Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay • Hacker News Board

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

#171

Post by notatoad » Sat, May 08, 2021, 7:07 PM UTC

_qwfv wrote: post #91

notatoad wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, Amazon (and increasingly, buying direct from brand's own e-shops) keeps winning my business by being better at every aspect of the sale. I’d like to keep money in my community, but it’s really hard when online has better service, better selection, better pricing, and better flexibility. I could go downtown to buy a pair of shoes during that store's business hours, get to choose between 3-4 different styles, tal…

> by being better at every aspect of the sale. > I’d like to keep money in my community, but ... It sounds to me like Amazon is not better at every aspect, you've identified one aspect right there. They are competing on, "Would you rather live in a cookie cutter franchise strip mall or a mom and pop commercial area?" I'm willing to accept some inefficiencies and some frustrations if it means I've got a nice neighborh…

if the only value provided by the "nice neighbourhood of mom and pop stores" is the warm fuzzy feelings, that's not enough value for me.

i don't want to live in what's essentially a theme park full of fake stores that only exist because it makes the neighbourhood seem nicer, or where the shopkeepers are basically paid entertainers present for their aesthetic value. if that's the sort of city we're building, let's skip the inefficiency of paying local retailers to provide the service of existing and go right to universal income.

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

#172

Post by sudosysgen » Sat, May 08, 2021, 7:08 PM UTC

Guest19023892 wrote: post #115

Pfhreak wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So his wealth is illusory? He can't, say, buy a huge yacht or multiple homes or any other major expenditure?

Well, it's an illusion to a certain extent. However, it's an incredible amount of wealth. His net worth increased by 75 billion in 2020. Perhaps that's an illusion and he could only liquidate that stock into 20 billion in the short term. That means he could still buy a 50 million dollar home every day of the year. To answer your question, he can certainly buy a yacht or multiple homes at any moment. However, if he wa…

Those billionaires don't have to liquidate stocks. They borrow against their stocks to the tune of dozens of billions.

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

#173

Post by f6v » Sat, May 08, 2021, 7:10 PM UTC

turbinerneiter wrote: post #84

f6v wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And their linking isn't the best for society as a whole. See, how can you judge whether it’s going to end up bad if we’re in the middle of it?

What kind of question is that? What are you arguing for? Do you think extreme concentration of power and wealth is good? Do you want to be free? Do you want to elect your leaders? Again, this is not about SpaceX and Amazon and other companies. These companies do cool and good stuff! The topic is the concentration of power and wealth and the negative externalities of that.

I think there's no way to tell right now whether there's going to be a net positive or negative outcome.

> Do you think extreme concentration of power and wealth is good?

I mean, it might move the humanity into the positive direction.

> Do you want to be free?

That's such an abstract concept, I don't even know what it means.

> Do you want to elect your leaders?

Whenever I go, people complain about the government, east and west alike. Maybe I don't want to.

I think your reasoning is ideologically charged, without any argumentation. I'm just pointing out that it's hard to judge how the things will turn out now.

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

#174

Post by Drunk_Engineer » Sat, May 08, 2021, 7:11 PM UTC

benrbray wrote: post #46

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…

I think cars are largely to blame for the sorry state of small businesses. Before moving from America to Tokyo, I had never lived in a place with anything even remotely resembling a walkable city center where you can easily browse and pick up what you need from local businesses. Everything is separated by a 15min+ drive, and I likely need to get on the highway to get there. Atlanta was the worst for this. In Tokyo I…

And whenever a city in the US proposes some improvements to the ped/bike experience in a shopping area, the local small business owners will cry bloody murder. As someone who also prefers to walk to nearby stores, I feel no guilt whatsoever about buying stuff online instead of a local merchant. Amazon, for all its faults, has never showed up to a local planning meeting in my town to lobby against a sidewalk or bike lane improvement.

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

#175

Post by robbrown451 » Sat, May 08, 2021, 7:11 PM UTC

reidjs wrote: post #29

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 cre…

Turn on your computer? You can use your phone I suppose, but I'd expect most of us here have their computer already on. If you buy things from a small set of sites, it's very few clicks. Hell I can buy groceries in five minutes (typically picking most of my order from things it offered, since they remember me), and it will be delivered the same day with no additional charge.

