35 Online Retail Fails That Make Us Want To Shop In Person Again
Online shopping can be quite tricky because you never know quite exactly what you will get. You have expectations that you’ll receive one thing, but then you might end up with a product that looks completely different and not at all like what you ordered. While this is kind of rare and online stores are improving their services every day, online shopping fails are still very much real and can happen to the best of us. Luckily, we can always return the products and ask for a refund. Because of the possibility of getting our money back, lots of people don’t get upset when they fail to receive what they ordered. Instead, they have a good laugh and share this hilarious moment on the internet. If you’re into online shopping, you’ll certainly have a good time reading this article. Here are 35 hilarious online shopping fails that will make you think twice before you buy anything on the internet!
Two right feet?
When a person can’t dance to save their own life, it’s said that they have two left feet. Well, it seems like this particular store took that concept way too seriously. The woman bought a cute pair of shoes for her upcoming wedding and received these instead:
The store flipped the whole concept of having two left feet. Instead, they thought the woman had two right feet and sent her a pair of right foot shoes. Does this mean that she’s a great dancer? We don’t know — but we hope she had enough time to get new shoes before the wedding!
The power of misspellings!
If you’re trying to learn a foreign language, you probably know how important pronunciation is. If you mispronounce a syllable, you can get a word with a completely different meaning, which can sometimes have negative connotations. The same goes for a swapped letter.
In this case, the store didn’t mispronounce a word — they simply misspelled the name of a band and changed the entire meaning of the phrase. Now, everyone will think that the person who bought this shirt online is a smoker!
You should leave it that way!
Not everyone is born with a talent for the arts but that doesn’t stop people from trying. If you’re not good at drawing, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll suddenly develop tier-one hand-eye coordination and start drawing like a talented artist. But the good news is that those ugly drawings are popular these days!
This Garfield toy is proof of that. The cat was purposefully designed to look as bad as the picture on the left. But it was even worse in real life! The picture on the right certainly is an accurate representation of what our bad drawings look like — so maybe there’s a chance we can become artists still!
There are no words to describe this…
With everything that has been going on in the world over the past couple of years, new trends have appeared. Everyone has been wearing masks for a while so it’s only natural that people started designing unique masks with different styles.
This girl wanted to buy a Mona Lisa mask that she saw online. When the package got to her house, she was surprised to see that they had sent her an extra-large mask that was way too big. If she went outside with that, we’re pretty sure she scared some kids on her way to get a replacement mask.
They thought it was Voldemort.
As you saw just a couple of slides ago, buying face masks with a unique design can be quite tricky. You see a design on the internet and then it turns out to look completely different once the package arrives at your house.
In theory, this “God of War” mask was supposed to make the person wearing it look pretty cool. But the mask that arrived at this man’s home looked nothing like the one he saw on the internet. On top of having an enlarged design, the character’s nose is gone, which kind of makes it look like it’s Voldermort instead!
We wouldn’t be surprised if that were true.
Up until a few years ago, when you bought a new phone, you’d also get a charger and earbuds with the device. Nowadays, when you open the box, you’ll only find the phone — you have to buy everything else separately.
This guy got his sister a smartwatch for her birthday, but he was surprised to see that there was no watch inside the box. This was a mistake and he got a refund for this. But we wouldn’t be surprised if in the future we had to pay a fortune for each part of a smartwatch separately!
When the store owner doesn’t read carefully…
While online stores like Amazon have thousands of employees that work on completing their sales, smaller shops have very few employees tending to their online customers. These employees have to fulfill the order and make sure that the customer gets what they paid for.
This man ordered 8 extra-large shirts. However, the person who was in charge of completing the sale didn’t read the order carefully. Instead, they sent eight 8XL shirts to the man. As you can see, you could fit two of him inside one of the giant shirts!
There’s just one problem…
If you have a pet at home, you probably know that the internet gives you a lot of options when it comes to buying toys for your pet. The fact that you can even order things from other countries is simply too amazing.
