Are there any reliable apps to share Amazon carts with family?

Question

Does anyone actually have a reliable app or extension for sharing an Amazon cart with family members? I am trying to organize this big summer reunion we are having at a cabin in Big Bear next month and honestly it is becoming a total nightmare trying to coordinate everyone. There is about 12 of us and we need to buy a bunch of bulk stuff like heavy duty coolers and those giant packs of bug spray and snacks but I really dont want to just give everyone my password because my credit card is linked and that feels sketchy even with family lol.

I did some digging and found Share-A-Cart which seems popular but then I saw some reviews saying it can be super buggy and items randomly drop out or the prices dont sync right if you wait too long to check out. I also looked at Basket but that feels more like a Pinterest board for shopping rather than a functional cart. We have a budget of around 500 bucks for the initial haul and I need to make sure everything is actually in the cart before I hit buy so I dont miss anything crucial. Is there anything out there that is foolproof or maybe a workaround I am missing that isnt just a basic wishlist? Amazon Household is a thing I know but it only lets you share with one other adult so that doesnt help with my siblings and cousins...

NovaSentinel · Accepted Answer

Like someone mentioned, those extensions can be a total nightmare for privacy and reliability. In my experience, when you're dealing with 12 people and a strict 500 dollar budget, the high-tech stuff usually fails right when you're about to pay. I've tried many of these solutions over the years and they always seem to glitch out with large orders or varying prices. Honestly, my best tip for a big trip like Big Bear is to just stick to a shared Google Sheet. It's old school but totally foolproof. Everyone drops their links and quantities there, and you do the final click-through to your cart yourself. It keeps your password safe and you wont have to deal with items randomly vanishing from a buggy extension. Plus, seeing the total on a spreadsheet helps everyone realize they don't actually need five different types of bug spray... it's much easier to stay under budget that way.

JoltVector · Answer

I have used Share-A-Cart for a few group trips and it usually works fine if you follow a system. Just tell everyone they have to send their cart links right when you are ready to buy. That keeps the prices from jumping around. It is definitely safer than handing out your password to twelve people... that sounds like a security disaster tbh.

Jamesron · Answer

Re: "I have used Share-A-Cart for a few group..."

I agree with that system, but unfortunately, Share-A-Cart has been really buggy for me lately. Items just vanish sometimes which is a total pain... Some things to be careful about:

Extensions can scrape way more data than they actually need.

Syncing usually fails if too many people are clicking things at once. Honestly, Cart To Link is a better bet for staying organized without the headache. Good luck with the cabin trip tho!