An Amazon wish list alternative for everything Amazon does not sell
An Amazon wish list is good at one thing: getting Amazon parcels to your door. The trouble starts when half of what you want is sold somewhere else, when you are not sure who can see your name and town, or when the surprise hangs on a tick box. This page is for the moment you notice all three.
Peter's Christmas Wishlist 🎄
6 gift ideas ·Christmas ·in 56 days ·1 already reserved
Boss Guitar Pedal
Adidas SL72
Restaurant Voucher
Guitar Strings
Elixir Nanoweb, 10–46 if possible
Why people go looking for an alternative
Nobody leaves an Amazon wish list because it is badly made. They leave because a wish list is a personal document and an Amazon list is a shop page with a personal document inside it. The list holds what Amazon sells, the people buying from it go through Amazon’s checkout, and the parcel goes through Amazon’s delivery, with everything that implies about who sees what.
That suits some lists perfectly. It suits a list with a concert ticket on it, or one that says "dinner somewhere, just us", rather less. The usual complaints come down to four, and they are structural rather than settings you missed:
- Amazon items only. The guitar pedal from the music shop, the trainers from a fashion site, the voucher from the restaurant round the corner. A list on Amazon is built from Amazon’s catalogue, and whatever a giver finds there is bought at Amazon.
- Your name and town at the checkout. Somebody sending a gift through the list sees who it is going to and roughly where, and a seller who ships the order itself needs the full address to post it.
- Spoilers, depending on settings. Whether you can see what has been bought is an option on the list, and the default hides purchases for a few weeks rather than for good.
- Every giver needs an Amazon account. Anyone can look at a shared list, but buying from it means signing in to Amazon, which is a wall for the grandparent who has never had an account.
yourwishpage is a list that sits outside every shop. It sells nothing, ships nothing and stores no address, and the rest of this page is what that changes, including the cases where Amazon’s own list is still the better tool.
Amazon wish list and yourwishpage, side by side
The short version, before the detail. Where a cell says "depending on settings" it means it literally: Amazon moves and renames its list options, so check your own list before trusting any article, this one included.
| Amazon wish list | yourwishpage | |
|---|---|---|
| What can go on it | Items sold on Amazon | A link from any shop, or a typed wish with no link |
| Where givers buy | On Amazon | Wherever they like, Amazon included |
| Account to look at the list | No, if it is shared with them | No |
| Account to buy or reserve | An Amazon account to buy | None; a first name to reserve |
| Owner sees what was bought | Hidden for some weeks by default, depending on settings | Never; only how many are reserved |
| Address | Stored against the list; buyers see name and town, sellers who ship themselves get the full address | None stored and none shown; nothing ships through the site |
| Delivery | Handled by Amazon, straight to you | Not handled; the giver posts it or brings it |
| Ads and recommendations | It is a shop page | None, and no affiliate links |
| Price | Free | Free |
Read the delivery row as carefully as the address row, because they are the same fact from two sides. Amazon can keep your street from a buyer because Amazon is doing the delivering. A list that delivers nothing has no address to protect, and no parcel service attached either.
Every shop, and the things no shop sells
Look at the example list on this page. Peter wants a Boss guitar pedal from Thomann, Adidas SL72 trainers from Zalando, guitar strings, a bottle of Rioja, a restaurant voucher and dinner at his favourite restaurant. Some of that could be hunted down on Amazon; the dinner never could. On an Amazon list he would be choosing between an incomplete list and two lists.
Here each wish is a pasted link from any shop, or a line of text. Paste a link and the title, photo and price come across when the shop shares them; when it does not, the wish is saved anyway and you type the rest. A wish with no link at all, "a bottle of Rioja, reserva or older", works exactly like a linked one: somebody reserves it and everybody else sees it is taken.
- The small shop. The potter on Etsy, the bookshop that wraps things properly, the bike shop down the road. A link is a link, and the list does not care who is at the other end of it.
- The thing in front of you. Standing in an actual shop, the camera button turns a photo into a wish, no link needed. The wishlist app page covers putting it on your phone’s home screen.
- The thing that is not a thing. Help painting the hall, a day out, something towards a new bike. Write it down; there is no product page to find.
If your only quarrel with Amazon was that one shop is not enough, the universal wishlist page goes further into lists that take anything from anywhere.
No address on the page, because nothing ships through it
An Amazon list can keep your street address from the person buying, and that is a real feature. It works by storing the address against the list and doing the delivery itself, so the buyer sees your name and usually your town while the parcel goes to the address on file. A third-party seller who ships an order itself needs that address to post it. Amazon told owners of public lists that from 25 March 2026 purchases from a list can no longer be restricted to items Amazon fulfils, and that on a public list with an address attached, buyers may receive it through sellers and delivery partners.
yourwishpage takes the other route. It never delivers anything, so it never asks for an address and there is none to show, hide or pass on. If you are keeping an Amazon list as well, the guide to sharing an Amazon list without your address goes through what it reveals and which settings to check.
