My family holds a prime membership and recently I've been seeing how long I could go for without needing to use it. Most things I was able to purchase on eBay. Most recently, I decided to buy pen stuff and JetPens was a good option. However they needed like $50 or something for free shipping so I splurged a little. The one pen ink refill I needed (Jetstream Prime SXR 600 0.5) was way too expensive on both jetpens and ebay so I had to purchase it on Amazon. Nonetheless, I think you can still buy on amazon without a membership so maybe deal with the longer shipping times but that's no biggie.
this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2024
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Amazon Prime is the biggest scam.
Ordering anything off Amazon takes like a week minimum here with insane shipping costs, prime or not, while ordering from any local store you usually get it the next day or the day after that for like 2 euros for shipping max.
It’s a joke unless you need something overnighted or next day and as a bonus - it will usually be improperly packaged and delivered with malice.
Prime Video catalogue is a pale shadow of what it used to be. Exclusives have dwindled. Now they want 3 bucks for no ads on top of paying for Prime? Naw.
Counterfeits are everywhere. That’s what Aliexpress is for (half joking). Frequently have to check the manufacturer’s site when pricing or picture seems dubious.
One delivery driver commandeers our neighbors’ empty driveway, swings the back doors open and blasts shitty pop music at full volume while fumbling through deliveries for 30 minutes every other day.
Buying direct is now often the same price more or less and you can get in a week anyway for negligible shipping price. Or even free shipping if you spend x amount.
So we cancelled too.
Yup, it's so easy now to buy direct. Same price, same shipping, no counterfeits. One of the things that was really annoying me about Amazon was how often my "new" item was so obviously already opened and returned, often with parts missing. I cancelled and haven't looked back.
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Muthafuckas act like they forgot about eBay. But seriously, shipping times and prices are often better and they've always sided with me with refunds, even when sellers tried to pull sketchy shit.
this wealth is controlled by a group so small, that they could fit on a single 747 airplane—with 260 seats left over
Honestly ridiculous state of things we have got to, that the majority of wealth in the world is owned by a group of people so small they can't even fill a relatively small 2-aisle airplane
Who the hell has a prime subscription? Bigger question is how to live without using amazon at all. We need some kind of improved
In my country I can finally start to pay vendors by wiring money instantly without the need for third party payment services. Fucking banks took their sweet time. All this inefficiency basically leads to a tax on all internet commerce that empowers people like Musk or Thiel via paypal.
I decided to not renew my amazon prime account when it expired in November. I did end up using Amazon once since then. Products on Amazon are overpriced, in addition to the annual fee. I didn't feel like I was getting my money's worth. I didn't like that there were ads on prime video, or fees for grocery delivery that used to be included in the annual fee.
I found a bento box at Marshall's for about $6-7, and the exact same one on amazon for $20-25. Also fuck Bezos and the exploitation of workers, and Amazon's aggressive union busting. and they stole Amazon fresh delivery peoples tip money.
I only activates prime with the 30 days trial when I bought a TV that didn't have free shipping otherwise. Canceled it the day when the TV arrived to my home.
I've done that 30 day free trial thing about three times, they caught on to me and started to make it extremely difficult to cancel. So I don't do that anymore. I just endure the long shipping times and it's no big deal. I don't need Amazon prime for anything, I don't watch movies or whatever else the heck promises they promise. I don't need it.
I do the same, it is not worth it. Ans they even ship big things now for free, so the wait of a couple of days is ok with me too.
the 30-day* trial
Just wait till you need to buy enough stuff to hit the $35 minimum for free delivery. It takes a maximum 4-5 days for stuff to arrive but sometimes they can arrive as early as 2 days. I never went on prime after my free trial.
I've been living without it my whole life so I guess it's possible
I had amazon prime for free for 10 years. It was free for students back then. Then i finished uni and they never bothered to check. This went on for a very long time. Only 2 years ago they killed the subscription and i never subscribed again.
I get the 1 month free trial every 9 months or so lol
I’ve never had one. I’ve never bought anything from Amazon.
I’m fine.
I been anti-amazon for about 5 years now.
Nothing lost or needed. If I need something I go to local store to find it.
My only issue with Amazon is tools that uses their cloud services and Twitch. But since last December I decided to switch to YouTube with ad blocker.
Planning on de-google and de-microsoft within the next two years.
yeah same for me, about five years.
it's not just that i can still get what i need. it's also that i just 'need' way less shit.
i think i realized i had a problem when my brother in law made fun of me for having an 8-port USB charger on my bedside table (with a single cable for my phone plugged into it).
There's weird stuff I can't find anywhere else or they're on sites that I don't trust my payment info with. Otherwise, planning ahead takes care of shipping times.
There’s weird stuff I can’t find anywhere else or they’re on sites that I don’t trust my payment info with.
This have a simple solution: generate a virtual credit card with just the amount you need for the transaction.
TBH, the games and books provide enough worth for me. Got the newest Dean Koontz book at the beginning of this month.
You mean to tell me Amazon prime hasn't been around since the dawn of life on earth????
Yup. I stopped using Amazon for anything but maybe searching the closest thing to a unified search engine for goods, and when I find good information or a product I need, I will find somewhere else to buy it.
Turn Amazon into a search engine. Buy somewhere else.