Shopping online has become a popular option nowadays. It’s convenient, timesaving, and usually worry-free. That might be why a third of the global population chooses it over actually touring the stores. However, it can be a double-edged sword, as you’re never quite sure of what you’re going to get.
Despite the descriptions and pictures, your purchase might look nothing like what was presented. It can also come in questionable packaging or be something you didn’t order in the first place. We have scoured the internet to find some of the best examples of shopping fails and scams. Some situations play to the buyer's advantage, others—not so much, but most are far from what was expected. Scroll down for the images and check out more examples of shopping gone wrong here and here.
This post may include affiliate links.
Be Sure To Always Check The Size When Ordering Treats
Doggy must think it's their birthday and Christmas rolled into one!
Shopping online has been an option for quite some time already. However, during the Covid years, it became the new norm in a lot of households. In addition to being easy, it was the safe thing to do. Some people decided to stick to the new habit even after the restrictions have been lifted.
A 2021 survey revealed that one in two people admit their spending habits have been permanently altered by the pandemic. According to the Census Bureau’s data, during its first year, there was a 43% increase in e-commerce sales.
I Requested 8 Bananas In My Weekly Grocery Pickup Order… They Gave Me 8 Bunches And Managed To Only Charge Me $0.68 - The Price Of One Single Banana
My Fiancé And I Ordered A Navy Bathmat And This Came, 10/10 Would Order Again
Zippia revealed that last year, as much as 21% of global retail sales were made online. The statistics don’t seem to be surprising, considering the number of online retailers—according to 2022 data, there were 2.5 million of them in the US, 9.1 billion globally.
Shopping online is also convenient because you can choose from stores from all over the world without having to lift yourself up from the sofa. Even if you decide to buy local, there is no need to drive around different locations to collect the various items you need—nearly everything can be delivered to your doorstep. (Invesp pointed out that 80% of consumers are more willing to buy certain products if they come with free shipping.)
I Came Home To A Package I Didn't Order - I Opened It Up To Find This And Have No Idea Who To Thank
There Was An Attempt For “Discrete Packaging” By The Adult Site I Ordered From
But it’s not all about convenience. Research shows that after Covid, people continued to buy online because they found it enjoyable. Shopping is believed to make people happy (there’s even a name for it you’ve most likely heard—retail therapy), and using the web allows them to do it wherever and whenever they want to.
What To Do When You Order A Small T-Shirt, And They Send You An XXXL
I Have A Sick Dog So I Ordered £70 Worth Of Groceries From Morrisons Via Deliveroo. Morrisons Accepted The Order But Canceled Almost Every Item. And I Got An Onion
I paid £5 for delivery and £5 tip. Deliveroo refused to cancel. Behold, the world’s most expensive onion.
The Cake That Was Ordered And The Cake That Arrived
Nowadays, e-commerce amounts to nearly 15% of total retail sales in the US. The percentage has remained unchanged ever since the surge between 2019 and 2020. As for predictions for the future, Statista suggests that by 2026, nearly a quarter of global sales will be online.
My GF Ordered Some Ankle Weights For Running And Somehow Got Sent This Instead... Trying To Convince Her To Just Go Out Running With The Hammer
BFF Got This Bear Hat For My Cat To Recreate An Adorable Instagram Post She Saw
Your cat looks pissed off and scared. Stop giving your pets anguish for a photo please.
My Mum Ordered This Online
The most popular products people go online to shop for seem to be clothing; they spend roughly 1.5 trillion dollars on it worldwide. Second on the list is electronics with a little over one trillion dollars. It is followed closely by footwear ($381.9 billion), while pet care ($280 billion) and toys ($104 billion) line up behind it respectively.
After Seeing The Pic Of My Nephew In His New Christmas Gift My SO Thinks He “Might Have Ordered The Wrong Size”
Thought My Amazon App Was Frozen, Guess Not
I Ordered A Seinfeld Shirt From China And Not Only It Has "Friends" Printed On It But It Also Has R Letter Missing
But why do people feel the need to shop as much as they do in the first place? The psychologist and author Regan A. R. Gurung covered the desire to buy more in Psychology Today. First of all, it simply feels good. Buying things can trigger the release of dopamine, which is known to make us feel good. Then there’s conditioning, an unconscious process affected by the abundance of ads around us, as well as an actual need for certain things.
