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I can see the reasoning behind this. People don't want to help Bezos get another holiday home; they would rather funnel money into local businesses for obvious

I can see the reasoning behind this. People don't want to help Bezos get another holiday home; they would rather funnel money into local businesses for obvious reasons (like helping a little boy buy his team jersey or a little girl get dance lessons for example). One caveat to the local alternatives is the friction involved if it's an e-commerce store where users have to register their details. Most will happily register, but some will find the friction unbearable.

turbinerneiter 5y ago
I used to default to Amazon because of this. But nowadays many shops don't need an account anymore, the browser can autofill that data and credit cards with 3d secure (basically 2fa) seem safe enough. Finding those shops to me is now the "hardest" part.
- fauigerzigerk 5y ago
  It may take just a minute to enter your contact and payment info, but then it takes half an hour to figure out their returns policy, shipping fees and delivery windows. I buy a lot more from tiny businesses if they operate on top of Amazon's platform.
  - turbinerneiter 5y ago
    In Europe, they are bound by the same law, so return policies are not something I worry about. Shipping fees are clearly stated at checkout and honestly so damn cheap that I don't care. Delivery windows? It's the same delivery companies that Amazon uses or used to use. In Germany mostly DHL, who I never had a problem with. It's fine if your prefer what you prefer, I'm just saying that the experience of buying from random, smaller online shops got a lot better lately and is coming closer to Amazon.
    - fauigerzigerk 5y ago
      >In Europe, they are bound by the same law, so return policies are not something I worry about. No, the law does not mandate a specific returns policy. It just sets minimum standards. I can return almost anything to Amazon for free if I don't like it. I don't do that very often, but knowing that I can is one of the biggest incentives for me to buy from Amazon. >Shipping fees are clearly stated at checkout and honestly so damn cheap that I don't care. I have often gone through a lengthy ordering process before finding out at the very last step that my £20 order would incur a £5 delivery fee. And it's fine. It often doesn't make economic sense to make free deliveries to the doorstep. But that's yet another reason in favour of small stores sharing a logistics platform such as Amazon. >Delivery windows? It's the same delivery companies that Amazon uses or used to use. In Germany mostly DHL, who I never had a problem with. Here in London Amazon makes most deliveries directly. I can track deliveries in real-time and I know what they do if I'm not home. I had lots of issues with other logistics companies. They often lie about having made a delivery attempt and drop off parcels at some distant shop or depot.
      - turbinerneiter 5y ago
        Well, my experience in Germany is different than yours in London apparently.
      - CRConrad 5y ago
        > >In Europe, they are bound by the same law, so return policies are not something I worry about. > No, the law does not mandate a specific returns policy. It just sets minimum standards. If you're satisfied by that legal-minimum standard it comes to the same.
- criddell 5y ago
  Apple Pay is a pretty great experience when buying stuff online. I don't have to create an account, just hold my thumb over the button on my iPad and my details and payment is entered automatically.
f6v 5y ago
I don't think Bezos(or Gates, Musk, Zucker) reason in terms of holiday homes anymore. I'm absolutely sure they have a positive impact. They build spaceships, fight disease, and finance science. Whether the net outcome for humanity as a whole is better or worse with Amazon is highly debatable. By writing > like helping a little boy buy his team jersey or a little girl get dance lessons for example you appeal to feelings and divert the discussion in the direction of "But evil billionaires rob children to buy a new yacht!" which is simply not true.
- cute_boi 5y ago
  "They build spaceships, fight disease, and finance science." They do it not for humanity but to earn more money. Its always money, power, and fame at the end.
  - prox 5y ago
    Absolutely. I saw that website were Bezos’ wealth was measured out in pixels. He could easily eradicate a disease, wipe out all student debt or something else you can dream of, but afaik he isn’t doing that.
    - f6v 5y ago
      Maybe because his wealth is measured by the stock he owns and the price would drop should he decide to dump it.
      - Pfhreak 5y ago
        So his wealth is illusory? He can't, say, buy a huge yacht or multiple homes or any other major expenditure?
        Guest19023892 5y ago
        Well, it's an illusion to a certain extent. However, it's an incredible amount of wealth. His net worth increased by 75 billion in 2020. Perhaps that's an illusion and he could only liquidate that stock into 20 billion in the short term. That means he could still buy a 50 million dollar home every day of the year. To answer your question, he can certainly buy a yacht or multiple homes at any moment. However, if he wants to cash out 100 billion dollars in stock this year, he's not going to get full value, and he'd have to slowly pull it out over a matter of years or decades to do so.
patrickmcnamara 5y ago
Apple Pay on the web has made this very convenient. Being able to buy something with just a single button is amazing. Unfortunately it's not available for large swathes of potential customers since it's iOS/macOS only.
- awillen 5y ago
  There are other, similar services, though. I run an ecommerce store on Shopify, and you've got out of the box integrations with PayPal (which is about 50% of my payments), Amazon Payments and Google Pay, all of which provide a similar experience since they have your payment and shipping info saved.
lotsofpulp 5y ago
> People don't want to help Bezos get another holiday home; they would rather funnel money into local businesses for obvious reasons (like helping a little boy buy his team jersey or a little girl get dance lessons for example). That’s not the world I’ve been living in in the US. People would rather go to national stores like Target, Home Depot, etc. Also, order online and pickup in store is even better than Amazon for me.