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

#176

Post by notatoad » Sat, May 08, 2021, 7:18 PM UTC

robbrown451 wrote: post #150

halikular wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being able to test clothes before you buy them to so if they fit is so much more convenient than ordering the wrong size online.

As long as you can find your size. I'm tall and thin, so if I want to buy something as basic as Levi's jeans, I have to go to a ton of stores and have limited choices. Now I just get them on Amazon, problem solved. This is a problem that should have been solved years ago. You should be able to measure yourself very accurately and thoroughly, keep it on some sort of file that you can share what you need, and then use…

yeah, this is a problem i've solved by learning what brands are internally consistent with their sizing. i know my size in Levi's, and as long as they don't suddenly start making 36/32 jeans fit differently than they used to, i'll keep ordering from them without having to worry about fit.

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

#177

Post by jcims » Sat, May 08, 2021, 7:21 PM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #60

Small business near me never seem to have online catalogues or stock levels. Hunting for a specific product (for example a washing line) might involve walking into 3 different shops and guessing which shop might sell what you need. When you arrive in the shop, they always arrange aisles differently so unless you have 20 minutes to hunt you might not find it either. Whereas online it's a simple search and click "buy n…

I've wanted to dive into FPV drone flying for some time. Finally pulled the trigger on the components I needed to get started...controller, transmitter, goggles, charger, battery, BNF drone. I did this online because it seemed impossible to sort out locally and the prices I did see were +30% or more in price.

Somehow in the process I goofed and ordered batteries with the wrong connector (xt60 v xt30). I spent this morning trying to find other batteries or an adapter in the local metro area.

- There are ~8 hobby stores within 50 miles

- None of them have any stock info online

- I called every one of them and nobody stocked the battery I need, nor an adapter.

- I can go on Amazon, GetFPV, HobbyKing, ReadyMadeRC, etc and find the exact parts I need.

In the same vein I've noticed is that many of the traditional sporting goods stores have basically become clothing stores with an online store for everything else.

Too bad I haven't figured out how to trust random extensions or I would consider using something like this.

All of this said I used to work at a local computer store back in the 90's and can imagine just how difficult it is to run a local store that competes with Internet-based stores.

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

#178

Post by turbinerneiter » Sat, May 08, 2021, 7:23 PM UTC

f6v wrote: post #173

turbinerneiter wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of question is that? What are you arguing for? Do you think extreme concentration of power and wealth is good? Do you want to be free? Do you want to elect your leaders? Again, this is not about SpaceX and Amazon and other companies. These companies do cool and good stuff! The topic is the concentration of power and wealth and the negative externalities of that.

I think there's no way to tell right now whether there's going to be a net positive or negative outcome. > Do you think extreme concentration of power and wealth is good? I mean, it might move the humanity into the positive direction. > Do you want to be free? That's such an abstract concept, I don't even know what it means. > Do you want to elect your leaders? Whenever I go, people complain about the government, eas…

If liking freedom and democracy is ideologically charged for you we might just not be able to find common ground for a discussion here.

Have a nice day.

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

#179

Post by tuwtuwtuwtuw » Sat, May 08, 2021, 7:23 PM UTC

halikular wrote: post #117

londons_explore wrote: post #60

Small business near me never seem to have online catalogues or stock levels. Hunting for a specific product (for example a washing line) might involve walking into 3 different shops and guessing which shop might sell what you need. When you arrive in the shop, they always arrange aisles differently so unless you have 20 minutes to hunt you might not find it either. Whereas online it's a simple search and click "buy n…

Being able to test clothes before you buy them to so if they fit is so much more convenient than ordering the wrong size online.

Also stores offer more services. When I buy a pair of jeans the person in the store will adjust the length so the jeans fit my odd lenght. I bought a watch yesterday and it cost me $60 more in store than online, but in the store they helped me change change the size and if I have issues with it I can drop it of in the store and they will send it for repairs. Just more convinient for me than figuring out how to safely submit it myself.

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

#180

Post by jbrahms33 » Sat, May 08, 2021, 7:34 PM UTC

Just had a golden idea of how to get inventory online. You crowd-source it by rewarding customers to log inventory. Essentially customers are setting up their own little drop-shipping stores with inventory found throughout retail stores around them. Let me know if anyone is interested in helping with this