# Amazon 238 Hacker News commenters recommended Amazon and 605 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 13 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 10 years (14 owners). **Verdict:** Recommended for fast, predictable shipping, easy returns and finding almost anything in one place, though many complain about counterfeit or low-quality third-party goods and poor search. ## Why people recommend it - Fast, predictable shipping (8 comments): "it perfectly possible for people to like the ability to like 2 day shipping while also liking that the site is flooded in cheap crap" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49350693)) "Having a predictable delivery date for that on top of it most of the time being way faster than anywhere else is really nice." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50087332)) "its advantages (insane shipping speed/cost, strong return policy) are nearly impossible for competitors to compete with" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48821502)) - Huge selection, one-stop convenience (6 comments): "having my address and payment info in one centralized superstore is way better than having it spread around dozens of niche businesses" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50091680)) "Just being able to use Amazon for almost everything starting from bottled water and toilet paper saves me immense amounts of time." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46254482)) "no online vendor gets remotely close to Amazon for speed of shipping, ease of returns, and product selection" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48822453)) - Generous, easy returns (4 comments): "Do you realize how generous their return policy is? How convenient it is to order from them, and set up a subscribe-and-save for monthly household items?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47158187)) "its advantages (insane shipping speed/cost, strong return policy) are nearly impossible for competitors to compete with" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48821502)) "no online vendor gets remotely close to Amazon for speed of shipping, ease of returns, and product selection" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48822453)) - Subscribe and save (2 comments): "Do you realize how generous their return policy is? How convenient it is to order from them, and set up a subscribe-and-save for monthly household items?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47158187)) "The only appeal Amazon has for me is the subscribe and save option and that you can find almost anything." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50090244)) ## What people warn about - Knockoffs and cheap junk (6 comments): "you must carefully inspect every item in your cart, because you will find lots of brand-items advertised from fly-by-night sellers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49634808)) "places like Amazon have degraded considerably in terms of things like fake third party products and fake reviews" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47487128)) "I largely attribute this to poor quality products, horrible search interface, trying to sort through the dropship spam, and prices no longer being as competitive." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47066120)) - Poor search and clunky interface (5 comments): "Amazon is pretty good at optimizing buying things but outside of that everything else sucks really bad especially on mobile" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47064349)) "Amazon has shipped what I genuinely believe to be the single most complicated unified user experience in human history" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47107127)) "I would see my Amazon searches appearing in my social media feed in near real time, and this irked me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49377700)) - Fake reviews and ads (3 comments): "places like Amazon have degraded considerably in terms of things like fake third party products and fake reviews" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47487128)) "Amazon has at least two customers here: you, the user trying to find an item to buy, and advertisers, likely trying to convince you to buy a lower quality product." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49350743)) "Amazon could easily implement a few measures to really lock down reviews, but they purposely leave it gameable because it drives sales." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47490202)) - Monopolistic, predatory business practices (5 comments): "it also always re-invests everything right back into Amazon including buying up competitors or ripping off the most popular items in their website." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48174979)) "Amazon and companies like them must be broken up because they harm the producers and consumers with dictating buying and selling pricinf." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46449374)) "Every Amazon purchase is a vote for monopolistic behaviour, the destruction of local services/industry, and for yet another America tax." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50087304)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [eBay](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ebay.md): 101 recommend - [AliExpress](https://hackerapproved.com/p/aliexpress.md): 62 recommend - [Temu](https://hackerapproved.com/p/temu.md): 15 recommend - [Allegro.pl](https://hackerapproved.com/p/allegro.md): 13 recommend - [Tindie](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tindie.md): 11 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.amazon.com/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Amazon", https://hackerapproved.com/p/amazon/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).