We worked the last months on a new completely ad-free database for European products, brands, services and companies. A few days ago we released the site. The website focuses on usability with a simple search form and a clear structure. After the technical development we are now in the process of filling the database with content.

If you have any feedback, we would appreciate it. If you like it and want to share it, we appreciate that too. :)

Thanks in advance!

https://buy-european.net/

  • @[email protected]
    3•5 hours ago

    Some suggestions:

    • headphones: Meze and Austrian Audio.
    • Mics: Lewitt, Neuman, Telefunken
    • Chocolate: Tony’s Chocolonely

    Maybe also a new section for electronics? Like laptops (Tuxedo for example) and phones (HMD, Fairphone, Gigaset, Shiftphone)

    • Buy-European.netOPMEnglish
      1•5 hours ago

      Great additions, thank you! I’m very grateful for people helping to fill the database by submitting suggestions either here or through the “Submit suggestion” form on the website.

    • Buy-European.netOPMEnglish
      4•4 hours ago

      Oh, you’re free to use whatever resource you like. If you want my biased opinion: the difference is like night and day. I find it slower and less structured, so I definitely prefer our approach. But I’m sure some people might prefer the other one - it just depends on what you’re looking for. I also read that they use(d) Google Analytics which is weird to me. But I mean we use .net and not .eu (as catchy .eu domain names were already registered) - so I guess nobody’s perfect.

      Another difference: The website you mentioned can be discussed here. This is a one-way street as I learned as my post about our website on the related subreddit got deleted and another user’s post about our website got deleted too.

      The biggest issue we face right now is filling the database but people are already submitting lots of suggestions using the form on the website which helps a lot :)

  • @[email protected]
    15•1 day ago

    Great idea but you’re not going to make it if you don’t accept submissions and have some sort of process to have them vetted by a community of helpers of some kind.

    Also, I can’t help but noticing:

    buyeuropean@lemmy.ca to Buy European@feddit.uk

    🙂

    • Buy-European.netOPMEnglish
      11•1 day ago

      That is great feedback, thank you!

      We definitely want to make it more interactive. First of all submitting suggestions. Then we might add ratings and comments.

      To be honest, I am new to the whole Fediverse technology and am still trying to wrap my head around it - so I created two accounts which I guess I did not need. Never stop learning! 😅

    • Buy-European.netOPM
      5•1 day ago

      Just added the “Submit suggestion” feature. Thanks again for your feedback!

  • @[email protected]
    6•1 day ago

    Canva (an Australian company) bought Serif not long ago, so Affinity Photo is technically Australian software now. Might want to update that list ^^

    • Buy-European.netOPM
      5•1 day ago

      We are still evaluating how to assess that as the company Serif is still located in the UK AFAIK which means that they work under European legislation. If they should start to shift everything to Australia that would change but right now we check for the company address and not for the owners of that company - definitely up for discussion what’s better.

      I just think it’s hard to address that as for example publicly traded companies are usually owned by several investors and might even be hold in majority by foreign investors - but the company itself has to follow regional laws which is what we focus on.

      • @[email protected]English
        4•1 day ago

        I don’t know if this has been suggested before but is there a way to categorise them? Something simple and easy to understand like gold, silver and bronze? Gold could be EU based companies that produce their products in the EU. Silver could be companies that are based in and produce their products in the wider European community (under European legislation). Bronze could be a company that fulfils one of those criteria like a European company who produces their products in China. Or even an American company who produces their products in Europe (it may mean profits going to America but it also means jobs in Europe and if there’s nothing but non-European competitors in a sector then surely this is better?)

        • Buy-European.netOPM
          4•1 day ago

          Fantastic idea! Technically we could add this quickly. Unfortunately I’m pretty sure we will not be able to editorially work on that within the next couple of weeks where we focus on expanding the database itself but we should definitely consider this! Maybe we can get some people on board who help with the research for this.

      • @[email protected]
        4•1 day ago

        That’s fair, thanks for expanding on the criteria! Serif is indeed still located in the UK, I had a look before commenting. The address of the company headquarters matters, for sure.

        for example publicly traded companies are usually owned by several investors and might even be hold in majority by foreign investors - but the company itself has to follow regional laws which is what we focus on.

        Absolutely. Ubisoft is a great example of that. Last time I checked, Tencent owns a bunch of shares there - not enough for a majority, yet it’s still a concern for the future.

        The site is bookmarked and I’m looking forward to watching it develop!

  • @krimson
    4•1 day ago

    Good initiative.

    I gave here we go (navigation app) a try but I don’t see how they earn money from this app which makes me wonder what they do with my location data and what not. I read their TOS but couldn’t make much of it. I see something about location based ads but nowhere where I can buy an ad free version that does not track you.

    I’m all for european alternatives but we should be wary we do not fall for the same shit as their US counterparts.