping are an easy first step. You can also search the name of the Amazon seller and see if they have their own store.
@ALostInquirer@lemm.ee might want to add an edit to your post to get people asking for recomendatation and people giving recommendations to state what country and what locality in that country they are from without acronyms or nicknames
Because I’m seeing a lot of what looks like US Defaultism in the comment and lemmy is a global platform
To anyone else reading this comment STATE WHERE YOU’RE FROM IF YOU’RE ASKING FOR RECOMENDATIONS OR GIVING RECOMENDATIONS!
Also this big text is just to get peoples attention so the comment doesn’t get buried