This Is What Happens When You Order Stuff Off Facebook. What I Ordered vs. What I Actually Received
My Beautiful Order From ProFlowers
That is not too bad. The Iris needs time to blossom. Or would you rather have flowers you could throw away in 2 days? The flowers photographed are on top of their game - usually after about three or four days. In the Netherlands, it is normal to get flowers that will last at least about a week. In other words - the flowers in the red vase are old(er) - the ones in the dark vase are fresh. ( Florist speaking here)
You Also Need To Order Hips, Thick Thighs, And A Push-Up Bra Then Dye The Clothes Red
Dr. Regan A. R. Gurung also indicated novelty as one of the reasons we constantly buy things. “Just like children who plead for a new toy only to then, weeks (or days) later, leave it unattended as their attention is drawn to a newer toy, adult attention is likewise drawn to novelty,” he wrote. Lastly, he pointed out that owning certain items can make us feel special, which is why we feel the need to get them.
So I Ordered A Spider-Man Mask A While Back, And This Is What Came In
Even My Dog Was Disappointed In This Facebook Ad Purchase
Ordered A Cute Pink Pig Kawaii Cushion Plush. But The One I Received Is All Hairy And Weird
Just Ordered A Pepperoni Pizza
I'm more worried about the green stuff in the lower left corner. Doesn't quite look like burned cheese to me.
Don't eat all the pepperoni in one sitting! Save some for later!
maybe the maker never took latin and doesn't know the difference b/w a "pepperoni" and a "pepperonus" pizza
Ordered These Grinches For My Sister's Baby Shower... Blown Away By What I Was Sent
Ordered A $3 Watch From Amazon. Nailed It
Ordered The Cake On The Left, Got The One On The Right
The Bear Mask My Friend Ordered vs. The Nightmare Fuel He Received
GameStop Sent Me 4 Controllers Instead Of Just The 1 I Ordered
I Purchased A Wallace Mug To Go With My Gromit Mug. Unbeknown To Me, I Had Ordered A Comically Small Mini-Mug
I Ordered Clint Eastwood. I Received His Derpy Cousin, Twice Removed
Picked Up My Walmart Order And They Left The Formula I Bought In Its Security Box
Amazon Literally Sent Me An Empty Bag And The Delivery Picture Shows It Was Open. (Say Hi To My Invisible Graphics Card)
Ordered From Instacart For The First Time And This Is How The Chicken Came
I Ordered Nice Knives For The First Time In My Adult Life From eBay. The Seller Sent Me A Box From The Set I Ordered But The Knives Were A Different Line With Much Lower Quality
Then accused me of swapping the knives out and refusing to accept a return.
Bastard! Wusthof are very expensive... OP could possibly get a refund through eBay.
The Ice Cream Cake We Ordered vs. What We Received
What I Ordered vs. What I Got
My Buddy Ordered A Baby Yoda Doll From China. On The Left Is What He Thought He Ordered. On The Right Is What Came In The Mail
Labyrinth-Style Doll Bought For $55. Can’t Stop Laughing
This looks like the seller stole images from the artist Anya Boz, and tried to pass them off, as their own, like the Grinch baby.
How Shoes I Ordered On Poshmark Arrived
Maybe you selected the 'dirty and battered' option when you purchased them?
The Dog Bed My Mum Ordered For 99€
Amazon Took The Picture With My Box In Mid-Air
I Told My Dad Not To Buy Anything From Wish, But He Made Me Order It For Him... It Didn't Go Well
I live in Perú, and can swear I heard a loud 'TOLD YOU SO! HA!' from a distance, followed by a hard slap.
Ordered A Swimsuit From Amazon. This Is What I Got
I Ordered A Lighter, Dasher Replaced It With Packing Tape
What Was Ordered vs. What Was Received Through Our Beloved Daraz
What My Sister Ordered vs. What She Received
I Ordered A Sandwich On Uber Eats And Got This, Sucks For The Person That Ordered This
I Ordered 4 Sliders And Received 270 Bread Rolls. Such A Waste
This Is How My Walmart Delivery Order Came. I Called Customer Service To Ask What I Should Do And They Said Just Break It
I'm gonna start ordering stuff from Walmart online, seems like a good way to deal with some built up frustration
That's What Achilles Wore When He Was Going To War
I don't know...I kind of find the ones you got prettier than the ones you chose. Maybe try them out? At least your feet won't break off after an hour xD
What A Friend Of Mine Ordered On A Costume Site And What She Got
Really took me a minute to figure out the one received is actually a hat and not a bustier
So For My Birthday My Brother Ordered Me Jacket That Was Supposed To Be A Size Medium. When I Got The Jacket It Was Way To Big
When I looked at the tag it said "medium" but upon closer inspection, this is what I found.
