Putting an End to Ecommerce Sites and Payment Processing Companies

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For those of you who remember my other thread "Make the Web Great Again", I had mentioned a handful of corporations have been trying to monopolize the web for years now. One way they've been doing that is through ecommerce sites. Just to be clear, I don't have a problem with ecommerce in and of itself (as I understand not everything can be distributed locally), but I honestly do think that online businesses like Amazon, and payment processing companies like PayPal, have made shopping in general become lazier and less private. Not only can you simply get something in a matter of a few clicks, but these online stores and payment processors are able to create a digital fingerprint of you based on your browsing and purchasing habits. These habits can then lead to you possibly being put a terrorist watchlist just because you bought a pistol for self-defense (that hasn't happened to me, but I'm sure it's happened to someone else). Because of those reasons alone, I generally don't like shopping online. Back before shopping online became mainstream, you often had to order something from a catalog and pay over the phone, or physically drive to a local business to get it. Being that instant messaging software has existed for at least the last 3 decades, and its completely possible to create or use some kind of FOSS transaction software (such as GNU Taler), we could relatively-easily go back to that time period. If you have a question about a product or service, a company can have a customer service agent speak to you over an instant messenger, and if you want to obtain it, you can bring up the transaction software and place an order.

That being said, there is a challenge for people who are artists or entrepreneurs, such as myself and a few coworkers I have. They'd have to go through the process of creating a traditional business, putting their products in stores or in a catalog, advertising, and all of the aspects of being a business owner. *Side note* speaking of stores or catalogs, you could create your own if you don't want to deal with corporations like Walmart or a catalog company. Granted, its less easier than an artist simply going to a site like RedBubble, creating prints or merchandise, and putting the links to an online store in a social media or video post, but back in the day, artists were forced to do it the other way, and by putting more effort into how their artwork was created and distributed (not saying everyone on RedBubble simply slaps a design together), they managed to become more successful (one example is a number of studios within Image Comics). The same thing goes for whatever industry entrepreneurs are in. Like entrepreneurs, artists will need to hire and delegate specific tasks to specific people.

Some of you reading this will say "Not every catalog or store will sell what I want or need". That situation depends on what they're selling and what you want or need. If you can't find something in a catalog or store, two things I recommend are either looking for or putting something in the classifieds section of your local newspaper, or going to a thrift store.

At least by getting rid of these ecommerce sites, the modern web would finally start to feel less bloated and more faster (and if these websites and webpages weren't so heavy, that would also help), and also start to feel more like a community of people expressing themselves again.
 
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