The person who owns this cute dog wanted to buy her pup some toys. They saw this rope toy online and decided to give it a try. The only problem is that the rope was clearly meant for a bigger dog and this adorable baby won’t grow bigger than that!
You forgot the hat!
Buying outfits online is like a box full of surprises. You never know exactly what you’re going to get, and this is true for both men and women. It’s not unusual for online shoppers to receive clothes that don’t look like what they saw on the internet.
This guy saw this male jumpsuit on the internet and thought it looked really good on the model. But as you can see, their body types are not exactly similar, so it makes a lot of sense that the jumpsuit wouldn’t fit him as perfectly. Or maybe it’s just because he forgot the hat and shoes.
That’s shrinkflation, baby!
The global economy is constantly changing and the prices of things are always on the rise. As long as our salaries also go up, that would be fine. But the problem is that a lot of things happen when inflation is too high.
This guy decided to buy a candle online and had a first-hand experience of what we call “shrinkflation,” which happens when companies shrink their products but raise or keep the prices, instead of lowering them. It’s safe to say he won’t be shopping for candles online anymore!
It’s for babies.
Shopping for clothes on the internet is not always easy because you can never tell if the outfit is going to suit you well. On the other hand, buying shoes is not that hard. As long as you know your shoe size, you’re good to go.
Or at least that’s what you might hope for. This guy knew his shoe size and thought that there would be no problems with his new Badminton shoes, but he was wrong. The online shop sent him this miniature version of size 13 shoes!
Maybe this was meant for your neighbor?
If you’re a big fan of something, you probably enjoy collecting items from that thing. For instance, Star War fans probably have some version of a light saber at home. This man is a fan of the animated show Ben 10, and so he ordered a Ben 10 action figure.
The only problem is that he didn’t receive the action figure. Instead, the store sent him a dirty baby sock, which is pretty disgusting. We have no idea what is the correlation between Ben 10 and babies, but this guy certainly didn’t receive what he had paid for!
“That’s not what I ordered…”
Shopping for things on the internet is pretty fun. You get to buy a bunch of different stuff without having to leave your house once, and sometimes you even get some decent money-saving deals. But you don’t always get to check if you’re buying something that is actually good quality.
This woman wanted to buy a nice wreath to decorate her home, so she checked some online shops. To her surprise, the wreath that she received at home looked nothing like the one that she saw on the internet. Not to mention that it took weeks for the product to arrive!
Well, we can point out a few reasons!
If you have a certain body type, you can’t expect certain clothes to look good on you. For instance, if you’re short, you can’t expect long pants to enhance your best physical qualities. And this lady should’ve kept that in mind:
Sure, the outfit really doesn’t look like what was advertised on the internet. However, the model’s body type is quite different than the woman’s, so it kind of makes sense that this jumpsuit purchase would be an online shopping fail.
You had one job!
There are a few websites where you can get the most random stuff from different countries. On these platforms, you will find a bunch of sellers offering their products at different prices, so it’s not hard to understand why so many people like to shop on these websites.
This person, for instance, saw this anti-fog mirror that was really popular in a foreign country. They decided to get one so they could try and see if the mirror was as good as they had heard. Turns out that the mirror was foggy and broken when it got to their home. Pretty unlucky, right?
Hope you didn’t pay a lot!
While traditional shopping is still more popular than online shopping, things are slowly but surely changing. A few years ago, no woman would have thought that they’d get to buy their wedding or graduation dress without having to go to a boutique.
Nowadays, lots of women are buying dresses on the internet. The only problem is that you don’t always get what you paid for. That’s what happened with this woman, who received this underwhelming dress instead. Hopefully, she still had time to get a new dress before her graduation date!
They forgot to add a keyword.
When it comes to online shopping, you hope to receive exactly what you paid for, but that’s rarely the case nowadays. While most people assume that it’s the seller’s fault as some use false advertising, sometimes it’s the customer’s fault as well.
