Does anyone else go looking on amazon because they used to have loads of stuff, but now there’s just a few things over and over and over and they’re not quite what you wanted. It’s so full of promoted content and you keep thinking that somewhere on one of the pages there might be something new, but no, it’s these same products again and again.
I use google. All it does is shove products at you anymore, so you might as well take advantage of that and use the search function that works far better than Amazon’s. All the Amazon sold products will show up in the google search anyway. Unfortunately, google’s modifiers are essentially worthless (like if you put -“amazon.com” or whatever to avoid amazon items) so it’s pretty hard to filter stuff, but at least Google casts a wider net so you might find better products or deals. Amazon does not always have the better price.
If you see a particular item in the google search that is what you’re looking for you can plug that specific brand and item name in amazon’s search and see if they even carry it. Sometimes they don’t, but that will help skip past Amazon’s shitty algorithm that forces items they want you to buy like made-for-Amazon crap vs what might actually be a better product.
Order it right from the widget maker directly if you can and skip amazon.
Yeah it’s pretty trash, and I’ve found that if I buy direct from the manufacturer website for 99% of stuff I’ll actually save $5-10, including shipping
In Germany, and by extension the EU, we have a website called “geizhals”, which basically translates to “penny-pincher”.
It is an insanly good tool to find the specific item you’re looking for and where to buy it for the least amount of money. Its got a pretty robust search, and some of the most comprehensive filters I’ve ever seen. When I cant find what I’m looking for using Amazons search, which is nearly always, I use their site instead.
Only real downside (for me) is when stuff isn’t listed on there. They probably collect data and stuff, but they also provide a useful service in return.
While writing this I have also noticed that they offer the same thing called “skintflint” for the UK. Maybe something similar exists for ppl. in the U.S. ?
skintflint
Oh wow, I visited, and instead of the usual cookie popup (where you have to click to accept all cookies or customise them), it put a little box in the corner saying “Do not track mode detected. Storing only strictly necessary cookies.” which then automatically closed!
My browser often detects and auto-fills the more common cookie dialogs for me, but this is the loveliest cookie experience anywhere.
I randomly decided to pretend to want a new mobile - RELEVANT filters that ACTUALLY FILTER!
Thank you so much for this recommendation.
can’t say I’ve experienced this exactly but I feel ya in spirit o7
What annoys me about Amazon search is it doesn’t listen to my search, and it doesn’t allow qualifiers such as minus sign. Most other searches listen to minus sign as excluding that word from search.
Example: metal cup -plastic -mug -jug
I search for a metal cup, but I do not want plastic, and not a mug or jug.
Yeah, their plan is: deduce what kind of thing they want, broaden it to include more sponsored products, list as many as possible to boost ad revenue, try as hard as possible to get them to cave and buy a sponsored product so we can make more money from ad revenue. Sucks as a customer. Probably sucks as a supplier, it’s the standard monopoly enshitified money extraction maximiser.
