Anand Srinivasan July 7, 2021 Amazon has been in the news lately for not-so-good reasons. Jeff Bezos has been accused of hiring trolls to defend the company in online attacks from its critics. This is after the company has been in the news for poor working conditions for its warehouse workers or the company’s persistent moves to prevent its employees from unionizing.
Whether it’s these aggressive corporate tactics you are against, or you simply want a refreshing new place to buy your products from, there are plenty of different places to go shopping online.
Here is a list of Amazon alternatives that you could check out.
Delgoor
There are literally thousands of eCommerce stores online for you to shop from. But how do you go about discovering them?
Delgoor is a ‘Shopping search engine’ that lets you discover new places to shop online. Today, the website has a catalog of over 11 million products sourced from over 50,000 different eCommerce stores from a wide array of industries.
Unlike Amazon which is a marketplace, Delgoor is a discovery platform that does not charge a commission from stores to showcase their products. This means that the average price of products is relatively lower than what you can find for the same product on Amazon.
Also, considering the mammoth size of its catalog, Delgoor is perhaps the best alternative you have to Amazon out there.
ThriveMarket
Looking for a place to shop for all your organic groceries or chemicals-free beauty products? ThriveMarket is an online platform that promotes healthy living – and gives customers access to over 6000 top-quality products.
Unlike most other eCommerce stores though, ThriveMarket is a membership-based service and starts at $ 5 per month. Once you are a member, you get between 25%-50% off the retail price of its products.
ThriveMarket says that its membership fees help them cut out the middleman and allows them to pass on the savings to customers in the form of discounts.
Etsy
Etsy is by far the most popular Amazon alternative on this list. It is similar to Delgoor in that it showcases independent sellers on its platform. However, unlike Delgoor, these sellers list their products on the Etsy platform that charges a commission on every sale made.
Another difference between Etsy and Delgoor is the kind of products listed. While Delgoor is a horizontal platform that lists almost all kinds of products (much like Amazon does), Etsy focuses mainly on custom, vintage & handmade clothes, jewelry, handbags, arts, and collectibles.
Etsy is a great place for you to shop for things for your home or to buy gifts for friends and families.
MadeTrade
MadeTrade is like ThriveMarket for clothes and shoes. This store was launched in 2018 and has quickly become the go-to place for shopping sustainable, and upcycled fabric products.
MadeTrade is a great place to shop for home decor, kitchen, dining, clothing, furniture, and other related accessories.
Overstock
Overstock launched towards the end of the last century as a store to find great deals on surplus goods from failed eCommerce stores. Today, the company has moved on from that premise to stock new items as well. However, its USP continues to be one of the discounts and flash sales.
With over 20 years in business, Overstock is one of the few eCommerce stores out there that gives Amazon a run for its money in terms of legacy. The business however focuses on a few core categories like home decor, furniture, bedding, kitchen, and jewelry – it’s a little similar to MadeTrade that way.
Newegg
Like Overstock, Newegg is a website that has been around since the turn of the century. The site focuses specifically on tech-related products and accessories. This could be computer parts, gaming equipment, drones, networking accessories, and even home, automotive, and industrial tools.
AliExpress
AliExpress is a popular destination for shoppers to find products (and knockoffs) that are way cheaper than what you find on Amazon. This is because of the store’s direct-from-factory model that connects buyers to manufacturers, primarily from China.
Given that most of the products you order from AliExpress are delivered from Chinese factories, you may have to take into account the lengthy shipping times. Also, product returns can be a pain if the product delivered does not meet your expectations.
But as long as you go with a trusted seller, the highly discounted offers make AliExpress worth it.
Facebook Marketplace
From an eCommerce perspective, Facebook Marketplace is one of the least organized platforms – you have products of different categories show up against each other. You may also have to sift between new and used products to find the one you like.
The good thing about Facebook Marketplace is that most of the sellers you find here are people who reside very close to your location. This means that Facebook Marketplace can be a great place for some quick deals. You also have the option to negotiate the price with the seller which is something you don’t find in other eCommerce platforms.
For this reason, Facebook Marketplace can be a good alternative to Amazon.
Bookshop.org
Amazon launched as an online place to buy books, and it is no exaggeration to state that its success has led to thousands of bookstores shutting down worldwide.
Like the earliest version of Amazon, Bookshop.org is a place for you to buy books online. However, one of their core missions is to continue supporting physical bookstores. They do this two ways.
Bookshop reserves 10% of all regular sales to an earnings pool that is then distributed evenly to independent bookstores twice a year.
These bookstores can also choose to sell their books online via Bookshop, and in this case, the platform transfers the entire profits (30% of the cover price) to the bookstore that sold it – charging no commission.
B&H
B&H competes with Newegg in terms of its offering. Unlike Newegg, however, B&H focuses on a much smaller niche – photography and videography-related equipment.
B&H has been around long before the internet and continues to thrive as a physical chain.
In addition to cameras, camcorders, lighting, and audio-visual equipment, B&H also sells computers, TVs, surveillance, and telescopes – nearly half a million different SKUs, in all.
Chewy
The pet category has seen steady growth over the years, and Chewy has established itself as one of the leading platforms in this category.
Chewy was founded ten years ago as a place to buy pet food online. Today, it has expanded beyond this core premise to also include pet toys, health, clothing, and grooming accessories.
Besides dogs and cats, the site also caters to other obscure pets, birds, farm animals, and reptiles.
Wish.com
One thing that separates Wish from all the other sites mentioned in this list is that this is primarily a mobile marketplace. Wish lets small retailers sell directly to consumers over its platform. Without the middleman, prices of products on Wish are relatively lower than what you would pay for the same item in a physical store.
Wish currently caters to a host of different categories including electronics, gaming, beauty, home decor, and beauty.
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