@IrrationalMethod @Maker_of_Things

I've found the opposite situation here (in UK) - you can sometimes go direct to the company selling the item rather than Amazon and pay a few quid less, albeit often with a slightly longer delivery timescale (2-3 days rather than next day).

But too many small businesses do outsource all their logistics and customer service to Amazon (often after failing to do it in house), and many others are just drop shipping the same stuff from China with a mark up added..