As someone in Europe, Amazon would be the last place for me to look for bike parts. We have so many great options, including huge online retailers (Bike24, bike-components, bike-discounts, just to mention a few), all of which I've ordered many times from, and was pretty much always happy. Local bike shops may be more expensive, but then you support your folks, which might come in handy later, when you need servicing for something that you don't have the tools for...
The thing with bikes and bike parts is, details matter, two seemingly similar looking parts might be completely different, and there are many small parts that have many options (length, material, color, thread type etc). So unless you really know what you are doing, it's very easy to mix things up - that is true for the consumer too, of course :) Any non-bike-specific webshop is doomed for this reason, except for some special items, eg. eletronics.
One thing I noticed is that these days there are more and more small shops that are legit online, they may not be offering small parts, but I bought a bike from one such shop 2 years ago, and it was heavily discounted, the bike was exactly what they said it would be, it was in stock and was shipped within a week to another EU country no problems.
The thing with bikes and bike parts is, details matter, two seemingly similar looking parts might be completely different, and there are many small parts that have many options (length, material, color, thread type etc). So unless you really know what you are doing, it's very easy to mix things up - that is true for the consumer too, of course :) Any non-bike-specific webshop is doomed for this reason, except for some special items, eg. eletronics.
One thing I noticed is that these days there are more and more small shops that are legit online, they may not be offering small parts, but I bought a bike from one such shop 2 years ago, and it was heavily discounted, the bike was exactly what they said it would be, it was in stock and was shipped within a week to another EU country no problems.