Amazon Alternatives
As I prepare for birthday season in our house, I’m really, really missing the ease of Amazon Prime shopping. The ability to find everything under the sun and have it delivered to my door in a day or two makes obscure birthday party themes possible. (For some reason, my kids love coming up with absolutely insane party themes. I’ve done everything from “Spiderman goes Sailing” to “Painting PJ Masks” to “Caticorns” - twice.) While it is possible to get Amazon deliveries here, there’s no free shipping or returns and it typically takes around two weeks, sometimes longer. And twice my orders have simply disappeared off the face of the earth. As such, I’ve made some orders from a number of other sites. None of them quite match Amazon’s magical combination of easy shopping, quick deliveries and returns, selection, and halfway decent pricing, but it is good to do some comparison shopping to see if you can get a faster, better deal somewhere other than Amazon. It is also useful when friends and family overseas want to send a gift for a birthday kid to have a list of sites they can go through and order from.
AliExpress - This is part of the Alibaba group, and all I can say is you get what you pay for. All of the goods I’ve found on here have been fakes and not the real thing. You are not getting real BeyBlades if they are ordered off this site, but if you don’t mind waiting two months for some dirt cheap fakes, then go for it. There’s a huge selection of goods and ridiculously low prices that will probably show up sometime within the next few months. There’s a time and place for everything, including AliExpress.
Dick Smith - This site ships everything from Australia, so there’s a wait for goods and shipping costs a little bit more. However, when it comes to tech items - where they started - I’ve found the prices to be better than most any other place around. Dick Smith has expanded to include clothing, toys, health/beauty items, etc., but tech items are still their main focus and it shows.
Fishpond - This website has a little bit of everything, but it is chaotically organized - think finding full length compression gloves on the first page of the kitchen/cookware section - and the prices are higher than most other places. On the plus side, shipping is often free or otherwise relatively inexpensive and quick - assuming the items are coming from New Zealand and not elsewhere.
Mighty Ape - This is perhaps the closest thing to Amazon as there is a wide selection of goods available on Mighty Ape and the option to purchase (for NZ$48) a year of free shipping on eligible products. The site is a little chaotic to sort through, but if you have a specific item to look for, the search bar is pretty good. Pricing is ok, but not great. However, there are some more obscure items here that you may not find elsewhere. Some items can be delivered the same day (for an extra fee) though others may take weeks to dispatch. The site is good about letting you know what to expect.
The Market - This is owned by The Warehouse Group and combines all sorts of shops under one site, but this is not the nearly infinite selection found on Amazon. If you join the Market Club, then you can get free shipping, though it isn’t universally as fast as Amazon. If things are shipped from New Zealand, they often show up the next morning, but many items come from Australia and therefore show up about ten days later. The pricing is ok. Often I can find the same items for slightly less elsewhere, but usually it isn’t a meaningfully large difference and worth paying to save the time driving around for the item I need.
Are there any other sites that you use regularly? Please let me know!
