I think Amazon has two niches where it's still good.
* If you know exactly what name brand thing you want to buy Amazon is the best buying / return experience, usually the cheapest way to acquire it, and the fastest delivery.
* If you don't know exactly what you want it's a pretty good search engine on top of AliExpress. As soon as you see two of the same pictures you can get it for at least half the price buying direct.
> As soon as you see two of the same pictures you can get it for at least half the price buying direct.
I don't know about this. I've certainly seen a few cases where it was true, but the shipping cost always brought it back up to Amazon price levels, or the shipping time was so long that I was happier paying a bit more to get it sooner.
Googling it, AliExpress still requires the item in its original packaging of you want to return it? If so, Amazon still dominates for anything worth returning. I can even drive the return item to the Whole foods down the street to return it at a dedicated Amazon kiosk.
* If you know exactly what name brand thing you want to buy Amazon is the best buying / return experience, usually the cheapest way to acquire it, and the fastest delivery.
* If you don't know exactly what you want it's a pretty good search engine on top of AliExpress. As soon as you see two of the same pictures you can get it for at least half the price buying direct.