Alibaba / AliExpress

AliExpress cuts out the middleman so thoroughly that you're often buying from the same factory that supplies the brand-name version, at a fraction of the price — if you're willing to wait two to four weeks for the boat to get here. That's the whole trade: patience for savings that can run 60 to 80 percent off retail. It's a bad choice for anything you need this week, and a genuinely good one for anything you're only half-serious about needing at all — phone cases, tools, the odd gadget.