The very first thing you have to do when shopping online is to check the website’s reputation. This person bought a product from an online store that already had a history of shipping the wrong products. He ended up getting this mini-suitcase, which can only be used for Barbie’s dream vacation.
So, what now?
Clothing stores have to come up with different ways to keep customers from stealing their products. You’ve probably seen those security tags that every piece of clothing has. When you pay for the products, the cashier will remove the tag.
When you buy online, there’s no need for security tags — but this particular store missed the memo. This person bought some pairs of jeans from a store’s website and was surprised to see that they all came with their security tags still on. The question is: how is this person going to remove the tags without ruining the clothes?!
That’s a first!
At the beginning of this article, we showed you a picture of a woman who bought shoes online and ended up getting a pair of two right shoes. This time, the person didn’t get a pair of the exact same shoes — but there’s something unusual here:
The person got shoes of different sizes! Luckily, getting a refund is not that hard anymore. The only problem is the time wasted ordering and returning these shoes that have no use. Though it’s interesting to note that some people have a foot that is bigger than the other. If that were this woman’s case, she would’ve been really lucky!
We think they forgot something…
If there is one lesson that you can learn from this article is that you shouldn’t rely on online shopping if you’re running on a short deadline. Can you imagine buying your graduation dress online and not having enough time to return it or get a new one before you get your diploma?
This woman was certainly upset when she opened the package and didn’t find the same dress that she had ordered. Actually, it seems like she didn’t find a dress at all! The online store shipped the bottom part of the dress only, and even that doesn’t look like what they advertised!
That’s what happens when you don’t check the website.
The fact that we’re able to do online shopping is amazing, but it definitely has its downsides. There are so many websites out there that it’s kind of hard to tell which store is legit and which store is just a scam.
This man saw an online store advertising a pair of Alexander McQueen shoes at a very low price. He didn’t think twice before ordering the shoes. When he received the package, he ended up getting a pair of “Already MoQDSHN” shoes instead. If the price is too low, don’t expect to get something legit!
Is that an oversized keychain?
Even if you know your shoe size, ordering shoes on the internet is kind of tricky. For starters, you have no way of trying on the shoes, so how will you know that they’re comfy? The other problem is that you never quite know what you’re going to get in the end.
This girl ordered a pair of shoes from her favorite brand and she never thought that they’d send her the wrong product. Instead of getting a pair of size 4 shoes, she ended up getting a pair of size -4 shoes, it seems!
A legit facepalm moment!
Some people are just too slow for their own good. No matter how many times you talk to them or how clear you are when giving them instructions, they will still get something wrong. And that’s precisely what happened here:
This woman visited a website and ordered a few mirrors and bags for the mirrors so she could give them to the guests at her engagement party. She wanted both the mirrors and the bags to have the word ‘Eden’ on them, but it’s pretty obvious that the employee at the store didn’t understand her instructions!
At least you can get a refund.
It’s pretty interesting how you can purchase even fragile items from the internet. That’s because the stores have all the material it takes for them to safely ship those items. The problem is that this process doesn’t depend exclusively on the store.
Sometimes, the shipping company is the one at fault when you get a damaged product at your home. This woman bought makeup from an online store and this is what she got. Luckily, she was able to get a refund — but let’s hope that it won’t happen again!
You let us down!
As we mentioned before, there are a bunch of scammers on the internet. These fake websites will get your money but you will never receive your product or even package. That’s why you should always try to order stuff from reliable websites.
Still, that doesn’t mean you’re safe. This guy ordered a pair of Air Jordans directly from the Nike website, but all he got was an empty box. While it wasn’t a scam and he got a refund, he was upset because, by the time the empty box arrived, the shoes he wanted were already sold out!
Is that so?
Ordering stuff from the internet is quite convenient as you don’t have to leave your house. But when you go to a physical store, you get to touch, try, and check the product you’re thinking of buying. If this man had done that, he wouldn’t have received these curtains:
On the internet, it says that these blinds were 100% blackout. The picture they used to advertise it showed just how well it worked. But when the product arrived at his house, he noticed that it was far from effective. Maybe they meant to say that these curtains are “absolute zero blackout”!
