Hilarious Online Shopping Fails: These People Got Way More Than They Bargained For

Price: Unknown
Made by: Unknown
Purchased at: Unknown 

This one depends on your definition of “three feet.” One online shopper ordered a three foot pool” online. However, instead of being able to fit three feet of water, the smiley-face blow-up pool could only fit three people’s literally feet inside.

3-Foot Swimming Pool @Kostenko Maxim / Shutterstock.com | @psuedon / Imgur.com

A far cry (size-wise) from the blow-up pools that you’d find at Walmart, Target or Lowe’s, this pool is not even fit for a puppy pool day. Let’s hope they didn’t pay too much for this totally useless paperweight. 

When it comes to swimming pools, ordering online might be convenient. But the best idea seems to be to go in person and check out the dimensions yourself, whether you’re buying from Walmart, Target or Costco. Even a blow-up pool that looks sizable online might not have the dimensions you’re looking for.

Price: $16.52*
Made by: Emsco Group 
Purchased at: Amazon.com  

The buyers of this large dustpan probably underestimated the word large when they clicked “Buy Now” on Amazon. The Emsco Group Yard & Garage Dustpan is, quite simply, enormous. The two-foot-wide dustpan that arrived certainly came as a surprise to the customer.

Large Dustpan @Devenorr / Shutterstock.com | @Bender44410 / Reddit.com

Though it fits the width of a regular pushbroom, its enormous width makes it a fairly impractical cleaning tool for one’s home. Unless you’re a giant. Moral of the story: double-check dimensions before heading to your online checkout.

So in the end, what was this ginormous broom even designed for? Well, according to Emsco Group, it is best for cleaning garages and sweeping up leaves. Though the broom is lightweight, it definitely isn’t something that you could use in your kitchen (at least, not with a straight face).

Price: Unknown
Made by: Unknown
Purchased at: AliExpress

When it comes to online beauty shopping, it’s anyone’s guess as to what you’ll get. If you order directly from reputable, established companies like Estee Lauder or L’Oreal, you will almost always get your product. Shopping from other online vendors is more of a gamble, as one beauty buyer found.

Beauty Face Mask @Clear Skin Mask / Pinterest.com | @u/wingcross / Reddit.com

The buyer purchased a charcoal-type face mask that ended up being far smaller than she realized. Instead of being face-size, the sheet mask that the buyer received was closer in size to a cat’s face. One commenter even lamented the fact that cats didn’t have a beauty routine, as this mask would be the perfect size.  

Be careful with cheap face masks. The face mask’s ingredients will be absorbed right into your skin, and the last thing you want is a chemical mishap. Cheap, low-quality face masks can sometimes cause burns or even dermatitis. If you’re willing to spend a little more, Vogue suggests the Farmacy Coconut Gel Sheet Mask (dubbed the “Best of 2020”). 

Price: $10.99-$150*
Made by: Unknown
Purchased at: Amazon.com 

Chalk this one up to yet another failure to check the product dimensions before you buy (though, really, any retailer should be upfront about it early on). One online shopper found that out the hard way when they purchased a cat scratching post from Amazon.

Compact Cat Scratcher @DaWanda / Pinterest.com | @u/[deleted] / Reddit.com

Instead of getting a full-sized post, the scratching post was maybe five inches tall at the most. The shopper posted a hilarious photo of their cat looking bemusedly, if not a little disappointedly, at the tiny scratcher.

Perhaps this cat scratcher could be used as a chew toy instead? Either way, this shopping fail seems like it was probably made for a doll house as opposed to your beloved feline. And it may have been! The dollhouse furniture industry is very lucrative and very intricate. No matter the product, an artist has likely made a dollhouse version of it for miniature collectors.

Price: Unknown
Made by: Unknown 
Purchased at: Unknown 

It’s the thought that counts, as they say. One boyfriend wanted to send his girlfriend off to college with a special memento of him, and he decided to have his face printed on a pillow for her to take. Unfortunately, that’s not how it worked out.