turbinerneiter 5y ago

I used to default to Amazon because of this. But nowadays many shops don't need an account anymore, the browser can autofill that data and credit cards with 3d secure (basically 2fa) seem safe enough. Finding those shops to me is now the "hardest" part.

fauigerzigerk 5y ago
It may take just a minute to enter your contact and payment info, but then it takes half an hour to figure out their returns policy, shipping fees and delivery windows. I buy a lot more from tiny businesses if they operate on top of Amazon's platform.
- turbinerneiter 5y ago
  In Europe, they are bound by the same law, so return policies are not something I worry about. Shipping fees are clearly stated at checkout and honestly so damn cheap that I don't care. Delivery windows? It's the same delivery companies that Amazon uses or used to use. In Germany mostly DHL, who I never had a problem with. It's fine if your prefer what you prefer, I'm just saying that the experience of buying from random, smaller online shops got a lot better lately and is coming closer to Amazon.
  - fauigerzigerk 5y ago
    >In Europe, they are bound by the same law, so return policies are not something I worry about. No, the law does not mandate a specific returns policy. It just sets minimum standards. I can return almost anything to Amazon for free if I don't like it. I don't do that very often, but knowing that I can is one of the biggest incentives for me to buy from Amazon. >Shipping fees are clearly stated at checkout and honestly so damn cheap that I don't care. I have often gone through a lengthy ordering process before finding out at the very last step that my £20 order would incur a £5 delivery fee. And it's fine. It often doesn't make economic sense to make free deliveries to the doorstep. But that's yet another reason in favour of small stores sharing a logistics platform such as Amazon. >Delivery windows? It's the same delivery companies that Amazon uses or used to use. In Germany mostly DHL, who I never had a problem with. Here in London Amazon makes most deliveries directly. I can track deliveries in real-time and I know what they do if I'm not home. I had lots of issues with other logistics companies. They often lie about having made a delivery attempt and drop off parcels at some distant shop or depot.
    - turbinerneiter 5y ago
      Well, my experience in Germany is different than yours in London apparently.
    - CRConrad 5y ago
      > >In Europe, they are bound by the same law, so return policies are not something I worry about. > No, the law does not mandate a specific returns policy. It just sets minimum standards. If you're satisfied by that legal-minimum standard it comes to the same.
criddell 5y ago
Apple Pay is a pretty great experience when buying stuff online. I don't have to create an account, just hold my thumb over the button on my iPad and my details and payment is entered automatically.

f6v 5y ago

I don't think Bezos(or Gates, Musk, Zucker) reason in terms of holiday homes anymore. I'm absolutely sure they have a positive impact. They build spaceships, fight disease, and finance science. Whether the net outcome for humanity as a whole is better or worse with Amazon is highly debatable. By writing > like helping a little boy buy his team jersey or a little girl get dance lessons for example you appeal to feelings and divert the discussion in the direction of "But evil billionaires rob children to buy a new yacht!" which is simply not true.

cute_boi 5y ago
"They build spaceships, fight disease, and finance science." They do it not for humanity but to earn more money. Its always money, power, and fame at the end.
- prox 5y ago
  Absolutely. I saw that website were Bezos’ wealth was measured out in pixels. He could easily eradicate a disease, wipe out all student debt or something else you can dream of, but afaik he isn’t doing that.
  - f6v 5y ago
    Maybe because his wealth is measured by the stock he owns and the price would drop should he decide to dump it.
    - Pfhreak 5y ago
      So his wealth is illusory? He can't, say, buy a huge yacht or multiple homes or any other major expenditure?
      - Guest19023892 5y ago
        Well, it's an illusion to a certain extent. However, it's an incredible amount of wealth. His net worth increased by 75 billion in 2020. Perhaps that's an illusion and he could only liquidate that stock into 20 billion in the short term. That means he could still buy a 50 million dollar home every day of the year. To answer your question, he can certainly buy a yacht or multiple homes at any moment. However, if he wants to cash out 100 billion dollars in stock this year, he's not going to get full value, and he'd have to slowly pull it out over a matter of years or decades to do so.

patrickmcnamara 5y ago

Apple Pay on the web has made this very convenient. Being able to buy something with just a single button is amazing. Unfortunately it's not available for large swathes of potential customers since it's iOS/macOS only.

awillen 5y ago
There are other, similar services, though. I run an ecommerce store on Shopify, and you've got out of the box integrations with PayPal (which is about 50% of my payments), Amazon Payments and Google Pay, all of which provide a similar experience since they have your payment and shipping info saved.

lotsofpulp 5y ago

> People don't want to help Bezos get another holiday home; they would rather funnel money into local businesses for obvious reasons (like helping a little boy buy his team jersey or a little girl get dance lessons for example). That’s not the world I’ve been living in in the US. People would rather go to national stores like Target, Home Depot, etc. Also, order online and pickup in store is even better than Amazon for me.