Intelligent_Hexigon Am I throwing away any benefits of GOS by ordering from Amazon or direct from Google?
GrapheneOS will work equally well regardless of where the device is purchased!
If the primary goal is a secure phone that isn't built to share personal data stored on the phone with Google, buying directly from Google is fine, and is arguably the best situation for warranty coverage.
But some people don't want Google to be able to associate the purchase with Google at all, don't want Google to learn their home IP address when they install GrapheneOS on it, etc.
Other people don't want their ISP to know they are running GrapheneOS, and thus install GrapheneOS in the parking lot of their local public library, then immediately turn off the System Updater and switch all the proxy settings to Google, turn off network time synchronization, etc.
People have different goals, and different goals benefit from different approaches. Personally I ordered my 3a and then my 6a from Google and installed GrapheneOS at home, without a VPN. My employer sees connections from my device to GrapheneOS services (including discuss.grapheneos.org🙂).