Deinfluencing Amazon (Watch Before You Buy)

Summary

Episode Overview

Title: Deinfluencing Amazon (Watch Before You Buy)
Podcast: Frugal Friends Podcast
Hosts: Jen Smith & Jill Sirianni
Date: June 16, 2026

This episode dives into “deinfluencing” Amazon—challenging the widespread belief that Amazon is always the cheapest, quickest, and best buying option. With Amazon Prime Day approaching, Jen and Jill debunk Amazon’s reputation for savings and quality, explore why our spending habits are so tied to the platform, and offer practical steps for more intentional, frugal purchasing—plus laughter, memorable rants, and honest confessions of their own Amazon purchases.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Amazon: Not the Savings Platform You Think

• Amazon Prime Day is not a savings event
  • Instead, it’s “a behavioral trap built on urgency, convenience, and the assumption that Amazon is still the cheapest, fastest, safest place to buy. The evidence suggests all three assumptions are weaker than ever.” (Jen, 01:29)
• Decline in product quality and value
  • Personal stories—received items not as described, obviously fake reviews, reused or suspect packaging, and missing product parts.
  • “Everything that's on Amazon is crap. But there are ways to move forward, acknowledge that without totally getting off of Amazon as it has kind of become embedded in the culture.” (Jen, 04:24)

2. Behind the Amazon Curtain: Business Practices & Marketplace Dynamics

• Worker treatment and ethics

  • “Amazon warehouse workers were injured at nearly double the rate of other warehouses… workers are tracked by algorithms that measure their every scan and every second of idle time.” (Jill, 05:35)
  • Outsourced labor, anti-union tactics, and focus on maximizing extraction over employee welfare.

• Amazon’s wider business model

  • Nearly half of Amazon’s revenue comes from areas outside of retail: “They’re an advertising company. They are a shipping and fulfillment company, a streaming and subscription service...they are a logistics network...Web Services.” (Jen, 06:22)
  • Amazon isn’t reinvesting in shopping or user experience.

3. Quality Control: Third-Party Seller Explosion & Counterfeits

• Majority third-party and overseas sellers

  • “More than 60% of their sales in its store come from independent sellers...third party sellers, overseas manufacturers, resellers, brands you've never heard of. So of course this leads to trash products.” (Jill, 10:53)
  • Over 15 million counterfeit products seized in 2024 alone.

• Fake reviews and brand names

  • Browser tool Fake Spot outed rampant fake reviews, especially for mundane products (bug zappers as an example), and was acquired (then quietly shut down) by Mozilla, suggestive of tech-industry collusion (Jen, 11:58).
  • Brand names on Amazon (“we hole”, “pufu”) reflect lack of quality and oversight for imported, resold goods.

• Rising prices, not just poor quality

  • Amazon penalizes sellers for offering lower prices elsewhere and uses its power to push prices up across the internet (Jill & Alex Falcone clip, 15:11).

4. Amazon’s Influence, Advertising, and Algorithmic Shopping

• AI Influencers and fake ads

  • Amazon is now creating AI influencers to push “Creators’ Picks”—often with bizarre anomalies (like models with “orange AI legs”) (Jen & Jill, 08:34).
  • “Why would they pay actual creators...when they can just create AI slop at this point?” (Jen, 09:11)

• How Amazon wins twice

  • “Jeff Bezos isn’t just a billionaire because he sells cheap products. He’s a billionaire because he allows other people to sell their cheap products...and all of the fees that are associated.” (Jill, 22:02)
  • “They love the number of cheap products and third party sellers because they can use that data...and sell it as their own.” (Jen, 22:28)
  • Amazon copies successful products from sellers and pushes them in search results.

5. Prime: From ‘Free Perk’ to Overpriced Add-On

• Deteriorating membership value

  • “Amazon added ads to Prime Video in January 2024 unless subscribers paid an extra $2.99 a month...on top of the $149 you're spending annually for this whole charade.” (Jill, 29:12)
  • Lawsuits over “shrinking” the bundle—benefits removed/shifted after people already paid.

• Shipping no longer guaranteed

  • “You think you're paying for two day shipping? You're not. They don't even care. I don't even know if they promise two day delivery anymore.” (Jill, 30:12)
  • Episode notes complaints about delivery delays and exposes targeted service gaps (e.g., two black zip codes in DC lost Prime’s fastest delivery—Amazon cited ‘driver safety’). (Jen, 31:08)

• Prime as a psychological trap

  • Reduces friction, encourages more impulse shopping, less price comparison, and keeps people locked in with the belief they’re getting the best deal.

6. What Should Frugal Listeners Do Instead?

• Cancel Amazon Prime

  • “The literal only language that Amazon speaks is money. So you know what we can do? We can start by getting rid of our prime subscription.” (Jill, 32:41)
  • “If all we did is just cancel Amazon prime and maybe make one purchase per month on Amazon...it’s the bare minimum we can all do.” (Jen, 34:26)

• Shop with intention

  • Walk through a purchasing filter: Do I really need it? Can I borrow or get it used? Is there a higher-quality, more ethical brand? Can I buy local? Is it worth paying full price guilt-free? (Jill, 35:07)

• Explore alternatives

  • Recommendations include Quince (affordable, verified quality), Whatnot (live, secondhand shopping marketplace), and checking buy-nothing groups.
  • “We have to get out of this conditioning that Amazon is going to have the best price.” (Jen, 38:52)

• Word of caution: Never browse aimlessly—only shop for what’s actually on your list.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

Skewering Amazon’s Decline

• “Amazon Prime Day is not really a savings event anymore. It's a behavioral trap.” – Jen, 01:29
• “Everything that's on Amazon is crap. But there are ways to move forward, acknowledge that without totally getting off of Amazon.” – Jen, 04:24
• “Amazon warehouse workers were injured at nearly double the rate of other warehouses... tracked by algorithms that measure their every scan and every second of idle time.” – Jill, 05:35

Fake Reviews, Weird Brands, and AI Influencers

• “I just searched Dresses and some of my favorites are we hole. Like W. We hole. W I H O L L. We hole.” – Jen, 14:31
• Describing AI influencer with “orange legs”:
  “Those were orange AI legs. She got orange legs.” – Jen, 09:13

