> Local shops are scams in my area: expensive, don’t take back items, limited selections, don’t have the right items and have to settle for less, time consuming…
None of these are scams, you're misusing the word. You mean a worse shopping experience, not defrauding the customer.
I live in a country with the same problems, and everything here is so much more expensive, it absolutely deserves to be called a scam. Stuff such as books and electronics can easily be 2x as expensive locally as abroad.
Not a scam a local business who can't compete on price with a global marketplace.
What they offer is the ability to put the product in your hands immediately, they hire your friends /family and pay taxes to your city and national government allowing services like police, fire and hospitals to be funded.
For many cheap prices, longer wait times and not supporting your local area makes more sense to them. But then they complain about the local services and not realize their decision to not support them had an affect.
None of these are scams, you're misusing the word. You mean a worse shopping experience, not defrauding the customer.