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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

#291

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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…

I have the same dimensions / issues finding jeans. Quality control on Levi's isn't fantastic and I'm always frustrated with how wide the leg openings are. Difficult to find any pants that fit well, really. Someone recommended I just buy jeans that roughly fit, and take them to a tailor. Such a game changer! For $12 I can basically get any pair of pairs to fit perfectly.

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

#292
post #289
post #232

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Most make it super easy. I think Amazon even includes a return label just in case. Waaay better than driving to a store with perfume masking stink, wait in line for fitting rooms, wait in line to pay. So many cons to going in store… most stores are stink boxes.

point was that for clothing you can avoid returns by trying it on first

The real issue is: do you want to travel somewhere to try it on, or do you want to try it on in the comfort of your own home?

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

#293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No they aren't. I got two pairs of jeans from the same (house) brand in the same store at the same time. I tried on one of them in the store, and naively assumed the other would fit too. There was a 5 cm (2 inch) difference.

I don't think she was implying that the sizes are always correct. But they are actual dimensions, i.e. inches. As opposed to "size 8", which is relatively meaningless.

What really pisses me off too is the size drifts to make you think you're going down pant sizes. So every so years you need to try clothes on again to get your new number.

Pair that with covid not letting you try things on and it just plain sucks. Sometimes I have to try shotgunning it so I'm not making 3 trips to the store just to try a new number.

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

#294
post #167

I don't understand this fetish with small businesses. For certain industries they're great, but for retail? Many still pay minimum wage with no benefits, so the only one you're helping enrich is the owner who treats their employees as expendable. On top of that, retail really benefits from economies of scale, it's simply more efficient for both you and the business. That efficiency gets passed on to the economy to be…

> retail really benefits from economies of scale, it's simply more efficient for both you and the business. That efficiency gets passed on to the economy to be spent elsewhere.

Seems more likely to be passed on to shareholders of the large-scale business. And compared to being put into circulation (with a much higher multiplier) in the local small-scale economy, funneling some more moolah into the already overflowing coffers of the Waltons or Bezoses does pretty much diddly-squat for the economy as a whole.

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

#295

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In Europe, they are bound by the same law, so return policies are not something I worry about. Shipping fees are clearly stated at checkout and honestly so damn cheap that I don't care. Delivery windows? It's the same delivery companies that Amazon uses or used to use. In Germany mostly DHL, who I never had a problem with. It's fine if your prefer what you prefer, I'm just saying that the experience of buying from ra…

>In Europe, they are bound by the same law, so return policies are not something I worry about. No, the law does not mandate a specific returns policy. It just sets minimum standards. I can return almost anything to Amazon for free if I don't like it. I don't do that very often, but knowing that I can is one of the biggest incentives for me to buy from Amazon. >Shipping fees are clearly stated at checkout and honestl…

> >In Europe, they are bound by the same law, so return policies are not something I worry about.

> No, the law does not mandate a specific returns policy. It just sets minimum standards.

If you're satisfied by that legal-minimum standard it comes to the same.

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

#296

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True fit is more of a conversion boosting tool rather than a tool to help the consumer. I worked at Levi’s Corp for 3 years and was surprised to learn that clothes have large tolerances in sizes to keep costs down. True fit says you should select a size based on the size you wear in another brand. That won’t work because no brands have consistent sizing. Even if a brand used extremely tight size tolerances, brands ac…

> large tolerances in sizes to keep costs down Yeah, that's the main problem with this. If you're buying higher-end stuff with tighter tolerances, just providing a set of measurements can work. There's a whole industry of tailors in India and Hong Kong who sell made-to-measure dress shirts to Westerners over the internet.

Any links? Need to a get a suit and would love to save.

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

#297
post #16

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…

You could have easily called ahead to check stock of the item you were in search for.

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

#298
post #210

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Talking from the perspective of local business owner - it isn’t possible to compete with Amazon on ”online” features. This needs two efforts - people have to be Ok with an inferior shopping experience to a certain extent. Can’t have cake and eat it. Second, Software powered world needs a different kind of monopoly control - we shouldn’t talking about “breaking up Amazon” - that just creates busy work from yet another…

> it isn’t possible to compete with Amazon on ”online” features. I'm not sure that's a true statement. I've completely ceased buying computing equipment from Amazon because their search is so goddamned useless. Newegg's power search actually works and lets me find what I'm looking for.

I've been really curious why Amazon can't implement sort by exact price.

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

#300
post #292
post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

point was that for clothing you can avoid returns by trying it on first

The real issue is: do you want to travel somewhere to try it on, or do you want to try it on in the comfort of your own home?

It's very subjective but personally, I enjoy going shopping for clothes. Unless I can't find the item in my city.

Stuff like electronics is different. Then I don't care about seeing and feeling the product beforehand. Instead I value that stuff is easy to findz search, price and availability. Though I still but stuff locally because I don't want to wait for shipping

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