My ASOS Coat Just Arrived. I Have A Feeling They Sent Me The Wrong One
I Was Trying To Return It, But Now It Might Have To Become My Signature Look
Ordered Food For My Mom Who Has Cancer And It’s Not Even Remotely Near My House
I had a Door Dash deliverer back into my car parked along the street in front of my house, get out and hand me my order while I was pointing out that she hit my car. She said she didn't speak English in English and left. I got Door Dash to refund my meal but not cover the damage to my car.. And it was all caught on video from security cameras.
Made For A Tiny Laptop
Finally Ordered Our First Mr. Beast Burger And Then Realized After The First Bite That It Was Mostly Just Raw Meat
Ordered A Keyboard From Staples, Was Sent A Case Of Dr. Pepper Instead
Ordered Some New RAM For My PC From Amazon. Got A Headband Instead. Ordered A Replacement, Now I Have Two Headbands, And No RAM
Thanks, Amazon For Initially Saying I Couldn’t Return This Because It’s A Seasonal Item. Clearly, I Got Scammed
Ordered Some New RAM For My PC, But Instead, I Received This Book About Vintage Feminism. I Can't Wait To Increase My PC's Speeds With This Bad Boy
I mean... it does seem like a very cool book. And now you have something to read while you wait for your new male sheep thingy to arrive!
What I Ordered vs. What I Got
Ordered A Street Corn App From The Cheesecake Factory, Described As “Corn ‘Ribs’.” They Sent Seasoned, Corn-Less Cobs Instead Of The Corn
The corn has been stripped off and the cobs seasoned. The bite confirmed that this is seasonings and nothing more (description, with actual kernels of corn shown).
What Was Ordered vs. What Was Received
This Used Watch I Bought On eBay
Jack-O'-Lantern Pizza
Accidentally Ordered 500 USPS Boxes To My Mom's House, I Thought I Ordered 25
Thought I Got A Great Deal On A Naruto Statue
These Whitening Strips Came In Our Walmart Pickup Order Like This In The Security Box. No Idea How To Get It Out
The Star Trek Poster I Ordered Was Two Days Late And This Abomination Arrived Instead
Ordered 1 Lb Of Green Beans From Kroger Got Home And Saw They Only Gave Me 1 Green Bean
My Mom Bought A Kiddie Pool Online But Didn’t Check The Size
Ordered The Cake On The Right, For The Cake On The Left
The Dress My Mom Ordered From A Random Website She Found On Facebook
Ordered A Pizza Quesadilla From A Ghost Kitchen. 1st Picture Is What’s Advertised And The 2nd Is What I Got
And This Is Why You Check The Size Of The Rice Cooker Before Hitting The Amazon Buy Button (Banana For Scale)
I Can’t Believe It Fell For This One. I’m Actually Impressed
I Ordered A Chair, This Is What Got Delivered
Ordered My Sister A Birthday Cake
Ordered A Pink Floyd Stained Glass Panel. Received An Actual Picture Of It
What I Ordered vs. What I Got
Bought A Giant Realistic Cat Mask Off Amazon To Try To Scare My Cat With And They Sent Me A Lemon Mask
I Can't Decide If You're More Plankton Or Mr. Crabs
Plant I Ordered vs. Plant I Received. In Some Way, I Feel Like I Deserve This For Choosing To Order A Plant Online
Ordered Dominos With BBQ Base, Not Metal
Looking For Some Help After This Failed Etsy Purchase
What I Ordered vs. What I Got - I Ordered Six Sets Of This Garbage For My D&D Friends
Ordered Steak From The Outback And This Is What Showed Up
10-Year-Old Beside "Five-Tier" Bookshelf
That Living Room Carpet
Waited 4 Weeks For Them
Breaking Bad Mask My Friend Bought On Instagram
Well, At Least I Got A Full Refund
That Is Definitely Not The Same Fabric
Sorry, The Slit Is Zipped? Enlighten Me
Before accusing the girl who ordered this of not having a perfect body and having high expectations, just look at the dresses again. They are not the same. The one in the right is much poorly made, look at the sleeves. Also, look at the waist. There's something missing in the second dress eh? This just tells the patterns are not the same
Tried Ordering The Spider-Man On The Left. Got The One On The Right Instead
AliExpress vs. Reality
Original picture looks like forced perspective of normal size tree ornaments.
