[LeonidasXIV]

> It's hard to take these "YouTube is popular due to monopoly" arguments seriously when the competition can't even get the basics right.

I feel the same about a lot of online shopping. In Germany people often moan about Amazon and while it's has it's share of issues, the competition is often so bad. Really slow processes that feel like someone adopted a "submit order via fax" process slightly for the web, horrible web sites, sometimes next-to-non-existent customer service. No wonder the alternatives aren't taking off as they fuck up the basics before we even get to the point of starting to compete.

[ahartmetz]

I don't know? I order from plenty of non-Amazon online shops and they are fine. mindfactory.de, alternate.de, booklooker.de, akkushop.de (they messed up and order, I wrote an e-mail about it, and the company owner answered on a Saturday - the missing item went out on Monday) etc. No really bad experiences.