General Discussion

Many times, when I go to a company's website to buy something, the only place to purchase is Amazon. So I try another brand until I can find something. Sometimes that's not possible. Go to a ratings site to buy something, and they always, always link to Amazon.

I thought eBay would be a safe place to go, but it turns out that many eBay sellers are also Amazon sellers. When I see a package coming from Amazon, I think, "WTF? I avoided Amazon and ended up paying more just to get Amazon anyway?" Of course, that seller goes on my blacklist, but if there's a way to know ahead of time, I'd like to know.

Still, we're doing fairly well avoiding them. It is not easy when your local stores carry squat of what you need.