Ordered A Speaker From Target And They Delivered It With The Security Device On
So Happy With My Purchase
Mom Ordered This From Wish. "Designed By Apple In California..."
What I Ordered From Shein vs. What I Got. No Hate To Shein, These Are Still Really Cute
Most of these are just what you get for ordering cheap, useless c**p from China.
Right?! As opposed to the expensive, useless c**p from China that's all over the shelves of our brick and mortar stores LOL
Load More Replies...
Before I order clothes online, I always skip the photos of cute models. I go down to the reviews and look at the photos posted by people who purchased. You see what they are really selling.
Same! Nordstrom posts pics from customers and often they are very different. I wish they did it for shoes too.
Load More Replies...
I don't order clothes from Amazon any more. Most of it comes from China these days, which means it's most likely going to be useless. Also, check where it comes from before you order.
I just had the wierdest experience. My groceries came with several blocks of dry ice. Good for keeping the frozen food cold, but I;m not in the habit of reading grocery bags for safe-handling instructions. ("Do not touch the dry ice, even through the bag.") And I have cats! What if one poked it with his nose (as they are apt to do!) It would've been like the flag-pole scene from A Christmas Story! On the plus side, my son and I had lots of fun conducting "experiments" with it.
Why are these businesses still successful? I want to see a list of products that were exactly as ordered. Also, folks: you do not have to post every thought that comes to you with every picture. Seriously, we probably thought and dismissed the same thing.
Ordered a gel queen mattress pad from Amazon in 2021 and received a fake Christmas tree instead. It clearly said "Christmas Tree" in bold letters on all sides of the box. Still don't understand how a Christmas tree gets mistaken for a mattress pad.
sometimes when you order clearance items from JCPenney, they just send you some random thing they have in the warehouse. I got jeans once but ordered flowery pallazzo pants and got some really nice socks once that I decided to keep for the $3. It was a whole pack of the type of peds that don't show with sneakers. They're super soft and I wear them all the time.
Most of these are just what you get for ordering cheap, useless c**p from China.
Right?! As opposed to the expensive, useless c**p from China that's all over the shelves of our brick and mortar stores LOL
Load More Replies... Before I order clothes online, I always skip the photos of cute models. I go down to the reviews and look at the photos posted by people who purchased. You see what they are really selling.
Same! Nordstrom posts pics from customers and often they are very different. I wish they did it for shoes too.
Load More Replies... I don't order clothes from Amazon any more. Most of it comes from China these days, which means it's most likely going to be useless. Also, check where it comes from before you order.
I just had the wierdest experience. My groceries came with several blocks of dry ice. Good for keeping the frozen food cold, but I;m not in the habit of reading grocery bags for safe-handling instructions. ("Do not touch the dry ice, even through the bag.") And I have cats! What if one poked it with his nose (as they are apt to do!) It would've been like the flag-pole scene from A Christmas Story! On the plus side, my son and I had lots of fun conducting "experiments" with it.
Why are these businesses still successful? I want to see a list of products that were exactly as ordered. Also, folks: you do not have to post every thought that comes to you with every picture. Seriously, we probably thought and dismissed the same thing.
Ordered a gel queen mattress pad from Amazon in 2021 and received a fake Christmas tree instead. It clearly said "Christmas Tree" in bold letters on all sides of the box. Still don't understand how a Christmas tree gets mistaken for a mattress pad.
sometimes when you order clearance items from JCPenney, they just send you some random thing they have in the warehouse. I got jeans once but ordered flowery pallazzo pants and got some really nice socks once that I decided to keep for the $3. It was a whole pack of the type of peds that don't show with sneakers. They're super soft and I wear them all the time.