Prime Value Plummets

• “Amazon prime is crap. That's right. We said it. It's our new favorite word.” – Jill, 29:12
• “You think you're paying for two day shipping, you're not. They don't even care. I don't even know if they promise two day delivery anymore.” – Jill, 30:12

A Call to Cancel

• “The literal only language that Amazon speaks is money. So you know what we can do? We can start by getting rid of our prime subscription.” – Jill, 32:41
• “You probably have an annual [Prime subscription], so just cancel it now, let the annual run its course, and then just don't let it renew. You don't need Amazon Prime. Its shipping is not fast.” – Jen, 33:17

Buying with Intention

• “So often personal finance focuses on saving money. But really, we're all spending and we're spending daily and a lot of us are spending on Amazon and we need to stop it right now.” – Jill, 35:07

Confessions and Real-Life Frugal Hacks

• What’s the last thing you bought on Amazon?
  • Jen: Refurbished Apple Watch (47:44)
  • Jill: A bulk box of her favorite gum (51:12)
  • Both disclose they try to shop intentionally—but still fall prey to convenience sometimes.

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Timestamps for Core Segments

• [01:29] The “Prime Day” Trap: Debunking savings myths
• [05:35] Ethics & Treatment of Amazon Workers
• [06:22] Amazon’s Real Income Streams
• [08:34] AI Influencers & Fake Curation
• [10:53] Third-Party Sellers and the Flood of Counterfeits
• [14:31] Bizarre Brand Names & Fake Reviews
• [15:11] How Amazon Manipulates Marketplace Pricing (Alex Falcone Segment)
• [22:02] Dropshipping, White Labeling, and Data Theft
• [29:12] “Prime is Crap” – Membership Value Plummets
• [32:41] What to Do: Cancel Prime, Shop Better
• [35:07] Frugal Framework for Purchasing
• [38:52] Alternatives: Whatnot, Buy-Nothing, Quince
• [47:01] Lightning Round: Confessions – Last Amazon Purchase

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Action Steps for Listeners

• Cancel Amazon Prime: Let your subscription lapse; force yourself to pause and consider each purchase.
• Be skeptical of Amazon pricing: Shop around, compare, and check for quality.
• Support ethical brands and local stores: Consider higher-quality, more sustainable items—even if it means spending a bit more.
• Diversify your shopping: Try alternatives like Whatnot, direct brand sites, and secondhand options.
• Embrace intentionality: Only buy what you truly need.

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Calls to Action

• Share in the comments: If this episode inspired you to cancel Amazon Prime, tell Jen and Jill!
• Consider buying their book: “Buy What You Love Without Going Broke”—available on (and off) Amazon.
• Subscribe and Review: Help deinfluence the algorithm and spread the frugal gospel.

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For anyone who hasn’t listened: This episode is a refreshing, highly relatable reality check about Amazon’s decline and influence on our wallets, with actionable steps, empathetic anecdotes, and laugh-out-loud moments—perfect for anyone aiming to spend with more intention (and less regret).

Transcript

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[Jill]

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how you buy de influencing Amazon Listen before you buy.

[Jill]

Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast where

[Jen]

you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity,

[Jill]

and live a richer life. Here are your hosts, Jen and Jill.

[Jen]

Welcome, Frugal Friends. I'm Jen. I'm Jill and Amazon Prime Day is upon us. It is in June this year instead of July. And who's who am I getting? It's not a day, it's pretty much summer. It's Amazon Prime Summer. But before you buy anything, I would like to remind you that Amazon Prime Day is not really a savings event anymore. It's a behavioral trap built on urgency, convenience, and the assumption that Amazon is still the cheapest, fastest, safest place to buy. The evidence suggests all three assumptions are weaker than ever. I had to read that one because

[Jill]

it was chock full of some salacious content. But don't just take our word for it. Check these people out. I definitely shop on Amazon, so don't get me wrong, but I have been so sick of like the quality that comes in for things. I'm planning my son's birthday party and I just bought paper plates for from there. I made sure they were like the plastic ones. It literally said like heavy duty. And some of the reviews, like now

[Jen]

that I'm thinking about it, they're definitely fake.

[Jill]

Like there's no way everyone was like heavy duty.

[Jen]

Like I was gonna wash the food

[Jill]

off of this because like I was gonna Reuse them.

[Amanda]

They are great.

[Jill]

They're great.

[Jen]

They literally came in.

[Jill]

They looked like the thinnest. Thinnest, Thinnest, Thinnest.

[Amanda]

Thinnest.

[Jill]

Thinnest. Thinnest, Thinnest. Be like when you picked them up, they were like bent.

[Jen]

Does anyone want to take a guess as to what is on the bottom of this shirt? I go to open the Aquaphor. It's like the Amazon brand of Aquaphor, but like the outer package it was in was like, clearly for something different. But I was like, whatever. Maybe they're just reusing it.

[Jill]

Whatever.

[Jen]

I open the actual container used.

[Jill]

I bought a vanity for my daughter for Christmas that came from a company in China. Not a big deal. Through Amazon. Cost me $320 with the shipping. Okay. Lots of money.

[Jen]

When I received the vanity after Christmas,

[Jill]

we went to go put it together. It was missing all of the parts.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

It.

[Jill]

We only had the wood pieces. There was no mirror, no hardware, no lights. There was no outlet that it had an outlet thing where you could plug in like your charger or whatever. Everything was missing. With some fighting, the company finally sent me replacements in like three different packages. And they all came from China. So I had to wait weeks and weeks to get the stuff. Once I got the packages, upon further investigation, we're still missing parts.

[Jen]

And that's just the icing on the T shirt. Girl. I still. That woman thinks that that's body fluid. That's. That woman thinks that's body.

[Jill]

If you're just listening, there was some suspect glaze, suspect things on a T shirt.