The honest catch: somebody posting you a present still needs to know where to send it. The difference is that they ask you, once, in a message, rather than the address being built into a page you send to thirty people. Most presents from a list are handed over at the party or under the tree anyway, where the question never comes up.
The surprise is not a setting
On Amazon, whether you find out what has been bought depends on how the list is set up. Its "Don’t spoil my surprises" option is on by default and hides purchases for several weeks, not indefinitely, and Amazon’s own help notes that a signed-out view of the list may give them away. Switch the option off and the surprise goes with it.
Here there is no option to get wrong. The server strips every reservation out of your own view before the page is built, so you see that two of six wishes are reserved and never which two. You can open the list on Christmas Eve to add one more thing without learning what is under the tree. Your guests see the opposite, which wishes are taken and the first name of whoever took them, because that is what stops two people buying the same pedal.
Nobody needs an Amazon account, or any account
A shared Amazon list can be looked at without signing in, but buying from it goes through Amazon’s checkout, so the giver needs an Amazon account with a card on it. Most people have one. The aunt who does her shopping in person, the grandfather on a borrowed tablet and the friend who closed their account on principle do not.
Here only the person who owns the list signs up, once, with a name, an email and a password. Guests open the link, press "I’ll get this" and type a first name. Then they buy the present wherever they like: at Thomann, at the market, on Amazon if that is where it is. The wishlist without signup page sets out exactly who needs what.
How to move your Amazon list over
There is no import button, and you do not need one. Moving a list of twenty things takes about as long as a cup of tea.
- Make your page. Sign up once, then make a list for the occasion: a birthday, Christmas, or one with no date at all.
- Paste each Amazon link. Open your Amazon list in another tab, copy a product’s link and paste it into the add box. The title, photo and price usually come across; if they do not, the wish is still saved and you type the title.
- Keep the Amazon links. The wish keeps its link to the Amazon product page, so those items can still be bought on Amazon. Givers simply reserve here first, which is what stops the duplicate.
- Add what never fitted. Now the voucher, the secondhand bike and the Rioja can go on. On Android, with the site installed, you can also share a product straight from a shop’s app into a list.
It is also the right moment to prune. A list that has been running for a few years usually holds things you no longer want and one or two you bought yourself; leave them behind. A shorter list is a more useful one to whoever is reading it.
When the Amazon list is the better choice
This is not a list that beats Amazon at everything, and pretending otherwise would waste your afternoon. Keep the Amazon list if one of these is true:
- Everything you want is on Amazon. If the list is a car seat, a pack of nappies and a stack of books all sold there, the one-shop limit costs you nothing.
- You want parcels to arrive without a conversation. Givers who live far away can buy and have it delivered to you without ever asking where you live. That is the job Amazon’s list does well, and a list that ships nothing cannot do it.
- Everyone you send it to already shops there. If every giver is signed in to Amazon on their phone, the account hurdle does not exist for you.
Plenty of people use both: Amazon for the relatives abroad who post things, yourwishpage for everything else. That works if each wish lives on one list only. Two lists that do not know about each other, with the same item on both, is exactly how duplicates happen.
One page for the birthday, Christmas and everything after
Your profile lives at yourwishpage.com/your-name, and every list you make hangs off it. A birthday list rolls on to next year by itself, so the family bookmarks one address and it stays right.
Send it by WhatsApp, by email or with the QR code every list has. Nothing on the page is for sale, there are no ads, and no link earns anybody a commission, which is why there is no reason to nudge you towards one shop. For the season it is most needed, the Christmas list page has the details.
Is yourwishpage really free?
Yes. Making lists, adding wishes, sharing them and reserving gifts cost nothing. There are no ads and no affiliate links, nothing is sold, and no payment goes through the site; givers pay whichever shop they buy from.
Can I still put Amazon items on my list?
Yes. Paste the Amazon link like any other. The wish keeps the link, so a giver can open it and buy on Amazon as usual, after reserving it here.
Do my guests need an Amazon account?
Not to use the list. They reserve with a first name and no account of any kind. They only need an Amazon account if they choose to buy the item they reserved on Amazon.
Will I see what has been bought for me?
No. You see how many wishes are reserved, never which ones. That is enforced on the server rather than offered as a setting, so there is nothing to switch off by accident.
How do presents reach me if nothing ships through the site?
The giver buys wherever they like and either brings the present or posts it. If they need your address, they ask you directly. The Amazon address guide covers giving it out sensibly.
Can I import my Amazon wish list automatically?
No, there is no import. Paste each item’s link and the title, photo and price usually come across. It is quicker than it sounds, and a good moment to drop what you no longer want.
What if a pasted link brings no title or photo?
The wish is saved anyway. Open it, type a title, add a price or a note, and upload a photo from your phone if you like.
Can several people club together for something expensive?
Yes. One person reserves it and the others join them; the money passes between you however you usually settle up, because the site handles no payments. The group gift page explains how that usually goes.
