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Joined 11 months ago
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Cake day: March 30th, 2024

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  • And there we are with another Amazon with all the nasty business practices. I think it would be inevitable in this era and economy.

    Probably true. If we had a more left leaning economic system, it could be the job of the government to regulate these things. To uptain a healthy competition, that companies aren’t expanding more and more and if they do, to split them up into smaller parts.



  • That’s also a valid perspective. Still, I don’t like the idea of shipping numerous items separately. From my perspective, it wouldn’t necessarily need to be a megacorp. There could be like a big warehouse that is provided by company A. Within that building there could be shelves or departments owned by different suppliers. Then there could be yet another company that picks the goods from all the different suppliers, puts them in a box and ships them with a - once again - independent shipping company.

    It’s somehow like the concept of a huge shopping mall, just without access for end customers but only for mail order. For end customers it would be similar to the ‘Amazon Prime’ experience, maybe not as fast and maybe more expensive but IMO it doesn’t need to be a single legal entity to provide such a service to consumers.


  • For bigger purchases I found it pretty easy to get rid of Amazon. Clothes and electronics I mostly buy second hand on Vinted or Kleinanzeigen (German Craigslist). If I need something new, there are usually plenty of alternative shops for everything. It’s the small stuff that bothers me. If I buy a ~5€ article online from a specialized shop, the shipping costs double the price and if you have a separate (often oversized) box to dispose afterwards.




  • Is there a better German platform for audio books though? Sure, you could buy physical CDs and rip them but that’s extra work and IMHO not ideal from an environmental perspective.

    I used OverDrive in the past when they still offered plain MP3s but its successor Libby isn’t for me. I’m forced to use their app, I have to block the audio book for everyone else, have to rush through as I can only borrow it for two/four weeks etc.


  • For audio books I can recommend Thalia.de. They offer a monthly subscription plan (‘Hörbuchabo’) where you pay 7,95€ for one audio book per month. All audio books I’ve been looking for so far were included, even those that sell for 40€+. You don’t need an app, all downloads are plain MP3s without DRM that you can keep forever and the subscription can be cancelled any time. If you don’t get an audio book in one month, you’ll get credits, so you can get two audio books the month after.

    Overall, a very fair deal from my perspective.


  • The items above reside on my shopping list for ~2 months and I’ve been to EDEKA, Kaufland, Rewe, Globus, Decathlon, Hornbach, DM, Rossmann and Reno in the meantime. :-D I guess it also depends on the specific store, the season and some luck to get what you’re looking for. My local EDEKA e.g. did have these flavor drops in the past and DM typically sells sun sticks in summer. But if I couldn’t pick specific items after some time, I usually go online to get them out of my mind.

    Will check out bol.com, thank you! :)






  • Danke, Geizhals kenne ich. Das ist genial, wenn man Elektronik kaufen und anhand bestimmter Merkmale filtern möchte. Auch die Warenkorb-Funktion ist genial, um für eine Zusammenstellung verschiedener Artikel einen Händler zu finden der alles anbietet oder zumindest die beste Kombination mehrerer Händler.

    Für viele andere Kategorien ist Geizhals meiner Meinung nach aber kaum zu gebrauchen.

    Suche ich beispielsweise nach iriedaily (Berliner Klamottenmarke) in der Kategorie Sweatshirts, so finde ich einen Treffer und das ist ein Pullover von Adidas, bei dem iriedaily nur mitgewirkt hat.

    Bei Idealo sind es 493 verschiedene Modelle.


  • rbn@sopuli.xyztoBuyFromEU@feddit.org(GER) List with alternatives to amazon
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    3 days ago

    Gibt’s eigentlich auch schon eine Shop-übergreifende Suchmaschine, die neben dem Preis auch Aspekte wie europäische Herkunft, Nachhaltigkeit etc. berücksichtigen? Ich nutze momentan meist Idealo (immerhin aus Deutschland) oder Google Shopping, wenn ich einen Händler für etwas suche.

    Bonuspunkte wären, wenn auch Gebrauchtkaufportale (Kleinanzeigen, Medimops, Vinted, eBay) mit in die Suchergebnisse einbezogen würden.



  • I do use Komoot quite regularly and purchased the offline world map for a one-time fee years ago. Unfortunately, after that, they started a subscription model (‘premium’) and now many features are locked behind a paywall. E.g., you don’t have access to the hiking maps layer that highlights bigger paths (long distance trails, GRs etc.) with a special colors. You can still plan with the Komoot standard map, but without the coloring of the official paths, you may unnecessecerily pick very unofficial paths that aren’t well-maintained anymore, which are overgrown with thorns or which simply ceased to exist.

    The tool is handy but as the hiking maps are all based on free OSM data and they restricted access after I paid, I always find their business practices a bit shady.