[Jen]

I wonder if the person who had the Aquaphor also had the T shirt. I wonder about so many things. And if you're not already convinced, then by the end of this episode, I think you will be convinced that Amazon is crap. Everything is on. Everything that's on Amazon is crap. But there are ways to move forward, acknowledge that without totally getting off of Amazon as it has kind of become embedded in the culture.

[Jill]

If you haven't done so yet, please like and subscribe this video. Because if we want to de influence the masses, then the algorithm needs to be able to push this to more people. And that's only done through you subscribing. We liking this video. Commenting. It's the easiest and freest way for you to support us. Thank you.

[Jen]

So other people don't fall prey to the trap that Amazon Prime Day is. Anyway, let's get into the conversation and convincing you of what you kind of

[Jill]

already know first is that Amazon is crap. Okay? So we're just gonna say it and we're gonna put it out there. We're gonna sit with that.

[Jen]

You kinda know that though. Yeah, like you knew that.

[Jill]

Here's the thing. Amazon warehouse workers were injured at nearly double the rate of other warehouses. Let that sink in. Double the rate. What does that say about the way that they're caring for their workers? Workers are tracked by algorithms that measure their employees every scan and every second of idle time. And I'm sorry I use the word employee and that implies that they're actually employing people and giving them benefits. But, but no, most of the time it's subcontractors that they are incentivizing to be as quick as possible, otherwise they're not going to get paid as much as they could. And what would potentially be a fair living wage. And they spend millions of dollars on anti union campaigns.

[Jen]

Yeah, so aside from that stuff that you kind of already knew, they don't really actually identify as an online store anymore. And actually it's getting closer to closer that half of their money is made by not like outside of selling stuff. So Amazon is also an advertising company. They are a shipping and fulfillment company, a streaming and subscription service. They are a logistics network that is huge. A lot of the things you see on the Internet use Amazon as their like, like their data cloud. Amazon Web Services. You've probably seen AWS in your, in your URL somewhere. That's, that's Amazon. And so those layers right now make up about 40% of their revenue and that revenue is growing. And so you would think that if they're putting so much of their time and their effort into building up this site of the business, they would actually be good at it. But they're not.

[Amanda]

Okay.

[Jen]

So I was casually scrolling on one of my other social media apps and I came across one of these ads from Amazon when the creator ads. And this really piqued my interest because I'm looking at this and I'm like, there is something wrong in this photo. Definitely these. And so I'm like, let me click and do some further investigation here before I jump to conclusion. As I click into this creator of Amazon's picture, this is what is posted. I really am going to hang my hat on this not being a real person. And if I am wrong and this is a real person and they exist, I'm gonna eat my words. I'm sorry, but the face looks exactly the same like the same expression as the first photo, just like as if it's retouched and closed and the ankles are the same color. And then we get here and I'm like, is the structures wrong? This, this is, this is a fake background. Please be AI because this cannot.

[Jill]

It cannot. I agree, it cannot.

[Jen]

For those of you listening and not seeing, this was an actual ad and you did see it and you weren't completely sure. So maybe for everyone, it's an ad from Amazon, like not from a creator, but like advertising this quote unquote creators picks. And it's a like curated collection of this creator wearing Amazon stuff, stuff from Amazon and links to it. But this person is not real. The person in the front facing ad had orange legs that were not.

[Jill]

I thought she had tights on at first.

[Jen]

Those were orange AI legs. She got orange legs.

[Jill]

Right? And same thing in the other photo, like different, totally different colors happening.

[Jen]

But you can see the ankles. Orange, right? Orange ankles underneath those jeans.

[Jill]

Yeah. And that's a new concept to me, is an basically Amazon influencer.

[Jen]

Amazon is creating its own AI influencers to market things.

[Jill]

They're not real, but they're trying to make you think that they're real because why would they hire real people?

[Jen]

Why would they pay actual creators who make like 7 cents a day? Marketing, like Amazon stuff. It's insane how little Amazon like must have influencers make. It's insane to still see them around based on how little they make. So they just are creating AI slop at this point. So it's not really investing in itself as a store. It's not really investing in itself as a shipping and fulfillment center or an advertising like company. So Amazon in itself is just like, you know, I don't know where they're taking all the, where they're investing all that money. But it's not in itself.

[Jill]

It's not in itself.

[Jen]

It's like, girl, you've got money. Like, invest in yourself, be better. Yeah.

[Jill]

The second thing. So the first was just, if I can refresh our memories, that Amazon is crap.

[Jen]

The second you need a reminder, we'll keep finding you.

[Jill]

The second is that everything on Amazon

[Jen]

is also crap probably as a result of the first point.

[Jill]

So Amazon even says that more than 60% of their sales in, in its store come from independent sellers. So that's not just Amazon itself. This means that most of the things you buy from Amazon are actually from a third party seller. Most of us do know this, but 60% is, is a majority in quick math, third party seller overseas manufacturers, resellers, brands you've never heard of. So of course this leads to trash products there's not a whole lot of quality control happening and not a whole lot of Amazon taking ownership of these things when it's through a third party. So we might end up with trash products, counterfeits of recognizable products. And Amazon itself reported that in 2024, it identified, seized and disposed of more than 15 million counterfeit products worldwide. And we're not talking counterfeit luxury bags. We're talking counterfeit everyday products that you're using. Yeah.

[Jen]

This was so crazy for me to read. So Fake Spot used to, it was a browser extension that would comb through Amazon listings to filter out fake reviews, bot reviews, which again, are illegal on the site. But you know, who's going after anybody. So they found that, of all things, bug zappers were a product that scammers love to counterfeit. Over three years, the number of new bug zappers coming onto the market was insane. And they all had, you know, 4, 3, 4, 6, 4, 7. But the fake Spot filtered that most of those, an increasing number of those were fake. And I can actually attest to this. I bought one of these bug zappers like several years ago, and I can attest to the fact that it was like 4.7. I put it outside, it was a glorified flashlight, and I ended up hanging it and then it came undone, it broke apart, crashed onto my patio, and then just became unusable, even as, you know, a cheap flashlight. So, yeah, fun fact. I don't want to, like, I'll let you. I'll. I'll drop this fun fact here and you decide what you're going to do with it. Fake Spot got acquired by Mozilla several years ago. And in a business acquisition, when you're acquiring a product that's already on the market, those usually have, like, survival period clauses of 12 to 24 months that you can't do anything with the product for one or two years. And for some reason, exactly 26 months after Mozilla acquired Fake Spot, it shut it down last year. And I just wonder why a tech company who generates 86% of its income from paid search listings, like from Amazon, just an example, would pay money to acquire an extension that filters out fake reviews on products that advertise on search engines. That's crazy.