Self-Printed Face Pillow @Gifts Under $100 / Pinterest.com | @ulocky95 / Reddit.com

While it’s unclear where this poster purchased the pillow in question, the printed selfie pillow definitely didn’t look how the poster intended. The pillow was a wide-shot of his face that looked more like a cartoon character you’d see on Nickelodeon than a heartwarming gift. 

It’s hard to tell what caused this mishap – whether it was human error or just the nature of the product. Indeed, it’s no simple task to print someone’s face onto cloth and have it stay the exact same. Comments towards the unlucky shopper ranged from sympathy to people saying that the pillow looked “fine” to them. 

Price: Unknown
Made by: Unknown 
Purchased at: AliExpress

A must-do for any savvy online shopper is to check the dimensions of what you order. While walking into Kohl’s or Target to buy a pair of tights doesn’t usually require that, online shopping does. One shopper found that out the hard way when he ordered a pair of tights for his Halloween costume.

Halloween Tights @Free Belarus / Shutterstock.com/@SlantedGooch / Imgur.com

As it turned out, the paper model on which the tights were displayed was actually the real size of the product. The tights were only large enough to fit on the buyer’s two big toes. Guess there is such a thing as tights that are simply too tight.

Thankfully, AliExpress has a shopper protection program, which is a touch more useful than similar protections provided by sites like eBay. However, the site still has, as one Quora poster put it, a questionable reputation.

Price: $1.31*
Made by: Honey GD 
Purchased at: Amazon.com 

Sometimes, on online sites, you’ll find that there are items priced ridiculously low (i.e. $1.31 for a tank top). That can be a warning sign that something might not be quite right – which one Amazon shopper found out after he ordered a men’s “workout tank top.”

Men’s Tank Top @NutraFast Dargaville/facebbok/@NutraFast Dargaville / Facebook.com

The Amazon tank top ended up being more fit for a night out at the club, as opposed to a workout at the gym. The online shopper stated that, “on the plus side,” the item (which is clearly a women’s dress) was very figure-flattering for him  – though not quite what he was looking for. 

Comments ranged from sympathy, to outright laughter, to demands that the customer should keep it and wear it anyway. When shopping on Amazon, a warning sign that a product is potentially fraudulent is if the price seems off. Normally, tank tops will cost anywhere from $10-$20 – so a $1.31 top is definitely a red flag.

Price: $109.99*
Made by: Joyfay 
Purchased at: Amazon.com 

This one was surprising, as the Joyfay teddy bear actually had pretty good reviews on Amazon. One Amazon shopper was less than thrilled when she received a 6.5-foot-tall Joyfay teddy bear that was much more disproportionate than the Amazon picture advertising the product stated.

Joyfay Giant Teddy Bear @visionage / Pinterest.com | @u/LordSaproling / Reddit.com

The bear that the shopper got was, as the shopper wrote in a review, truly weird-looking. The legs were inexplicably more than four feet long, making the bear spider-like, absurd-looking and not exactly the cuddliest thing on Earth.

If you’re looking for a giant, cuddly teddy bear, perhaps you could consider the 93” Plush Bear from Costco, which looks a lot like what this Amazon bear was attempting to be. The Costco bear, which costs a pricey $249.99, has a 4.8/5-star rating, and it seems proportionate – so no weird, oversized legs.

Price: Unknown
Made by: Unknown
Purchased at: AliExpress

We’ve all ordered clothes online and, after having them delivered, sadly realized that they were a size or two too small. That went doubly-so for one customer, who ordered a vintage-style dress patterned with flamingos and blue stripes. The model of the dress, who posed in pictures similar to clothing models on Amazon, was a seemingly normal-sized adult.

Flamingo Dress @ebaumsworld.com/Pinterest/@ebaumsworld.com/Pinterest

The dress that arrived in the mail, however, was decidedly not suitable for a normal-sized adult. As the customer found, the dress was better-suited for a small child. Not only was the top half of the dress practically missing, the design was inexplicably different and distinctly less leafy. 

It’s unclear where the dress came from, but the photos do look like they were copied from Amazon, whose sellers often take clothing pictures against a white background. Either way, this shopper may have been better off buying from Amazon and checking the reviews and other buyers’ pictures before committing. 

