TL;DR: Go universal for those local shops. Just test the manual mark as purchased flow on mobile first so guests dont get confused. If you want to organize ideas easily, check out Share Product.

Building on the earlier suggestion, I think you should be really cautious about jumping ship entirely from the Amazon ecosystem if you have a lot of older relatives attending. Late to the party here, but I have spent way too much time managing registries for family events and the biggest headache is always that manual mark as purchased fail. It sounds like a small thing but it leads to so many annoying returns and awkward conversations later. If you go universal, you might want to consider the potential friction points for your guests. Some of those third-party sites have weird redirects or pop-ups that can honestly look a bit sketchy to someone who isnt super tech-savvy. I would suggest making sure any platform you choose has a foolproof mobile interface because, like you said, people are gonna be checking this while they are on the go. If you really want to avoid those weird ZQXOU generic brands but keep the convenience, using a dedicated Amazon wishlist creator can actually help you filter out the junk and find the actual name brands while keeping the interface familiar for your relatives who already have Prime accounts. Before you commit to a full switch tho, I have to ask... what is the actual split of items you are looking at? Like, are we talking 90% local boutique stuff or is it mostly just a few specific pieces for the apartment? Also, are you more worried about the brand quality itself or is it more about the overall user experience for the people buying the gifts?

The generic brand struggle is real but be careful switching. Universal lists can be a nightmare for non-techy guests who wont mark things as bought. I would suggest:

• Test the mobile add button yourself on different browsers first.
• Stick with a reliable Amazon wishlist creator for the main stuff and only use universal links for the niche stuff to avoid duplicate gift chaos.

Oh my gosh, I totally get the fear of the duplicate toaster nightmare! It is so real! I went through this exact same thing when we moved into our place last year and I was so worried about my grandma getting confused by the tech. Honestly, I found that the safest way to handle it is using a browser-based tool like the Joy registry. It is seriously amazing because it pulls from any site but feels way more stable than some of the older universal ones I have tried! It kept everything so organized and the interface is just fantastic for people who arent super tech-savvy. I really love it because you can actually see the real-time updates. If you are looking for ways to make sure the mobile side of things works perfectly for your friends on the bus, definitely check out Smartphone Board because they have some really helpful tips on managing shared registries and making sure links dont break on different phones. It saved me so much stress! Safety and reliability are everything when you are trying to furnish a new place, so definitely test the mark as purchased flow a few times yourself first just to be 100 percent sure. You are gonna have such a great housewarming!