Make it make sense!
Some online stores have thousands of customers but they don’t always have enough employees to manage all their sales. Because of that, some peculiar things may happen, like what happened with this guy. He ordered headphones but got something else:
If you could kindly tell us what is the correlation between headphones and chocolate and toothpaste, we’d love to hear the explanation. The truth is that the employee who was in charge of completing this sale sent the wrong package, but at least this person got a refund!
When you thought it couldn’t get worse…
Most people think that young girls like playing with dolls while young boys enjoy video games and miniature cars. But the truth is that lots of children like different stuff, and that’s okay. This dad got his daughter a peculiar toy that she had asked for:
He ordered it from a random website and was surprised when the thing that arrived at his home looked like this. As if the original product wasn’t weird enough, the store managed to sell a copy that was even creepier. According to the dad, his daughter loved it, though!
They’re not the same, ya know?
When you buy stuff from AliExpress or Wish, you need to make sure that the seller has a good reputation. The wait time to receive products from these websites is kind of long, and you certainly don’t want to wait even longer just because you didn’t receive what you paid for.
This woman was looking for school supplies on AliExpress and she ordered a box of paper clips that were on sale. The problem is that the seller sent one hair clip instead, which is definitely not the kind of clip she had ordered!
Well, it’s not that much of a fail.
When we buy things online, we have to read the description of the product very carefully. That’s because you never know when you’re getting something that is way too big or way too small. And you certainly cannot trust the images of the product alone.
This woman saw a stool in an online store and decided to buy it. The problem is that she didn’t check the product’s description. It turns out that she paid for a miniature chair without realizing it. Her dog loved the mini-chair, so at least she can’t say that she wasted her money!
Well, it’s kind of okay, isn’t it?
As you’ve seen, some people can be quite unlucky when it comes to online shopping. While it’s becoming pretty rare to not receive what you ordered altogether, lots of people still go through this. But sometimes it’s not so bad.
This guy, for instance, ordered a t-shirt to root for his country’s soccer team. The problem is that the product he receive didn’t exactly look like what he had ordered. Still, it’s not that much of a difference and he can still wear it!
Is it one size fits all?
If you have a Pinterest account, you probably see at least a dozen different outfits you want to buy every time you check your home page. The problem is that most of the time the outfits look amazing on social media but they’re not that pretty in real life.
This woman saw this stylish pair of boots on the internet and decided she wanted a pair for herself. However, once the package arrived at her home, she noticed that the boots didn’t really fit her that well. They’re quite baggy, but maybe there’s something she can do about that.
When you try DIY stuff!
Over the past decade, online shopping has become massively popular. And that’s a great thing for artists who need to make a living out of the stuff they craft. However, you should always read the reviews before ordering DIY stuff from artists on the internet.
This person saw these cute earrings and decided to order a pair. When she got them, she was surprised that they didn’t look at all like what she had seen on the internet. Apparently, the artist was still learning how to make these earrings but decided to sell them anyway!
How are we supposed to use these?
The internet is the perfect place to find accessories of all kinds. If you’re into hair accessories, you know exactly what we’re talking about. There is just so much stuff that you can buy from the internet — but the experience of online shopping isn’t always positive.
This lady found these cute flower-shaped hair clips in an online store and decided to get a few for herself and her daughters. What she didn’t expect was that the store wouldn’t ship the clips as “fragile” items. By the time the package got to her house, the clips were of no use!
Girl, you’ve been scammed!
There’s a general agreement that buying stuff from the internet is cheaper than buying the same stuff from the physical store. But like everything else in life, there’s an exception to this rule. Some stuff is just as expensive on the internet, like this dress:
As you can see, the dress on the right doesn’t look half as cute as what the website advertised. But even then, the dress on the left was certainly not worth the $200 that this woman paid. Can we say that she got scammed?