Re: Prefer to pay more, sometimes pay less
I gave up shopping on Amazon many years ago, but it really is a pain in the arse to go direct and it's no wonder really that most people can't be bothered to look elsewhere. 90% of sites still need an account before they'll let me spend my money. There are a million different payment systems out there, so the transactions crash at the last minute when the payment site JS is blocked. Some sites present everything as if they are in the UK and then ship from somewhere in the EU, with the arseache of unexpected import duty and VAT.
The world (well, my world) needs an online marketplace like Amazon - just not Amazon. eBay could be it, I suppose, but there be lots of dragons, including the eBay sellers that just drop ship "gifts" from Amazon using their Prime accounts.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
