16. Large Dustpan

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 | @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).

17. Flamingo Dress

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 @/Theheadandthefart1 / Reddit.com | @/Theheadandthefart1 / Reddit.com
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.

18. Levi’s Type 1 Jeans

Price: $24.99*
Made by: Levi’s
Purchased at: Levi’s stores
Huge marketing investments were made into Levi’s Jeans and its Type 1 debut. However, these investments did not pay off, and the Type 1 was a clear brand failure. One of the reasons that the brand failed was because of the strange Super Bowl commercial that put a bad taste in potential customers’ mouth.

Levi’s Type 1 Jeans @LM / Pinterest | @ModelsTVCM / YouTube.com
Another major mistake that Levi’s made with Type 1 was failing to recognize that a shift to baggier, less form-fitting jeans was more than a mere passing fad. Though Type 1 Jeans are no more, you can still buy a 1936 Type I Jacket for $385.00. The jacket, according to Levi, is that of the “American working man.”
The misfire marked a rare low point for Levi’s, who have traditionally dominated the denim market in America and beyond. The company has since bounced back and launched many successful brands.

19. Jeweled Prom Dress

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.

Prom Dress @hannnahhnicolee / Twitter.com
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!

20. Chainsaw

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 | @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.

21. Compact Cat Scratcher

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 | @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.

22. Small Scale

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 | @Fuzzanna’s Shopaholic / Facebook.com
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.

23. Color Changing Mug

Price: $11.52*
Made by: Shop5248049
Purchased at: AliExpress
How this product ever got made is unclear; but what is for sure is that the item definitely didn’t meet the expectations of one buyer. The mug that the shopper ordered was marketed as a color-changing mug with a lightbulb that would turn yellow when hot water was added.

Color Changing Mug @Adnan_Targaryen / Reddit.com | @Adnan_Targaryen / Reddit.com
However, the mug the shopper got was far from a Williams-Sonoma piece of pottery. Instead, it had the instructions for filling up the lightbulb cup printed onto the mug, nothing more. The mug cost a little over $11, which is a lot to pay for a coffee mug to begin with, isn’t it?.
If you’re looking for a more personalized color-changing mug, the highly-rated Magic Custom Changing Personalized Mug on Amazon comes from Moonlove and has a 4.4/5-star rating. You can even add your own family photo onto the surface; just add hot liquid into the cup to reveal your beloved family.

24. “I Love London” Shirt

Price: $24.95
Made by: RageOn
Purchased at: AliExpress
A casual gazer might not realize the problem with this shirt right away. However, a second glance is all it takes to realize that something isn’t quite right here. This “I Love London” shirt has a decal of the Eiffel Tower on it, a cultural icon that is decidedly not located in London.

I Love London Shirt @Chloe / Pinterest | @u/notyouravrgd / Reddit.com
There is a t-shirt with the same decal for sale at RageOn (found on Google Shopping), though who knows if it is meant as a joke or if it really is an error by a geographically-challenged t-shirt salesperson. Big Ben or Buckingham Palace would have made for a better “I Love London” t-shirt.
RageOn Clothing bills itself as among the world’s largest print clothing shops. There is something for everyone, from clothing to home décor to pet supplies. There are huge collections of ironic t-shirts with weird slogans, so there’s a good chance that the “I Love London” shirt was a joke by a print-on prankster.

25. 50 Shades of Grey

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.

26. High Waisted Pants

Price: $20-$40*
Made by: PrettyLittleThing
Purchased at: PrettyLittleThing
PrettyLittleThing is a site that has clothing for everyone, though not all of their items fit all sizes. One Twitter user, @BethmaccaNew, found that out when she tried to purchase a pair of patterned pants from the clothing site. The pants were more suited to legs like “Kendall Jenner’s,” as opposed to a shorter person.

High Waisted Pants @maartenwijntjes / Pinterest | @BethmaccaNew / Twitter.com
Jenner, a runway-walking supermodel who stands 5’10”, is far taller than the average American woman, who stands just 5’4” (over age twenty). PrettyLittleThing didn’t respond to the tweet (or give the buyer a discount), but the buyer’s tweet did get a handful of retweets and 332 favorites.

27. Wendy’s Baconator Fries

Price: $1.99*
Made by: Wendy’s
Purchased at: Wendy’s
Reddit fans had fun at Wendy’s expense when they pointed out the age-old truth: what’s advertised in the pictures looks far different than what you get in your bag. This was true for one Reddit user’s Wendy’s Baconator fries, which combine shredded cheddar, fries, Applewood-smoked bacon, and cheese sauce.

Wendy’s Baconator Fries @u/Eating Porn / Reddit.com
The final result was far less appetizing. While that might be due in part to the lack of preservatives used in the fries (when compared to the inedible stock photos of the food), it also seems like someone at Wendy’s wasn’t too keen on doing their job that day.

28. Jeans

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 | @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.

29. Spongebob Popsicle

Price: $1.79*
Made by: Popsicle
Purchased at: Unknown (maybe an ice cream truck)
Posted in the Reddit thread “Expectations Vs. Reality,” one Redditor went to dig into a delicious Spongebob popsicle when they found that the popsicle looked like a tortured version of everyone’s favorite sea creature. The popsicle didn’t look anything like the package (or like Spongebob himself), other than the yellow sponge part and buck-teeth.

Spongebob Popsicle @u/snarkysnape / Reddit.com | @u/snarkysnape / Reddit.com
The Redditor posted the caption, “End my suffering,” likely referring to the tormented look on the ice cream sponge’s face. Commenters had a field day with the misshapen Nickelodeon character, with one person commenting that it was the “funniest thing” they had “seen all day.”

30. Converse Backpack

Price: $30-$60 (for a real Converse backpack)
Made by: Unknown (but certainly not Converse)
Purchased at: Unknown
Another gem from Twitter involved an aunt trying to buy a Converse backpack for her nephew, who was going back to school. Instead of finding the correctly-sized backpack, the aunt instead accidentally purchased a bag that was more fit for a toddler than an adult.

Converse Backpack @Lisa Groeller / Pinterest | @dzzzny / Twitter.com
Converse backpacks usually cost between $30 and $60, depending on the model. Though you can buy from sites like Amazon, you should be careful to check that you’re actually purchasing from Converse itself. Fake Converse bags haven’t hurt the brand too much, as Converse’s parent company, Nike, is worth $37.4 billion (according to Statista).