I think many people shop &quot;ethically&quot; because:<p>* They don&#x27;t trust working conditions abroad; Amazon is &#x27;local&#x27;-ish labour too. I&#x27;m sure I&#x27;ve read online that their working conditions aren&#x27;t amazing, but it&#x27;s not a Bangladeshi garment sweat shop who are paying bribes to the local mafia...<p>* They worry about the transportation costs on the environment. There&#x27;s no particular reason to think that your local bookshop would be any better at reducing environmental impact than Amazon<p>* Means of production and providence are important to people in food products and products made from natural materials - those don&#x27;t really apply to fungible books that have come from the same producer<p>* Keeping money locally in the community, with the idea that there will be some kind of trickle-down effect, or collateral benefit (like bookshops having reading events for kids) -- this seems to be the only really applicable part here, and I guess each consumer needs to ask if that&#x27;s worth the extra cash for them