amazon’s so-called search feature really sucks. When “sorted” by price, the prices are always all over the place anyway. Unwanted tat constantly shows up in very specific searches: “soap dish” ≠ “sunglasses” FFS.
Being unable to specify items you want excluded from a search is V aggravating, especially at amazon - they could so easily afford to change that. Dunno how many times I’ve specified the department to run a search (an adult sized t-shirt, say), after seeing loads of completely unrelated stuff (car floor mats? baby bottles?!) with a sprinkling of shirts, only to be informed that nothing was found in the clothing dept.
ebay’s hardly perfect, but it’s always the first place I look. You can specify item location, but to be certain, you must further investigate the sellers.* bezos’ joint doesn’t let you do that. On amazon, item price, shipping cost, and shipping time can be tip-offs, and some pages tell you the sellers’ locations. If a foreign seller uses fulfilled by amazon US, that purchase is still subject to the foreign transaction fee mentioned in the longwinded footnote.
amazon’s an awful company run by a far too rich, awful dickhead who treats employees like shit. They’re always my last resort.
It pisses me off when we order something from an ebay seller who buys it on amazon or walmart (ugh), and they ship it to us. That crap gets mentioned in the feedback we leave for the seller.
*I’ve found that whenever a seller has any items that will ship from a foreign country, their bank account is also foreign. US financial institutions charge customers an extra $3 fee when dealing w/foreign banks. That’s per purchase, not per item. Many Asia-based sellers have some items in the US - you get 'em within days instead of a month (or two if Korean) - but that foreign transaction fee still applies.
The ebay seller basic page [ebaydotcom/usr/their user name] supposedly tells you their location. It’s also good to know whether any of their items are in other countries, not just the ones yr after.
When browsing sellers’ wares by way of view seller’s other items from the page of an item, or by clicking items for sale from their basic page, sometimes you’ll see things in another country right away. It’s a real pain, but you can see whether all their stuff is domestically located by clicking your country in item location on the left toolbar, noting the resulting number of items. Scroll back up, and select worldwide in item location. Compare that number to the first. If the worldwide number’s higher, they have stuff in other countries & your purchase will cost $3 more in the US than it should.