• @[email protected]
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    2 years ago

    I don’t know about “better than amazon in every aspect”, but Aliexpress are sure as shit not perfect ideologically either. 5 minutes, and me having zero language or cultural context to know what spicy things to look for, and I found these blackface T-shirts:

    https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003928029140.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003928001217.html

    As well as that, and whatever other “gaps” exist in content moderation, a lot of the clothing on AliExpress (and in my experience a bunch of the electronics) is basically disposable, which is setting the planet on fire. And there was allegedly a child who died working in an Alibaba factory in 2016 which is not exactly sounding like a workers’ utopia.

    Amazon vs. another automated-negligence marketplace doesn’t seem like a fight worth having, when things like Fairmondo are out there.

    • @[email protected]
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      12 years ago

      Possibly. But let’s get some perspective too, the two t-shirts you pulled are from the same seller and only 1 unit was ever sold. Those are the only two items on the website when you search for blackface, it’s hardly a widespread problem. Regardless I was able to report the items directly to ali and we’ll see if anything comes out of it. Moreover, Amazon sellers are usually just aliexpress resellers, except their items are 3x more expensive. Amazon is just being a middleman for aliexpress (with the added benefit, perhaps, that your items arrive sooner though I’ve had very good delivery times on ali).

      The child did not die in an Alibaba factory but in a seller’s that sells on the platform, as alibaba and aliexpress are just marketplaces.

      which is not exactly sounding like a workers’ utopia.

      Nobody is saying China is a worker’s utopia.

      things like Fairmondo are out there.

      Only available in Germany though.

      Consumers are not responsible for climate change, and reading the vice article was somewhat funny because now UK retailers that have been racing to the bottom are, once again, being outraced by China and crying about it. They created this commodification (or rather capitalism did, and they were the mere vectors), and now they can’t stop it. While we are in capitalism, as workers we will partake in it. The only way to stop the climate crisis is revolution, but until then there will be online retailers, there will be giants, and there will be labour exploitation.