[Jill]

That's crazy.

[Jen]

With that, what you wear, right?

[Jill]

Why wouldn't they? Why want to identify fake ads and uphold integrity and values.

[Amanda]

So.

[Jen]

So, yeah, like these third, and I would love for you to drop in the comment the best brand name that you have seen on Amazon. I just searched Dresses and some of my favorites are we hole. Like W. We hole. W I H O L L. We hole. You've got. You've got. Yes. No. I'll see things.

[Jill]

It's like what you say with the dress. Like. Yes. And then it comes to you.

[Amanda]

No.

[Jen]

Would you. I just. These brand names are they. They kill me.

[Jill]

Here's the thing, though. The cheap crap isn't even cheap anymore. Amazon is strategically pushing up their prices and punishing sellers who offer their products at lower prices on other platforms.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Has Amazon gotten better or worse in the last few years? Let's take an unbiased look at another episode of my new series, why Does Everything Suck Now, Amazon is an interesting case because they were always evil, but they weren't always bad. And now, somehow they're both. They used a large pile of investor cash to buy competitors or put them out of business and sell you goods below cost to get you excited about it. And then they pulled off their greatest trick ever, convincing people that paying $140 a year for shipping was free. But once they get you locked into that shipping plan that you're paying for, then you aren't going to shop around for better prices. So their prices went way up. And even when there is a good deal on the site, you can't find it because their search feature isn't actually searching. Amazon makes billions of dollars by charging companies to appear in their fake search results. On average, the top four results are 25% more expensive than the best deal. And the best deal on average ranks 17th. The on on the search page. But the craziest part is that Amazon has caused prices to go up on other websites in order to eke out a measly profit when you're being extorted by their fake search page. Everybody had to raise their prices. But Amazon has a rule. You can't sell something less on another website. In order to meet Amazon's demands, they have to raise prices other places. So it's easy to boycott them because they're evil. But even if you boycott them, you're still paying their tax. And this is not the most important thing they're doing, but that money that they're extracting from you is going to make a really meh Lord of the Rings. So Amazon sucks because they managed to consolidate the industry, trick people into paying for free shipping, and then raised prices on their website and everywhere else. And all to make this.

[Jill]

Did we mention we're the frugal friends and we make everything that you thought

[Jen]

was good stuff but you didn't think Amazon was good. Yes, you didn't. Yeah, I know you didn't think Amazon was good. Right. But we are all stuck still shopping from Amazon and we are going to talk about like how we can operate moving forward. We will get into that. But like that, that's Alex Falcone. We've played his stuff on here before so he's a good follow if you haven't forsaken social media yet. But yeah, like it's. And so he talks about that advertising agency, part of Amazon, right. Like they're also charging outside companies to be able to have the privilege of making less money on Amazon. But how this has impacted other sites like Target and Walmart. And we see it with Prime Day. Everybody has a sale during Prime Day. And I just wonder, maybe drop this like idea into your head too if everybody is planning for a sale in July. Because Prime Day is normally in July. And so you've got all these big brands, you know, Walmart, Target, all these planning for sales in July. And then Amazon internally is like, no, we are going to move our sale up to June and throw a wrench in everybody's plan. Like how sin is to ruin other people's lives. Because it's not the CEO of Walmart or Target that's going to be suffering, it's the rank and file employees that are going to be suffering, shifting everything up that they thought they had six extra weeks to work on. Like, how sinister. So yeah, summer is filling up fast. Trips, family time, long days at the pool. And I want to be present for all of it. Not buried in financial. To do's One thing that's easy to put off, but really shouldn't be life insurance. Getting it sorted is one of those things that just makes the whole summer feel lighter.

[Jill]

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[Jen]

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[Jill]

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[Jen]

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[Jill]

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[Jen]

Join [e-mail] Rakuten or download the Rakuten app to start earning cash back today. That's frugalfriendspodcast.com R A K U T E N so why are there so

[Jill]

many cheap and counterfeit products on Amazon? Why? Because I think Alex Falcone made a bit, made a great point. It did used to be a good deal. And then, and then we get locked in. And that's how a lot of companies do things, right? They offer you some incentive, get your loyalty and then slowly but surely increase, change, tweak. But now we're just locked in and we've got this anchoring bias that this is always the best price. So lots of companies do this but, but, but how, how we find ourselves

[Jen]

here now so many like I get why, you know, I get why there's, you know, cheap encounter products on Amazon. But how, how are you going to have 18 of the same bug zapper with the same Exact image from 18 different brands like Pufu and Tissue Box and Power Cord. You know, like how I love you

[Jill]

coming up with these random names though.

[Jen]

I mean, Jeff Bezos, they're better than what's on Amazon.

[Jill]

Yeah, yeah, you're good at this. Actually, you should be a third party seller.

[Jen]

I should. Well, I could and we're going to learn right now how to. Yes.

[Jill]

I mean, Jeff Bezos isn't just a billionaire because he sells cheap products. He's a billionaire because he allows other people to sell their cheap products. So he makes money off of his cheap products and other people's cheap products and all of the fees that are associated with others selling on his site. Seller fees, fulfillment Fees, advertising and everyone's competing for attention and it's becoming the only place people will go to shop for really convenience, impulsivity.

