Alternatives to Amazon

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These days there is a lot of articles about Amazon, October 13th and 14th is in fact the famous one Amazon Prime Day. We will go totally against the current. Meanwhile, in case anyone is interested or has doubts, let's say something important: we will never, ever have an affiliation Amazon. And today more than ever we believe it is right to talk about alternatives to Amazon.

Being an article about Amazon we will mainly refer to theAmazon Prime Day. But the same applies to the Black Friday (did you know that 8 out of 10 Italians are ready to give up personal data in exchange for discounts? ¹). Every year these days generate an exceptional volume of sales. No company normal can keep up with similar trading pressure. Nothing good can come out of events like this. And this is one of the reasons why we chose this one among all the providers on the market Infomaniak.
During the Black Friday of 2019 have in fact proclaimed the #NoBlackFriday including it in theirs too environmental statute. Precisely to combat this unbridled consumerism, irresponsible which does nothing but squeeze the planet. It's no small thing. It's not something for everyone.

Alternatives to Amazon: why?

However, we know very well that say no to Amazon it's very, very complex. Those who have signed up are rightly enthusiastic about it. Their customer service is impeccable. They refund everything to everyone without ever saying a word. They manage to ship everything quickly, they often have the lowest prices and you can find almost everything.

But all this has a cost: a human cost for example. Despite Jeff Bezos or for several years the richest man on the planet ² (How much does Jeff Bezos earn?) its employees often go on strike and protest about poor working conditions ^{3 4 5}. The news came just a few days ago that almost 20,000 (twenty thousand!) US employees of Amazon And Whole Foods Market (still owned by Amazon) tested positive for coronavirus ⁶.

In the United States they have also had some major problems with pregnant women ⁷, while in Europe we ask ourselves if it is true that Amazon targets workers trying to organize and whether he has ever spied on political leaders ⁸. Last, but not least, his AI seemed to be slightly sexist ⁹.

Why not use Amazon?

The list of why it should be avoided Amazon it is almost infinite. In addition to the human cost, let's talk about the economic cost: throughout Europe he only paid 11 million in taxes on a turnover of over 4.5 billion euros ¹⁰. In the United States, Amazon has not paid federal tax since 2016. And he receives multi-million dollar tax refunds ¹¹. In 2020 alone, after 4 years, he had to pay 162 million in taxes in the United States (compared to 14 billion in income) ¹².

We can also go on talking about the horrible gamification of work ¹³, of the problems of Ring cameras (Property Amazon) with privacy ¹⁴, of the lend its own facial recognition systemFBI ¹⁵ and to always use facial recognition to monitor immigrants ¹⁶.

It can also be added that giants like Amazon they literally destroyed small businesses ¹⁷ because it is impossible to compete with a similar giant which, moreover, pays very few taxes even in Italy. Second The sun 24 hours in fact the giants Amazon, Google, Twitter, Airbnb And Tripadvisor they paid a total of 14 million euros in taxes ¹⁸.

Furthermore, Amazon has almost always been there at a loss because he makes money in other ways ¹⁹ therefore it cannot be defined as a fair competitor and companies normal they obviously can't keep up with a company that works at a loss. This is why it is important to take note of this and do your part.

The latest news on Amazon concerns the announcement by the EU Commission of the opening of a procedure and an investigation for violation of competition rules. Amazon would use confidential data of competitors to its advantage, favoring those who use its services ^{20 21}.

More news on Amazon

Since we published this article, many other articles have appeared on Amazon and on why not use Amazon.

• Amazon tried to force a seller to collect users' personal data;

• Is Amazon using fake profiles to wage war on unions?;

• the strike of Amazon workers in Italy;

• Amazon expands its work gamification program to encourage workers to work harder;

• Amazon sends flyers to explain how to vote NO to a possible union;

• huge anti-union campaign by Amazon;

• cameras inside vans to monitor drivers;

• Amazon forces warehouse workers into 10-hour mega-cycles at night;

• 400 politicians ask Amazon to raise workers' wages;

• minimal by Giovanni De Mauro, director of Internazionale:

• #makeAmazonPay;

• Amazon has been spying on its most politically active European workers for years;

• Documents show that Amazon copied products and search results to promote its brands;

• Like monkeys trained to advertise for Amazon (Nitter link);

• Amazon, record Antitrust fine: 1.1 billion for abuse of dominant position;

• Amazon has agreed to only allow five-star reviews for Xi's book in China.

This list could be extended if new news comes out.

