re: Who here doesn’t have Amazon Prime? Why?

We get toilet paper and paper towels during our once a month/every other month trip to Home Depot because of the business account there. It takes us a long time to go through that kind of stuff anyway. SO lives away from home 50% of the year, and we have no kids.

Realistically speaking, I could get that from CVS as needed. Buying in bulk might save $10 in an entire year at the rate we use it. Plus, I get CVS ExtraBucks constantly.

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Amazon is a monopoly that is killing small business.

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There is an old guy that had a lawn mower shop a few miles from me in a town with a population of about 2,500. He started selling parts on Amazon and Ebay. He quit working on lawn mowers and now has a small warehouse full of lawn mower parts. Every day his pickup truck bed is full of boxes he takes to the post office. His small business not only survived but has grown big time due to Amazon and Ebay.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I only order from amazon once or twice a month. If I get prime, I'm paying $10 a month for one or two quick deliveries. Amazon ships most orders of $25 for free anyway. I just don't see the value unless you order very frequently or you watch the content.

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adapting your business

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The lawn mower parts guy adapted and his customer base went from a few thousand to millions.

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I was praising him.

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I know. The old parts guy is now kinda grouchy when a I walk in to buy something because I'm interrupting his online parts business.

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Amazon is a monopoly that is killing small business.

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In addition to being a retailer, it's also a marketplace that benefits small business.

It's hurting big box stores.

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amazon prime peaked several years ago.

aliexpress is the new wave and half the cost, if youre willing to wait 2-3 wks for the goods.

not surprised the ot lounge is still praising outdated services, however.

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The direct from China model still has a long way to go. It takes some effort to shop. That said I use Ali on occasion.

I am a geeky frick and have bought some scientific instruments. Laser-based air particle counter, push/pull gauges, surface roughness gauges and the like. While I might not use them in a mission-critical application (which I don't have) they acquit themselves well compared to calibration samples and NIST traceable devices. I get them for as little as 10% of the cost of the name brand versions and half what US companies charge for the Chinese variants that appear to be OEMed from the same factories.

Some here know I am a watch geek. I have discovered a unique way to get what are usually overpriced parts. I lost a screw from a Ulysee Nardin bracelet and UN wanted $70 for two screws. I found a "unsigned" (meaning no UN logos) bracelet on Ali for $15 shipped. The screw fit perfectly and I just threw the rest in the watch junk box. I did the same when my wife lost a screw out of one of her Rolex bracelets there is one short screw, I have dozens of longer ones in extra links but there are only 2 of the short ones per watch. Rolex and the secondary market wanted $50 for one, the one from a crappy unsigned Chinese copy cost me $20 and I have an extra if I ever need it. Everything else about the bracelet sucked but the screws were perfectly serviceable. Wish I could just buy the screws for 1.88 shipped.


In my mind Ali has a LONG way to go before impacting Amazon it is more work to shop with more risk and people are generally more reluctant to shop that way. For me it is the rather odd things I will go there for, it is like Harbor Freight I buy things from there but it is limited to items that like tarps or moving blankets and a tool I literally only plan to use once.