[Jen]

Yeah, and they, they love that actually. They love the number of cheap products and third party sellers because they can use that data to then scrape what people are doing and sell it as their own. And there is a video from YouTuber Gabby Bell on drop shipping. And so this is how you can become a third party seller on Amazon with your own brand name. Like, like tree like sounds basically just make up a sound and that's your brand name. You too can have a sound brand name through drop shipping and short version. This is where you would go to a site like Alibaba and you would kind of get there, either wholesale their stuff and bring it into your house and like, you know, organize it and then sell it or like ship it to Amazon and then they ship it all out. Or what's usually happening is it goes straight from Alibaba to the Amazon warehouse and you're kind of just like logistics. But she has a really great video on, on this stuff and it got really popular. Like you can buy Amazon FBA and drop shipping and white labeling courses. Like every bro on the Internet was selling a course on how to become a drop shipper on Amazon. And so that is one of the reasons we have so many of these things. And she looked at a Wall Street Journal and like congressional investigation and found that while Amazon touts these sellers as partners in public within the company, it refers to them as internal competitors. So they found that Amazon has spied on these sellers and appropriated data about their sales costs and suppliers and then use that information to create its own competing version of their products, often giving its versions superior placement in search results. Amazon has also been caught using venture capital funds to invest in startups only to steal those startups ideas and create rival products and services. In some cases, Amazon's decision to launch a competing product devastated the business in which it invested. Wild. So essentially it's, it's almost impossible to make money dropshipping now as just a regular person because not only is Amazon doing this to dropshippers and private labelers and white labelers, but they're also working directly with like the warehouse like that, the ones Alibaba uses. And so these warehouses have Amazon specific like departments so they are sending the stuff to Amazon. There is no middleman, there is no dropshipper. So the warehouse is making the money off of selling it. And that's how you get brand names like Pafu you know, so virtually, unless you are your own warehouse, you're not going to be able to compete in the market and make money with all the fees Amazon is taking out.

[Jill]

It creates such a monopoly. And it makes me wonder at what point are going to be faced with an antitrust litigation.

[Jen]

But I'm like, oh, I bet I. How many antitrust.

[Jill]

That's true.

[Jen]

Yeah, let's.

[Jill]

But it's not changing anything. And that's the thing. As long as we keep buying this crap. That's our new favorite word for this episode, nothing's going to change. And really, I hate to break it to all of us, things are going to get worse if we keep going on this pathway. These items have no quality control, though. That's not even like the biggest issue. But to underscore the point of no quality control, here you go.

[Jen]

As of yet last year, Amazon has been named in at least three major antitrust cases in the US along with multiple investigations and cases in the EU and India.

[Jill]

Dang.

[Jen]

So at least three federal antitrust cases. Yeah, so, yeah, I was Googling that.

[Jill]

No, that was good. I was about to show people something to underscore. No quality control. That was a good interruption.

[Jen]

I'm sorry. The quality is bad. And then even bad quality products get. Can get worse. Like what we saw with the Aquaphor and. And the T shirts and even buying brand names you trust on Amazon, you're not sure what you're gonna get.

[Jill]

I bought my daughter a pair of AirPods. Paid for new AirPods. This is what I got. No shrink wrap. And

[Jen]

the Apple

[Jill]

paper that they put on there is obviously not intact. And then I open it up and I get this and I get that. The reason I'm so angry, because this kind of happens all the time with Amazon and they don't care. Somebody stole a pair of AirPods, returned them, they came back, obviously, to the Amazon warehouse, opened. And did anybody check them to see if there was anything in there? No,

[Jen]

she was livid. I cut a lot out of that video. But this woman is livid and she hates Amazon more than we do. Yeah, for sure.

[Jill]

And the descriptions of products don't even matter anymore. They can claim 100% cotton and give you 100% polyester. They could just do that. And they're doing that.

[Jen]

You can buy new and like, there is a. There's a tab that says, you know, used like new. You can choose. I want the product new or I'm okay with it being used. It doesn't matter if you select new they're going to send you whatever they have, whether it's been returned, used, whatever. It doesn't matter anymore.

[Jill]

You want to know what else? So we've gone through how Amazon is crap. Everything on Amazon is crap. Why is Amazon crap?

[Jen]

Here's that. If you've, if you've zoned out, come back because Jill's about to drop it on you and I need you to be here for this.

[Jill]

Amazon prime is crap. That's right. We said it. It's our new favorite word. Amazon added ads to prime video in January 2024 unless subscribers paid an extra $2.99 a month. Oh, it's just an extra $2.99aMonth on top of the $149 you're spending annually for this whole charade that we're all doing.

[Jen]

It's a simulation.

[Jill]

A lawsuit over the change was dismissed in 2025, with the judge finding Amazon's terms allowed for benefit changes. And that's not just an ads are annoying kind of story. This is a value story. Prime members paid for a bundle. Then one part of that bundle became worse unless users paid more skinflation. You think that's gonna stop happening? You think they're just gonna do that and then stop there?

[Jen]

My friends, my friends know, I think

[Jill]

takes longer and longer. You think you're paying for two day shipping? You're not. They don't even care. I don't even know if they promise two day delivery anymore. They're just like shipping.

[Jen]

We don't even know what that means.

[Jill]

They're not making any promises though. It'll say whatever it wants and it'll do whatever it wants.

[Jen]

I tell you, when I was looking for videos for this episode, for every video I found about the quality, I found an equal amount and angrier people talking about how long shipping is taking. Yes, nothing angers people more than two day shipping taking longer than two days. And I'm here to ask, why are you still paying 140, 150 a year for free shipping that takes more than two days? And.

[Jill]

And they'll do nothing about it. There used to be guarantees. If it didn't arrive in that time frame, it just doesn't matter.

[Jen]

And they are systematically ensuring that. I'll let you interpret this, but DC Sued Washington, DC Sued Amazon, alleging it secretly stopped using its Facebook fastest delivery service in two predominantly black zip codes while continuing to charge residents for Prime. Amazon said the changes were related to driver safety. So this is intentional. It's built into the system and it Will only get worse because prime is sticky by design. Some people say sticky. I say coercive in that once you pay for it, you feel pressure to get your money's worth. And that's one of the ways it causes us to impulse spend more because it leads to more browsing, more impulse purchases, less price comparison on other sites. Even if you could get free shipping on another site, it's easier to buy on Amazon. You don't even know if the shipping really is going to take two days. Right? But like, it's just easier. It feels safer and more comfortable to buy on Amazon versus another site. And with the way Amazon has coerced its sellers into not being able to charge lower prices on other sites, then it really is kind of some of the same deals. Mm.

