i think i'm just going to use amazon actually

Submitted by twovests in just_post

I ordered a handful of books from bookshop.org in 2020 and in 2024 they sent me a dozen or so spam emails about books, by genre, which i could only unsubscribe from by genre

I return to bookshop.org, get a popup for 5% off on top of sliding advertisements, see 15 trackers blocked across 11 spyware agencies, read the ToS and find an arbitration agreements.

I go to amazon.com, get no popups on top of sliding advertisements, see 13 trackers blocked across only Amazon domains, and remember that Amazon stopped having binding arbitration for customers in 2021.

Why would I ever want to use Bookshop.org?

Amazon doesn't just beat them on prices, they also beat them on the legal implications, the security implications, and the privacy implications. The user experience of buying a book, and the amount of spam you receive after, are night and day. I'm tired, so I'm just going to use Amazon.

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emma wrote

can't have a fair comparison here until you've touched on the "piss bottle situation"

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twovests OP wrote (edited )

this is a very fair point

my fantasy is bookshops dot org will see this post and have a change of heart

my other fantasy is that there is any good Books Site out there (other than piracy, and my local library,) where i don't have to weigh how much my personal safety would be compromised by using their services

Other book sites I saw, selling the books I'm looking at:

  • feministpress.org: No ToS, no PP, uses SquareSpace, TypeKit, Google, and what looks like Shopify?

  • Barnes and Noble: cmon lol

  • Macmillan: Dozen trackers includes ones from Amazon, at least there's no arbitration clause, but they do sell information including race, ethnicity, religious views, life experiences, sexuality, and gender identity and gender expression.

  • IndieBound: It's just bookshop.org now

  • HarperCollins: Best one I've seen so far, no arbitration in the ToS, and the Privacy Policy is pretty gross but not overtly broad. But some of the books I am looking at, I can't actually buy books from their site, they only have links to Amazon and other big bookstores.

  • Penguin House Random: They do sell information including race, ethnicity, religious or philisophical belief, SSN and other identifiers, financial information, physical location, and union membership. Fucking union membership.

  • Simon and Schuster: Arbitration agreement, broad privacy policy, etc. i'm going to stop giving any of these bookshops my time at this point

And... I don't actually know the "piss bottle" situation about any of these companies. They're worse on almost every metric, and a "maybe" on the metrics like "are their employees peeing in bottles"?

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flabberghaster wrote (edited )

Bookshop dot org may be an annoying site to use, I don't know. Amazon is also a spammy and junky website that sucks to use though.

I don't know who owns bookshop dot org but I do know Jeff Bezos is like, at best one step above being a modern slaver and Amazon is definitively complicit in genocide against Palestinians.

So like, yeah there's no ethical consumption under capitalism, I'm not saying bookshop dot org isn't probably also doing son shit behind the scenes, don't know much about them, but Amazon is absolutely one of the most malign forces currently extant on this planet.

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twovests OP wrote (edited )

Amazon actually is less spammy, from the emails I received, and really does have better implications in data privacy.

Amazon is definitely evil, we are agreed, but I have only so much time and energy to expend and I only have so many compromises I can make.

I think I'll ultimately just not read these books, unless they arrive on the high seas or if I find myself in a bookstore in the coming years

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twovests OP wrote

Amazon actually is less spammy, and has better implications in data privacy.

Amazon is definitely evil, we are agreed, but I have only so much time and energy to expend and I only have so many compromises I can make.

I think I'll ultimately just not read these books, unless they arrive on the high seas or if I find myself in a bookstore in the coming years

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hollyhoppet wrote

just make sure you don't until after cyber monday. multiple orgs and unions calling for a boycott until then

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twovests OP wrote

:0 i appreciate you sharing this, because i actually had not heard this

i don't actually intend to use amazon any time soon, i just wanted to complain about The Evils

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twovests OP wrote

I'd also like to note that I don't live in a city; the closest library is a 1.4 mile walk away, the next is about 4 miles, and the nearest bookstore is over 10 miles away, and it's a Barnes and Noble. The nearest bookstore which isn't a Barnes and Noble is over 20 miles away.

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oolong wrote

oh i thought bookshop and the book depository were the same site but oh. ohhhh

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