Alternatives to Amazon: an ethical choice

In short, we are not sure that we will be able to offer you any real ones alternatives to Amazon, however, we want to make it clear that there are dozens of reasons not to use it which go far beyond simple personal convenience. The alternatives we can propose are nothing but use local shops as much as possible. If you want to buy online instead, try other e-commerce sites, thus differentiating your purchases even if this may cost a few euros more. For example, you can try on the official website of what you are about to buy instead of going to large retailers. A very banal example just to give you an idea: coffee Lavazza purchased on Lavazza.it and not up Amazon.

We can also suggest finding new e-commerce using tools like trovaprezzi.it, for example. If you want There's also a nice thread (Archive) on r/Italy about it with many interesting links.

Some suggestions alternatives to Amazon:

• Etsy, is a site that brings together millions of artisans from all over the world. They don't have their own warehouse but you will buy directly from those who produce these objects by hand.

• Reware, the importance of sustainable computing. This cooperative fixes computers (notebooks and desktops) and sells them refurbished on the market. Excellent for those who don't want to spend a fortune especially in this lockdown period when prices for laptops have tripled.

• Backmarket, at your suggestion ²² We also point out this great market for refurbished electronic devices. It is very well known and the comments on purchases are positive.

• Refurbished smartphones and tablets: as far as smartphones are concerned, we also talked about it above Feddit. On this page of The Nagi Blog you will find many useful suggestions which we summarize for you:
  • ReBuy
  • ReFurbed
  • Swappie
  • TomatoSmartphone
  • TrenDevice

• Bookdealer, the only real alternative to Amazon when it comes to books. Bookdealer in fact it is the first e-commerce platform in Italy to actively support independent bookstores. On Bookdealer you can really find independent bookstores throughout Italy and thanks to a Search engine well done you can search for all the books you want and buy them directly online from your trusted booksellers. Without going through Amazon or other large retailers!
• GoodBook, thanks to your report we also propose the use of this service. We have never tried it but it seems in every way similar to Bookdealer and even seems to have been born before. At first glance it appears to have far fewer libraries partner compared to Bookdealer.
• Thomann Italy, specialized in the musical field. Thanks for suggesting it ²³.

Change is possible but, especially in this case, it must be an ethical and personal choice. We won't tell you not to use Amazon because it's unreliable because that wouldn't be the truth. Our advice, however, is to use one of the many alternatives to Amazon.

As always, we recommend caution and a little patience to those who are not accustomed to drastic changes. Maybe try do not renew your Prime membership and to slow down purchases by resisting the unstoppable impulse to press the "buy with one click“. By deactivating Amazon Prime you can start slowing down the way you shop. Try to use Amazon only when you have reached a certain amount so as to spend less on shipping and then you can slowly try to do without it.

The planet can no longer bear another Amazon Prime Day or another Black Friday ²⁴.

1. Black Friday, 8 out of 10 Italians ready to give up personal data in exchange for discounts[↩]
2. The World's Billionaires[↩]
3. From the United States to Italy, Amazon workers are on strike due to the coronavirus emergency[↩]
4. Amazon couriers go on strike, Black Friday at risk[↩]
5. Stories and complaints of those who sort Amazon parcels in Passo Corese[↩]
6. Amazon, 20 thousand employees test positive for Covid[↩]
7. Amazon Allegedly Forced Pregnant People to Risk Miscarriages or Lose Their Jobs[↩]
8. EU politicians ask Jeff Bezos whether Amazon spies on politicians[↩]
9. Amazon scrapes 'sexist AI' recruiting tool that showed bias against women[↩]
10. How much tax has Amazon paid in Europe[↩]
11. Why Amazon paid no 2018 US federal income tax[↩]
12. Amazon had to pay federal income taxes for the first time since 2016 — here's how much[↩]
13. The more packages you make, the more points you get: Amazon turns work into a video game[↩]
14. Ring cameras and privacy[↩]
15. The FBI is Trying Amazon's Facial-Recognition Software[↩]
16. Amazon Pitches Facial Recognition to Monitor Immigrants[↩]
17. Does Amazon destroy more jobs than it creates? An investigation[↩]
18. From Amazon to Google, taxes paid in Italy for only 14 million[↩]
19. Stefano Barazzetta on Twitter, link Nitter[↩]
20. Antitrust: Commission sends Statement of Objections to Amazon for the use of non-public independent seller data and opens second investigation into its e-commerce business practices[↩]
21. Amazon, the European Commission accuses: «It uses retailer data to favor its products»[↩]
22. Tip on Codeberg[↩]
23. Mastodon tip[↩]
24. Black Friday is bad for the planet and should be banned, say French MPs[↩]

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