I have tried...

I have tried. I gave it a real shot, but it keeps fucking me up. I mean small shops, independent stores, and small artists on eBay, Etsy, and similar sites.

I always try to buy local first. If my town or anything within driving distance has what I need, I go there. I make a point to search. For example, I needed five hats embroidered. I found an older guy in town. It cost more, but I felt good giving my money to someone local.

When I cannot find anyone nearby, I go online. I look for US sellers first, and sometimes that works. Other times I buy from small businesses around the world in the UK, Norway, Greece, Israel, and Japan, to name a few. Here is the catch. These businesses have to use FedEx as the only option to ship to the US. FedEx sucks. Every single time they misplace the package or lose track of it. In the best cases, the packages show up a week or ten days late. Most of the time they never arrive.

When I complain to sellers on eBay or Etsy, they always say there is nothing they can do. FedEx has to confirm the package is lost before they can file an insurance claim and send a replacement. Of course FedEx never confirms that. Eighteen packages, all lost, and not once did FedEx admit it. If you check the tracking numbers, they still say "en route to the next destination" for a year on some of them.

The same thing happens with many US sellers that use FedEx or cheap mailing services. The packages just never show up.

Anyway, I am done trying to support smaller businesses. Amazon never gave me trouble, and when something went wrong, they did not argue. They sent a replacement. Other sites do the same. So fuck it. I am done.

Sorry, small businesses, but find a better way to ship your stuff and take responsibility. I should not have to fight with the carriers you chose. Send me a replacement and deal with them yourself. In the meantime, I will get my money back from the credit card company. They know when a package is lost.