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Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

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Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#21

Post by cute_boi »

f6v wrote: post #19
______- wrote: post #15

I can see the reasoning behind this. People don't want to help Bezos get another holiday home; they would rather funnel money into local businesses for obvious reasons (like helping a little boy buy his team jersey or a little girl get dance lessons for example). One caveat to the local alternatives is the friction involved if it's an e-commerce store where users have to register their details. Most will happily regi…

I don't think Bezos(or Gates, Musk, Zucker) reason in terms of holiday homes anymore. I'm absolutely sure they have a positive impact. They build spaceships, fight disease, and finance science. Whether the net outcome for humanity as a whole is better or worse with Amazon is highly debatable. By writing > like helping a little boy buy his team jersey or a little girl get dance lessons for example you appeal to feelin…

"They build spaceships, fight disease, and finance science."

They do it not for humanity but to earn more money. Its always money, power, and fame at the end.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#23

Post by ibic »

Well, I see the point but I'm not sure how well this will work out - When people shop online, they most likely favor the convenience over physical stores right? So how can this sway that person's mind? Another point is that, introverts may not enjoy that much talking with people and online shopping provided them a way of escape.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#24

Post by awillen »

Kalium wrote: post #16
corytheboyd wrote: post #11

This is a really good idea! I love my small businesses but being coddled by the internet is so real, you get used to immediately finding exactly what you want. With local stores, you have to put in some work sometimes, and ghasp talk to real people, potentially a few, at different stores, to get what you need. It sounds like a lot written out like that, but the important bits are that the people you talk to, you lear…

Last weekend, I went looking for a particular kind of garment. I wasn't hopeful, but I thought I would give local shops a chance. I did it by going around, looking in various local stores, and talking to people. I did this in four or so different spots. I spent probably three to four hours at it. After that process, I was no closer to the garment I sought than I had been when I woke up. What I had learned from my eff…

Man, I read the first paragraph and was 100% sure this was going to be a tale of how some garnet salesperson educated you on the intricacies of the market and your life was better for it.

Turned out just how I feel instead... the idea that talking to people at local stores helps you find stuff is fine, except that I don't need help because Google is much, much better at finding stuff.

Even if you don't know exactly what you want, searching online gets you in front of a range of perspectives that you can compare, as opposed to going to the store, where you get the perspective of the person who happens to be working.

Now to be clear, I definitely like to support my local small businesses, but that's mostly because I also own a small business and feel kinship/connection/whatever with them. There are also a few that are better than the internet (e.g. I'd always rather get plants from my local nursery). It's pretty much never because they're better at helping me find something, though.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#25

Post by awillen »

patrickmcnamara wrote: post #20
______- wrote: post #15

I can see the reasoning behind this. People don't want to help Bezos get another holiday home; they would rather funnel money into local businesses for obvious reasons (like helping a little boy buy his team jersey or a little girl get dance lessons for example). One caveat to the local alternatives is the friction involved if it's an e-commerce store where users have to register their details. Most will happily regi…

Apple Pay on the web has made this very convenient. Being able to buy something with just a single button is amazing. Unfortunately it's not available for large swathes of potential customers since it's iOS/macOS only.

There are other, similar services, though. I run an ecommerce store on Shopify, and you've got out of the box integrations with PayPal (which is about 50% of my payments), Amazon Payments and Google Pay, all of which provide a similar experience since they have your payment and shipping info saved.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#26

Post by Acrobatic_Road »

dane-pgp wrote: post #7
bassdropvroom wrote: post #4

Only a matter time before they sell user data. Make it open source.

If you're looking for an open source Chrome or Firefox extension that helps people lessen their support of Amazon, then there's this: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/not-today-jeff/hoa... https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/not-today-jef... https://github.com/codders/not-today-jeff

If you don't want to use Amazon...then just stop using Amazon. No browser extension required.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#27

Post by turbinerneiter »

f6v wrote: post #19
______- wrote: post #15

I can see the reasoning behind this. People don't want to help Bezos get another holiday home; they would rather funnel money into local businesses for obvious reasons (like helping a little boy buy his team jersey or a little girl get dance lessons for example). One caveat to the local alternatives is the friction involved if it's an e-commerce store where users have to register their details. Most will happily regi…

I don't think Bezos(or Gates, Musk, Zucker) reason in terms of holiday homes anymore. I'm absolutely sure they have a positive impact. They build spaceships, fight disease, and finance science. Whether the net outcome for humanity as a whole is better or worse with Amazon is highly debatable. By writing > like helping a little boy buy his team jersey or a little girl get dance lessons for example you appeal to feelin…

> They build spaceships, fight disease, and finance science.

Businesses used to pay taxes so the public could do all that.

Nowadays Amazon competes with local stores, while not paying taxes, which that local stores can't avoid.

So these billionaires, evil or not, are concentrating wealth on themselves and shape the world to their liking. And their linking isn't the best for society as a whole.

That doesn't mean that SpaceX isn't cool, or that I didn'tove when Amazon shipped science fiction books to my home, which was far away from any bookstore. But it is very clear that some companies have large negative externalities and their tax invasion and policy influence is really, really, really bad for our society.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#28

Post by Swizec »

Kalium wrote: post #16
corytheboyd wrote: post #11

This is a really good idea! I love my small businesses but being coddled by the internet is so real, you get used to immediately finding exactly what you want. With local stores, you have to put in some work sometimes, and ghasp talk to real people, potentially a few, at different stores, to get what you need. It sounds like a lot written out like that, but the important bits are that the people you talk to, you lear…

Last weekend, I went looking for a particular kind of garment. I wasn't hopeful, but I thought I would give local shops a chance. I did it by going around, looking in various local stores, and talking to people. I did this in four or so different spots. I spent probably three to four hours at it. After that process, I was no closer to the garment I sought than I had been when I woke up. What I had learned from my eff…

On the other end of the spectrum you have items where expert help is necessary.

When I bought my first motorcycle gear, I had little idea what to look for, what I need, or how to verify it does the job. Going to a store that specializes in motorcycles and gear was fantastic.

They showed me how to fit a helmet, what to look for in a jacket, gloves, etc. I could try multiple items to find which brands fit my body, what looks good, and how the whole ensemble is gonna work together.

You can’t replace that online.

Now that I know more about gear, shopping online is faster and easier. But I still wouldn’t buy a helmet online, for example. You gotta test that stuff.

My friend is getting into video. He’s spent 3 weeks looking for the right lens and camera, bought a bunch, still not happy. Hours wasted, edge cases uncovered, room specifics discovered.

1 trip to a specialist camera store wouldve solved his problem.

My butt has also learned the rather uncomfortable lesson that you never buy a couch online. Your butt needs to try it.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#29

Post by reidjs »

I think I’m the only person who considers online shopping less convenient than just going to a local store and buying it.

In person you just walk or drive over to the store, select the item, pay, and go home with the correct product.

Online I have to turn on my computer or open an app. Type in a bunch of stuff, Search around, click cookie consent buttons, avoid newsletters, log in, enter your address, put in your credit card, etc. you finally place the order, now you have to wait 2 days to get your damn product?! It ships, now you need to sync up with your mailman otherwise they can’t drop it off (I live in a city.) I miss the delivery, now I need to go to the post office and pick it up myself. So I go there, it’s after 5 so they’re closed. I take off work early the next day and wait in line. Talk to some pissed off USPS package and carry my package home. Open it up. It’s the wrong product or a Chinese knockoff. You get the picture

I’m of millennial age. The internet isn’t hard for me to use. It just adds extra complexity for me.

I suppose if you need a very specific thing online is better. But that’s rare for me.

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