Buy European

Why did we give up the joy of shopping locally and in-person for convenience?

Time and convenience.

Going to a local independent bookshop, or whatever, is almost always a better experience. Going to specialist shops is almost always a better experience. But Amazon offers everything: and order can be done and dusted from your sofa in one minute, and you don't need to bother figuring out who stocks what you want since Amazon has it. And if you have Prime, you'll have it the next day with zero shipping costs.

Sure, it'll probably be counterfeit but... time and convenience.

I find getting stuff from local (or at least, national) businesses leads to far less utter shit.

Amazon might have it for a fiver...But you'll spend an hour working out if it's actually decent, and half the time it shows up as dogshit quality, with no compliance with local safety requirements.

Meanwhile, Argos might be a little more, but if you get something that's actually built to be sold in the UK. An actual product that does what it's supposed to, rather than a seller gambling you can't be arsed to return it.

Lakeland is another example. I could buy some random bit of kitchenware from dropshipper_28, and hope it works, and doesn't poison me...Or, I could go into Lakeland, and be reasonably confident that the one they stock is well regarded, and works.

TK Maxx is an example of the complete opposite: So much utter utter crap there mixed in with the half decent stuff.
Not worth my life sifting through it!

For future reference Amazon and eBay are full of counterfeit board games, and once reported do nothing about it other than refund you and remove the negative review. I usually go to independent known websites for games, or a store if they have what I want. An alternative to eBay would be boardgamegeek for used games, be careful with new games on eBay showing generic publisher provided imagery

Yup.

And even if you want to order something online, its super easy to find local or at least European small business alternatives. Im doing some 3D printing project and I need leather straps (Im making pipboy for my phone) - took me like 5-10 minutes to find several local and European small businesses with their own online stores.

As cheap as amazon if not cheaper.

Havent used amazon in 4 years, never will again. Fck Bezos and his ilk.

Good on you for supporting a circular economy, my friend. We have already produced more clothes than we need on this planet. There is no need for more.

You're figuring this out now ? The local thing, I meant

+1 to that.

It's so much more pleasant (well, when the shop owner know what they're doing). I've almost completely quit using Amazon and only shop online for what I can find a local alternative.

Including for books btw, at least here in France, the law has made it so that new books must be sold at the same price everywhere (including Amazon) and since the experience is so much more pleasant in my local bookshops I see no reason to give my money to Amazon ;)

I mean if you found a local shop that sells cheaper...no shit. Id even accept a nominal percentage bump for having a store. But I'm not buying local at 50% markup for anything.

To be fair that's probably because you were searching for Carcassonne which you can find pretty much everywhere. The problem with local is finding a store that actually sells what you want.

With clothes for example you can look through every shop in a commercial area and still not find what you're looking for if it's not currently in fashion in your country. Second hand shops are very good for this and I have many clothes from the UK and czechia this way. But this only really works for clothes.

Why did we give up the joy of shopping locally and in-person for convenience?

Because then I would have to go places and talk to people. Generally I want to avoid that. I can avoid amazon anyways.

Slightly different example but i needed an apple peeler not too long ago for a large batch of apples we received

I went on a search on the internet for a peeler but all the results are these apple peelers with springs and thin painted metal (or even PLASTIC peelers). I remembered as a kid working on an orchard they had these cast iron presses and peelers they had been using for literally a century

Went to an antique mall and scooped up a REAL peeler like these. Supported a local business. Got a TOOL that will last a lifetime

Also if you want to buy local but don't have a local board game café to go to, https://boardgameprices.co.uk/ is very good (they have mainland shops as well as UK ones). There's also a more mainland centric version but I don't remember it off hand.

the experience is not even comparable. i see a lot of people buying clothes online without much of a fuss but for me it's difficult to comprehend. like ok you buy without knowing if its your size just because you can send it back and change it? you risk needing send it back and wait days and days just to save a few euros?(and not in all cases) its not even convenient at this point. the thing that keep sites like amazon big is that on some products, especially electronics, their prices are hard to beat for a small business or even a big one that has physical stores. also people dont even bother anymore to go out and see if the product they need is sold by some shops in town, they go straight to amazon or some shit because they automatically assume it will be cheaper and i guess they became addicted to the dopamine of receiving the package you were waiting for. i always tend to cheap out on electronics and the prices of amazon always had an edge over physical store. but since i started buying used or refurbished there is no way i go back. for my chromebook i used mediaworld refurbished and got a good deal. sadly for things like clothes my city lacks in second hands shops so for now im stuck with vinted but its a step at the time i guess. wish we can go back when you used internet just to buy very niche things. (and also learn to buy used more)

Libraries here in Denmark have a pretty impressive and ever growing range of boardgames, including Carcassonne. I have been very happy using it because you get to try out a lot of games and maybe eventually buy the ones you really can't live without

Going to a physical store, browsing, and chatting up with the clerk is all part of the overall experience that makes shopping enjoyable!

It's a slower task to do that than to order online, but might create a nice memory and you'll be more mindful of the things you buy :)

Thanks for sharing your experience!

And you know one thing that vastly differentiate Amazon from your local game cafe? You can sit there and play, meet new people and even make friends.