Shopping Online – On Arrival the Product is Usually a Surprise

Shopping Online – when the products arrive, it is such a surprise! And not in a good way.

I have this shopping addiction that I have blogged about before but this year I had to curtail my habits just based on limited time.  (Plus, who knew what size to buy when I had a wildly fluctuating weight year?)

And then I discovered how people who don’t have time to go to stores get to shop. They shop online. They can do it from work or while on a home computer without leaving the comfort of home. So that’s what I aimed to do.

That ten minutes you have after the shower while your hair is drying? Shopping time!

That twenty minutes in the morning while sipping coffee? Shopping time! (who needs to read the newspaper anyway – it can also be read online)

There is only one teeny problem with this method of shopping. In reading the description, and then actually getting the product, it is much like the “As Seen on TV” items. Big buildup but the product doesn’t deliver.

I wanted a few things for our shore condo and had some Amazzon points thanks to my Amex card (Which was a previous blog about how you can get free stuff) so I searched on Amazon.

Amazon used to sell books but now it sells everything but the kitchen sink.

I needed a fanny pack for walking the boards, (boardwalk) and a digital frame since two of mine broke recently. I thought a digital frame at the condo was perfect because there isn’t a lot of room for putting up family photos.

The fanny pack specifically indicated it had a water bottle holder. This is an absolute necessity. It was also supposed to be “leather.” It was also cheap.

It arrived with NO water bottle holder and a tag that said: “All man-made materials.” Can you tell me how you advertise a fanny pack as leather when it is man-made materials? It comes from China, and looks like it. So back it goes.

The digital frame was purchased too – it was SUCH a bargain, especially with my free points. Why purchase one that costs near $100 when you can go the cheap route and find one for $20 bucks that ACCORDING to the DESCRIPTION does the same stuff?

Um, not exactly. It arrived and we found it has no internal memory and so you have to keep a USB in there at all times. I have never had one so primitive. I thought you load photos, store them in the frame, and voila. Not this one.

The worst part about this one is that it does not recognize some photos – it shows a big X – but we are unable to delete those on the display.

I guess the adage is true – you get what you pay for.

It was almost free, and it will go to a place where we are very infrequent visitors so it will not get returned and it will have to do.

But lesson learned. Don’t believe everything you read in online products.

8 comments

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  • You have to be careful with digital products especially because they have been known to come with viruses. So you put your thumb drive in there and into your computer… bye bye computer.

    • No worries for this one, I have to permanently keep the USB thingie in the frame – never to touch my computer again! So primitive!

  • Just saw Bonnie’s comment below. It is VERY important to read the reviews, and to read a lot of them, not just the first few. Often, people will complain that the item is not as advertised, cheaply made, etc. There’s always one review that’s so far off-base you need to discard it. Otherwise, I go by what the majority of people say.

    • You are all much smarter than me. I just read the review of one of the items – the other doesn’t have any – and you are right. It is right there about the lack of a water bottle holder! DUH! Thanks for writing!

  • Ah, that is why I love to read the reviews section before I buy anything online. Of course, sometimes you have to dig as some companies will post raving reviews just to get people to buy. My husband is the big online shopper though. He is a sucker for sales 🙂 But try to get him to a bricks and mortar store? Its like pulling teeth.

  • sounds like the condo is really coming together. I know a lot of people with two homes, and all try to save money on the second. Funny, I just got my Amazon order yesterday and LOVE it!
    ( a method of discreetly removing unwanted hair)

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