[Jill]

So what can we do instead? The literal only language that Amazon speaks is money. So you know what we can do? We can start by getting rid of our prime subscription. I'm not even telling you to immediately stop buying on Prime. I'm just telling you immediately get rid of your subscription. Because all it does is reduce the friction, the barrier to entry to you buying a ton of stuff, not searching elsewhere. It's the path of least resistance. You're probably spending more than you would if you didn't have the subscription. So just get rid of it. Yeah, don't do it anymore.

[Jen]

You probably have an annual, so just cancel it now, let the annual run its course and then just don't, don't let it renew. You don't need Amazon Prime. Its shipping is not fast. You don't. There shouldn't be anything you need like super, like within two days. If you need it in two days, then you can go out and get it. Unless you are a brand new nursing mother or you are very ill, in which case you can just pay a delivery from like Instacart or Walmart to get something delivered. And that's like $10 one time, right? Or you can just pay the Whole Foods whatever their fee is, right? We're not against 100 against fees. But taking out this one subscription will drastically cut down the number of impulse buys you make. It'll force you to wait until you have enough in your cart for free shipping. It'll force you to really think about if you want something. And then it also just, it makes Amazon, like belief that what they're doing is wrong. You know, like, because as long as we are placing so many purchases on Amazon, they're going to keep exploiting the people that work there because they literally can't keep up with how many orders we are making. Like we are telling them that this is okay because we keep ordering from them so frequently. So if all we did is just cancel Amazon prime and maybe make one purchase per month on Amazon, if you're somebody who's used to making multiple condense the purchases cut out prime is the bare minimum we can all do.

[Jill]

Of course we can also pay for better quality. This is one of the things that we talk about when it comes to spending money. I mean we wrote our whole book buy what you love without going broke on how to spend. Because so often personal finance focuses on saving money. But really we're all spending and we're spending daily and a lot of us are spending on Amazon and we need to stop it right now. But we can have this filter that we go through when, when it comes to making purchasing decisions. Can I do without it? Is there an alternative? Is there something that I already have that it's going to work okay? If not, because sometimes it's that answer is no to that question. Can I get the thing for free? And we look on all of our buy nothing groups and we ask people and maybe we borrow and maybe still the answer is no. Okay, can I get it for low cost? And yeah, that might be where an Amazon might make sense. It might be that I'm able to find a coupon for it. It might be that I'm waiting until it goes on sale or a deal to get it from the actual website or I'm gonna actually go somewhere in person. And the final one, and we do still love this one. It's okay to get to this stuff step. We highly recommend it. Can I pay full price for it guilt free? And that's where we have really enacted this pattern and habit of all of the other problem solving and creativity and recycling and repurposing so that we have the money to spend where it counts so we can buy local so we can buy from the brands who are actually supporting their workers and engaging in sustainable practices. And we're buying from those companies, not just the cheap knockoff because it's easiest. So one of the brands that we've really been liking is Quince. They're kind of that affordable middle ground. Yeah, it's going to be a little more than what you might get at Amazon, but not as much as your more luxury shops quints on whatnot you just found.

[Jen]

I have been on whatnot very recently and it's been a great place to find secondhand stuff or like store like People get pallets of clothes from Target or quints that are returns or stock that like just didn't sell. Maybe a little like, you know, call out, they call it. But it's just like a little snag or something. And so like things that are maybe $50 on quince, that would be $100 at like banana Republic. I can find them for like $30 on whatnot. And it's live selling, so it's not like I get to just like pick, you know, but if I'm just sitting there and you know, like vegging out and I've got like the quince, there's a bunch of sellers that do it and just like have it on my phone. And it's not just that one, but I'll do, you know, anything that's higher quality. It's a name that I can trust to be. When it says it's 100% cotton, it is 100% cotton. Like as long as there are, it's a brand that's honest about that. She had no clothes. I like just look for that stuff and you know, if I see it like I can bid on it and I don't always win. But shipping's pretty reasonable and it's, it's less expensive. You know, even $30 for a cashmere sweater is more than what a lot of us would pay. Honestly though, no, I would say $30 is about what you're gonna pay for a sweater on Amazon. Yeah, no kidding. Yeah, yeah. And not even cashmere. It's going to be polyester. So like we have to get out of this conditioning. Like, see there I was, I was conditioned. Like, you know, that's gonna be more than Amazon and like. No, it's actually not. Yeah, we have to get out of this conditioning that Amazon is going to have the best price.

[Jill]

Word of caution, with anything online purchasing, it's just easy to do. It's so easy to just press a button and get it delivered to you. There's not a lot of lift with that. So really only for the things that are already on your list to be purchasing. We are never going to encourage you to just scroll websites and see what you want to buy. That's not going to be helpful for you. But when you can put in some time to find the brands that are going to give you the things that are quality, long lasting, that you might spend a little bit more on, but it's not from Amazon, then we can feel really good about that.

[Jen]

Something else that we can feel really good about every single Week. And this is not just one day a year or one month a year. This is twice a week, every single week.

[Jill]

And it's free. The bill of the week.

[Jen]

That's right. It's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is William.

[Jill]

Maybe you paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died and you're happy

[Jen]

to not have to pay that bill anymore. Duck Bills.

[Jill]

Buffalo Bills.

[Jen]

Bill Clinton.

[Jill]

This is the bill of the week.

[Amanda]

Hey Jen. Hey Jill. Amanda here. And I'm actually coming to you with a bill of the holiday season. So Christmas 2024, I had purchased a free our family a brand new Christmas tree. It's a seven foot pre lit artificial Christmas tree and I wanted one that looks super realistic. So I did my due diligence. I looked far and wide and found one that was just perfect. But it was a little bit over budget. But I decided that this was an investment for our family. And I spent just over $350 on this seven foot pre lit Christmas tree. It was beautiful. It was everything I hoped for. We had a great Christmas 2024 with it this year. Great, fabulous second year. And just about a week or two before Christmas, I noticed that about 25% of the lights were not lit up. And no amount of changing the bulbs or messing with the wiring or anything we found online brought them back to life. And I was devastated. I could not imagine this tree going into the landfill. I could not imagine having to miss out on the money I spent on it and spending more money on a new Christmas tree. So I got the brilliant idea that I was going to unravel cut off however I had to. I was getting all of these lights off of this tree so that next year we could use the tree and just put new lights on it. Well, two hours later, I successfully pulled off every single light off the seven foot tree. My husband, such a trooper, helped with every bit of it. I was so thrilled to save it.

