Real alternatives to Amazon Wishlist

Knowing that Amazon is a company that exploits its workers makes using the website difficult. Ever since hearing about seasonal employees being forced to camp near the warehouse they worked in I've tried to limit my use of the site, but the Wishlist feature was hard for me to give up. A truly useful function in a site of endless gifting possibilities, the fact you can add your unique wishlist URL to any bio or post for people to anonymously buy things for you is almost too good to be true. I must admit, throughout last year I added items to mine with gay abandon, and whenever I received something from it out of the blue, I was hugely appreciative and excited. I always forgot about why I never bought from the site myself.

The final badly-scribbled initial on the digipad for me, was reading about employees working in excess of 55 hour weeks during the run-up to Christmas 2017. Logistics staff were also forced to deal with with oppressively short breaks that interfered with their targets - meaning they'd be penalised or even reprimanded for leaving their area for simply getting a drink of water. (This information was revealed in an exposé by The Mirror back in November 2017.) I've worked in some pretty bad environments, but that's cruelty masquerading as motivation. Multi-billionaire Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has had enough of my money. I've been looking for alternatives.

So, now I've climbed down from my soapbox, here's the good news - there are a ton of gift registry alternatives to Amazon Wishlist that you can set up easily and use in pretty much the same way. They may not have the expansive range that Amazon is privy to, but most do a pretty good job at finding what you need. So let's get gift-listing!

eBay Wishlist

An obvie but a goodie. I'm a long-time eBay fan (my username was set up back when I was a Deftones obsessed 16 year old) and often wonder why people don't use it more. Of course, if you pay for Amazon Prime you get next day delivery, but in the past few months I've never paid for eBay shipping and received my stuff pretty rapidly. My tips for general eBaying (i.e. non-auction, non-emergency stuff) are:

• Filter by UK seller
• Filter by "Buy It Now" only
• Filter by Free Postage
• Sort by Cheapest First

Bingo, you've got a range of items at rock-bottom prices with no nasty postage surprises. Remember, if you want to order worldwide items - which I recommend, you can get some awesome stuff - you have to be prepared for it to take a looooooong-ass time to get to you. But then you can take part in the art of "self-gifting" which I do frequently. 

So, eBay Wishlist is really a Watch list you can share with your family, friends and internet benefactors. All items that you add to it remain there until you get rid of them, somebody buys them for you, or they become unavailable (it's worth noting that placing them on this list doesn't keep them for you. They'll still sell out if they're popular.) Extra bonus - you can choose to only use independent sellers, meaning your buying from small businesses across the UK and avoiding any run-ins with overworked, underunionised warehouse-workhouses. Score!

Set yours up by logging into your eBay account and finding an item you want. Find the "Add to Watch List" button underneath "Buy It Now" and "Add To Basket" and use the dropdown to reach "Add To Wishlist." Voila.

Prezola

According to their website, Prezola is the UK's favourite gifting and registry website, with a damn-near 4.5 star independent customer satisfaction rating. It claims to have more than 500,000 gifts available to choose from, from more than 500 brands like Habitat, The White Company, Bang & Olufsen, Dyson and Emma Bridgewater and their interface is very easy to use.

The site itself is pitched at the mid-to-luxury end of the market, so you'll quickly find yourself umming and ahhing over woven linen throws that cost upwards of £200. Or maybe that's just me. There's a wealth of officially Beautiful Things, all ideal wedding gifts for the couple who want gain useful, lovely things rather than four toasters and a designer oven mitt. 

See what I mean? It's quite frikkin' swish.

Prices range from moderately affordable to expensive though, so if you're not into asking relatives for gifts they may not be able to well-afford, Prezola also has a cash gifting service. This enables your guests and well-wishers to deposit into funds you set up - Prezola suggests a Honeymoon Fund, or a Chairty Donation Fund. Somewhat oddly, donations to these are set up as gifts too, so guests must choose a monetary gift to place into it, and they're separated by amounts of money and types of experience.

Find out more by visiting www.prezola.com. It's a nice place to get ideas from, even if you don't set up an account!

PayPal.me

If you'd rather have the money, and there's absolutely no shame in that, may I suggest grabbing yourself a bespoke PayPal.me link?

This URL is available, can you believe it?

You can rename it to suit your wedding, and add the url to invitations, table settings or even chalk it up on a blackboard on the day. Then all your guests do is type the address into their phone and wire your money directly to your PayPal account. That way, nobody's awkwardly discussing what to get you or how much money to give you, and nobody has to write cheques or bring envelopes of cash to the event (particularly useful if your wedding is outdoors...) 

It's discrete, it's totally flexible to your guests' budget and it's kindof fun. As much as giving somebody else money can be.

Visit www.paypal.com/paypalme/grab to find out more and create your own.

Not On The High Street Giftlists

If you use Pinterest, you know what Not On The High Street is. An online crafts market and gifty-trinkety department store, filled with handmade and unique gifts from independent artists and sellers from across the UK.

Their wedding Giftlist function is really easy to use, and once you sign up you'll see an "add to wedding list" button on every item you browse. It can get addictive. Remember to keep visiting your list to prune.

Guests can also choose to give money using the service, however this can only be spent on Not On The High Street.

It's not got everything and it might not be a store filled with the most practical objects, but if you already live together and have everything you need, this is the perfect registry for picking up some truly beautiful things.

Honourable mention: Supermarket gift cards

You're planning to eat in the future, right? Or buy a boring new thing like an ironing board? Your local supermarket sells gift cards, probably to be used on more exciting things like smellies and chocolate, but they can be used on anything in store. 

Imagine having a stockpile of £20 Asda cards, ready to be used on weekly shops or emergencies. How much stress would that relieve?

Yes, it's not exciting, romantic or elaborate in any way, they're not a Le Creuset stock pot or made of Egyptian Cotton, but they're useful and they hark back to the idea that wedding gifts should be first and foremost about setting the couple up for married life. 

So there you have it - you've got options. You don't have to feel tied to Amazon if you feel uncomfortable using it, and if you have any more ideas for gift registries you think I should review, let me know in the comments section!