I buy from AliExpress and eBay not because of the shipping fee but because most of the time digikey/mouser doesn't sell hobbyist friendly form factors (like breakout boards) and some of this ic come in really tiny package (like tssop) which for an amateur are difficult to solder. Sometimes they need a resistor or a capacitor or a transistor easier to buy a board with everything on it that you stick to another board and that's it.
I started buying clothing from the brand itself (eg shoes directly from adidas, etc). Some appliances also direct. I sometimes buy food from Walmart but only if they are the retailer (they don't seem to commingle inventories). I bought some ssd directly from Samsung site. Another problem with amazon is the sheer quantity of not-counterfeit but cheap unknown knockoffs. It seems more like an expensive AliExpress.
So basically your answer tldr is "gig economy workers are dumb and financial/life decisions must be made for them in group and disregarding their particular situation and free will"