[Jen]

Oh Amanda, bless your heart. Yeah, that is a lot. So I did something similar to you. I wanted to the seven foot real looking fake tree and I got it In I think 2023 at an after Christmas sale. So I got probably it was originally 350 and I think I got it for like half off. But I intentionally got the one without lights. And that's because I've heard that story so many times.

[Jill]

Amanda. This was me this year too. You and I live in parallel lives. I don't even think I told you about this. I think I block Your Christmas tree

[Jen]

was up for six months. So I just. Now it's May that we're recording this. I just noticed.

[Jill]

You just noticed that it's gone.

[Jen]

Well.

[Jill]

And you know what? The tree was up never having been decorated, only with lights. And that's why because we plugged it in half the lights were out. Trying to figure it out, couldn't. And I spent an entire evening got like rashes up my arms trying to take off all. And they. A pre lit tree. They really laughed every single branch. And then we had gotten others probably I don't know if it was on clearance or from the thrift store other lights. But I wasn't going to wrap it that intensely in case I ever need to unwrap it. But it's hard to figure out how to make a bunch of strands all end up at the right part. Especially for un. Un hooking, you know, the different sections of the tree. I did do it, but it took a. Took a very long.

[Jen]

I have. I've always lit my own tree with my own lights and it is so awkward and it is so cumbersome. But I, I remind myself every year that it is worth it because of these stories.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

So yeah, if you're thinking I know that it's June when this comes out, but I'm saying after Christmas this year if you want a new tree, buy it at the after Christmas sale and buy a non lit one. You'll save yourself some money. You can also buy the lights at after Christmas because those are plentiful or led.

[Jill]

And that was the thing we couldn't find our tree in like a non led.

[Jen]

Well, I think, I think even the LED lights.

[Jill]

I don't think so.

[Jen]

No.

[Jill]

Yeah, No, I don't think so.

[Jen]

Why would they sell non LED lights?

[Jill]

I don't. Because it's cheaper and because planned obsolescence. Yeah, I know this is going to happen and then you'll be back.

[Jen]

Well, I would just say get your own. Get your own lights and get an unlit tree. Just better safe than sorry.

[Jill]

Amanda, we feel ya. Thanks for this Bill. Well done. You saved money. You kept a tree out of the landfill. If anyone listening has a bill that they want to share. If it's about something that happened six months ago or something that's happening right now or your name is Bill frugalfriendspodcast.com Bill. Can't wait to hear it.

[Jen]

Grilling season is here and honestly the difference between a good cookout and a great one comes down to the quality of your meat. That's why we love Butcherbox. They deliver over 100 premium responsibly sourced protein options straight to your door. From grass fed beef to wild cut seafood.

[Jill]

I love that my freezer is always stocked, which means no last minute grocery runs. I've been throwing their New York strips and chicken breasts on the grill lately and the flavor difference is so noticeable.

[Jen]

You can customize your box based on what your family enjoys eating. It ships free and it comes with recipes and grilling tips too. Better meat really does mean better meals, weeknight dinners included, not just the big cookouts.

[Jill]

As an exclusive offer, new listeners can get their choice between free sirloin tips, ground beef or chicken wings in every box for life, plus $20 off when you go to butcherbox.com frugal that's right, your choice of free sirloin tips, ground beef or chicken wings in every box for life, plus $20 off your first box and free shipping always. That's butcherbox.com frugal don't forget to use our link so they know we sent you.

[Jen]

You know that feeling when you've had something on your shopping list forever and you finally find it but for way less than you expected? That's basically every time I open Whatnot. It's a live shopping app where you can find deals on clothes, cosmetics, jewelry, kids stuff, and so much more. And you almost never pay full price. I got 10 pairs of Nike shorts and joggers for my son for under $75.

[Jill]

Whatnot is the largest live shopping marketplace in the country with over 10,000 sellers going live every day with brand name items but without the retail prices. The benefit of live sales is actually being able to chat with the seller, ask questions about the items, and get clarity on sizing fit and quality.

[Jen]

It's a great way to not only buy the stuff that's already on your list for a fraction of the cost, but also to shop pre owned and secondhand.

[Jill]

First download the Whatnot app today and get free shipping on your first order. Just search w h a t n o t whatnot in the App Store and start scoring amazing deals. And now it's time for the lightning round.

[Jen]

Shoosh your finger. Boom. All right, what's the last thing you bought on Amazon?

[Jill]

Ah, I love how.

[Jen]

Oh my gosh.

[Jill]

I love how at the very end we're just like, okay. And then vulnerability.

[Jen]

Humanize it. Like I haven't stopped purchasing on Amazon. I do not have Amazon pry. I prime. I practice what I preach on that. You know, every couple years they'll Offer me a free 30 days, and I'll binge all the TV shows I haven't gotten to in the last two years in those 30 days. And that's how I practice Safe Prime.

[Jill]

I don't parent my children for those 30 days. We are uber eatsing everything.

[Jen]

They're watching Fallout with us. Been watching Jack Reacher with us.

[Jill]

So what is the last thing you got?

[Jen]

Okay, so actually got a refurbished Apple Watch. It's not even here yet. I bought it last week, and it won't be here for another two weeks.

[Jill]

What happened to your other one?

[Jen]

It dies daily. Like, not because it's out of battery, but because it gets overwhelmed. Right. Right. So, like, it connects to my phone. So if I'm playing music on my phone or doing a workout like Strava, it's always. It's running in tandem with it at all times. And so some days is, like, constantly running. So by like, 10:00am it's like, I've done what I can do today, and it just dies.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

And I have to put it back on the charger for a little bit. When I put it on the charger, it gives me, like, the fully charged. Well, no, first. I said turn on first because it's off, and then it's, like, fully charged. It just, like, gets overwhelmed. Okay. And so when I was running the half marathon in February, it died, like, mid race.