Price: Unknown
Made by: Unknown
Purchased at: Unknown

Twitter user @hannnahhnicolee took to social media to warn others not to buy their prom dress online. Sadly, back in 2017, she ordered her prom dress online from China, hoping to receive a sparkly gown for her prom, but instead ended up with a good story and hopefully a laugh.

Jeweled Prom Dress @hannnahhnicolee /Twitter

While online shopping is effortless and convenient, it may be advisable to go to the store and try on a dress before you buy. This is one place where online retail may simply never replace the human touch offered by the physical retail industry. 

Prom dresses usually cost upwards of $75, when you buy from a reputable store. So getting a great bargain online seems like a great deal until you have to wait two months for delivery and then it doesn’t even fit!

Price: $0.96* 
Made by: KidsToysStore 
Purchased at: AliExpress 

It’s hard to pick a side on this one, especially when you look at the packaging a little more closely. The packaging says, “Weigh Scale Toy Pink,” so perhaps the buyer didn’t look closely enough. The scale that came instead of a full-size one was twelve times smaller and fit only for weighing a Barbie.

Small Scale @VK Perfect / Pinterest.com /@Fuzzanna’s Shopaholic

The toy scale was made in Malaysia. Far from being a home goods product you’d find in Macy’s or Bed Bath & Beyond, the scale was less than $1 – something that should have been the buyer’s first clue. 

This is a prime example of the miniature design business, and how accidentally buying a product for a dollhouse is actually a common thing with online shopping. People aren’t used to such detail on a small scale. Vendors like AliExpress often don’t post the measurements in prominent places, and that leads to purchases like this Barbie scale.

Price: $20-$40
Made by: ASOS 
Purchased at: ASOS 

Alas, another average-height person got stiffed on this sale. One Twitter user tried to purchase a pair of 32” jeans from ASOS, a popular clothing site. However, the jeans that he got were far beyond 32” in length. The jeans went way past the Twitter user’s feet. Hopefully, he got a refund. 

Jeans @Ryan Bolden / Pinterest.com | @GeorgeRiggall / Twitter.com

ASOS has both men’s and women’s clothing, and wrong orders haven’t hurt them too badly, as they have a revenue of nearly $3 billion. The company has been around since 2000, and, though it is headquartered in London, it ships worldwide to the EU and the US.  

Price: Unknown 
Made by: Unknown
Purchased at: eBay 

Sometimes people take words far, far too literally. That’s exactly what one customer found out after buying a chainsaw off of eBay – and received a literal saw made out of a string of chain. 

Chainsaw @John Banks / Pinterest.com | @TradesVanCentre / Twitter.com

The ad, which was featured on several improvement websites, obviously failed to point this out. What exactly one is supposed to do with this “chainsaw” remains unclear; but what is for sure is that you’re probably better off heading to Home Depot or Lowe’s for your tools.

Indeed, traditional brand names might be the best way to shop for heavy duty equipment like this. Standout chainsaws from Lowe’s and Home Depot include the WORX WG303 16-inch chainsaw, the Remington RM1645 Electric Chainsaw, and the Husqvarna 135.

Price: Unknown 
Made by: Unknown
Purchased at: eBay 

Technically, this product isn’t inaccurate, though it is hilariously deceptive. After attempting to buy a copy of the bestselling book 50 Shades of Grey on eBay, one customer received not the literary story of vampire love – but rather, a literal printout of a grid of fifty grey squares. Each in – you guessed it – a different shade of grey.

50 Shades of Grey @Terrific Treasures/Pinterest/@DesignersHumor / Twitter.com

Helpfully, the printout was even titled “50 Shades of Grey.” The product has since been taken off the market, so clearly the reviews were less than stellar. Moral of the story: maybe try the library next time. 

eBay pranksters aside, there’s no denying that 50 Shades of Grey topped American book sales for years. The first novel sold a whopping 15.2 million copies, and the film series made $571 million (from a $40 million budget). Author, E.L. James personally profited a stunning $11.5 million from the first year of book sales alone.