[Jill]

Have you looked it up? Is there any, like, fix for this or reset?

[Jen]

It is saying that prob. Maybe Travis looks all that up. He does Apple Watch for me always. I am like, hi. Like, I watch Apple.

[Jill]

Apple Watch Passenger Princess.

[Jen]

Yeah, exactly. What? I don't have the mental capacity for everything. Right. And Apple Watch is one of the things I'm like, you know, I look over at Travis, and I was like, I need a new Apple Watch. And we usually get them on Facebook, Marketplace. This is the first time I have ever gotten one online. And even this one is refurbished. But. But. So, yeah, so this is an Essie, and I got an SE3. A refurbished SE3.

[Jill]

Okay.

[Jen]

Basically for my birthday, which is this Saturday.

[Jill]

Oh, yeah. We still have our goal of reaching 10,000 subscribers for your birthday. It's past your birthday when this comes out. But if we're not at 10,000 subscribers,

[Jen]

please, I'm gonna be so sad if you are listening to this and you haven't subscribed, please subscribe. If you look, if you see that we are at 10,000, just, like, give me a little, like, celebration emoji. And if you see that we're not like grab your partner's phone and subscrib. Subscribe from their phone, please, please. Everyone's got two subscribes in them.

[Jill]

You're gonna think that I'm lying. Well, you probably are. My last Amazon purchase was 100%. Like check my account. Dumb.

[Jen]

100%.

[Jill]

I believe that's the thing I bought on Amazon.

[Jen]

But why didn't you buy it at Costco? Or did you buy it at Costco and you ran out?

[Jill]

No, Costco doesn't. So my favorite is extra spearmint, the green kind and Costco. Their only bul is the variety pack. It's like green, blue, dark blue or something like that.

[Jen]

So you like that?

[Jill]

I only like this one flavor. Yeah.

[Jen]

Wow.

[Jill]

And it is less expensive than if I were to get. You can. The most you can get at Walmart is a three pack of them.

[Jen]

And she goes through. She 100% believe this. It's weird because I know you go through gum, but when we are together, we are recruiting. So I don't see you chewing gum gum ever. But then I remember, oh yeah, like she's always got gum when she's not with me.

[Jill]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jen]

Like it's weird for me to remember

[Jill]

that so much in my life has changed over the years. But not this. No, I've always had gum money.

[Jen]

Yeah, it is So I am not a gum person. I don't know, like there are gum people and non gum people. My mouth gets tired, so. But I try.

[Jill]

I mean my mouth gets tired too. Girl, you just gotta work through the pain.

[Jen]

Dad, you got strong jaw muscles. You could do this podcast all day. And I'm like, can we go to a 30 minute episode?

[Jill]

I think it's why I never need to go to the dentist. I think it's. I think it's my dental hygiene need.

[Jen]

Need and just not going are two different things. But I love that for you.

[Jill]

You're so pretty.

[Jen]

I love that for you. Let us know in the comments that you have canceled Amazon Prime. Tell us. Be like this inspired me to cancel Amazon Prime.

[Jill]

Or let's normalize it.

[Jen]

I'm not going to sign up for Amazon Prime. I wasn't going to, but after watching this, I'm definitely not going to. Let's normalize it.

[Jill]

I'm opting out of prime day.

[Jen]

Opting out. And that's it. And that's all. That's all we wanted. This is our first step. This is our step one. Okay. And we are opting out of Amazon prime. And we're so Glad you're here. We're so glad you stuck around to the ending. If you're still still here, please subscribe to the YouTube channel. If you're listening to this, just pop over to YouTube real quick and subscribe and then pop back over to wherever you're listening and grab our book. Buy what you love without going broke. You could grab it on Amazon if you wanted, but there are several other places too. You can see [e-mail] and then leave us a review like Melee did. It's five stars. Says overall, a very good and well balanced book on financial wellness. I think it has great and realistic advice for a large audience.

[Jill]

Beautiful.

[Jen]

Beautiful. I love that.

[Jill]

It's a great example of a great review and if you haven't reviewed the book, please do so. And you know the other free ways to support us. We'll see you next time.

[Jen]

Bye. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.

[Jill]

What is. I feel like we've had that. We've talked about this, but what's something you've always had money for, even in your debt payoff?

[Jen]

Coffee for sure. So I think I. I would not say that coffee is to me as gum is to you, but nothing is to anybody. I think my body would die. So I do. I have always had coffee money and I actually don't buy coffee. I probably, I spend less on coffee now than I did even when we were paying off debt.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

So it's just a thing. Like you are never worse than you are right now at what you're trying to do. You are the worst right now. And I mean.

[Jill]

Yeah. Right. Assuming you just started.

[Jen]

Right. Well, always. You're always improving. Right. So you're always the worst.

[Jill]

But now if you've been doing it for a year, you're better than you were.

[Jen]

Oh, you're better. You're absolutely better. You might be the jam, you might be the jazz. Right. But you are also the worst because you can get better.

[Jill]

Compared to your future, you are the

[Jen]

worst because you can get better.

[Jill]

So we're the worst.

[Jen]

Call me now. Robbins, this is the second motivational thing I've said today that you can take with you.

[Jill]

My favorite is when you look the camera in these post show conversations. They're not here.

[Jen]

They can't see you.

[Jill]

But I still look.

[Jen]

I want you to believe that I am looking at you.

[Jill]

So you would say then, like you would, you would agree that we are the worst at podcasting in this very moment.

[Jen]

100%. We're always getting better. We're always. But we need to have the confidence

[Jill]

that we're the worst CFPs right now.

[Jen]

We're not even CFPs.

[Jill]

That's why we're the worst.

[Jen]

We will be. We aspire to be the worst CFPs come July, but right now, we're just the worst CFP candidates.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

Okay, well, let's go study.

[Jill]

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[Jen]

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