Products That Weren’t Exactly What Was Advertised

Price: $269*
Made by: SpiritHoods 
Purchased at: AliExpress

SpiritHoods is a real company, founded byAshley Haber, Marley Marotta, Alex Mendeluk and Chase Hamilton – as seen on the hit ABC show Shark Tank. One of this crafty, eclectic hoodie company’s top-sellers is a Black Panther Hoodie.

Cat Coat @SpiritHoods / Pinterest.com | @Pat Spengler / Pinterest.com

The Black Panther Hoodie is supposed to be made of faux fur, with little black ears on top. However, that’s not what one online shopper found when she purchased what was supposed to be a Black Panther Hoodie from a Chinese website. The knockoff was made of low-quality synthetic fiber and had ears that looked more like Yoda’s than a panther’s. 

While the ease (and sometimes necessity) of online shopping certainly explains itself, this is an example where either more thorough vetting – or even a physical retail visit –  could’ve been considered. But clearly a online shopper’s best bet is to buy directly from the seller (SpiritHoods.com, in this case) as opposed to going through a third party. 

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 / Facebook.com | @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: $189.99*
Made by: VIVO 
Purchased at: Amazon.com 

Mis-orders can happen on Amazon, and this one definitely counts as one of them. One online poster posted a hilarious tale of her father attempting to order a fryer but receiving a cotton candy machine instead. To be fair, the two machines are similarly priced and look somewhat alike.

Fryer @Kitchen Appliances / Pinterest.com | @VIVO / YouTube.com

What the poster’s dad got was a VIVO Candy Floss machine, priced at around $189.99. By comparison, a fryer on Amazon is around $179.99. Luckily, the poster’s father didn’t order something more expensive—a cotton candy machine on wheels costs over $220.

VIVO is an Amazon seller that has made quite a few sales, and actually has considerably high ratings –  indicating that this error is likely due to a simple sales mix-up as opposed to a faulty product. VIVO’s specialty is cotton candy, and it even sells the special commercial machines used to make the treat.

Price: $28*
Made by: MILO & GABBY 
Purchased at: Amazon.com 

Make no mistake, this dinosaur pillowcase is a real product by MILO & GABBY. The actual pillowcase costs around $28 and comes in a variety of different colors. It’s even scored a 4.5/5 review on Amazon. However, one online shopper – perhaps attempting to find a deal – discovered that the pillowcase she ordered was not exactly as advertised.

Dinosaur Pillowcase @zulily / Pinterest.com | @u/adoringly / Reddit.com

The photo of the product she supposedly ordered was that of a kid sleeping on a dinosaur pillowcase. Unfortunately, a printout of a kid resting his head on the dinosaur pillowcase was what the unwary shopper got, instead of the actual pillowcase itself.

If you’re looking for more MILO & GABBY products on Amazon, this retailer seems quite creative. It sells tons of unique pillows (for adults and dinosaur-loving kids). Their animal pillow cases include a pink rabbit and a yellow-and-brown tiger design. You can even buy an entire dinosaur-shaped nap mat.

Price: $4*
Made by: The Shop of Bei Jinhong 
Purchased at: Wish.com 

Legions of websites could be devoted to the hilarious mishaps that tend to occur on Wish.com. Whether these mishaps include “not as advertised” orders or ads for ridiculous products, Wish.com is certainly an adventure. One online shopper likely wished she had stuck to Bed Bath & Beyond when shopping for a woven string blanket.

String Blanket @u/ruserious65433 / Reddit.com | @u/ruserious65433 / Reddit.com

The blanket she ordered on Wish.com appeared in ads to be made of thick yarn. However, when she received the blanket, she found it was a bit more… Deconstructed than originally pitched. The blanket has horrible reviews on Wish, so other customers have likely had the same experience, too.

Though Wish.com says that it “strictly prohibits” selling knocked off branded goods, there are reports of such products on the website. The online retailer seems to have a hard time keeping up, and as a result, Wish.com has become somewhat synonymous with these charming (if unwanted) mixups.

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: $11.59*
Made by: ALLTOYS (Wish) 
Purchased at: eBay 

Huskies are one of the cutest breeds of dog out there (though they’re all adorable, really). One husky-lover saw a product on eBay and knew that she had to buy it for her son. The husky-shaped pillow was advertised on a human-sized pillow wearing a red and gray sweater.

Pillow Husky @Reaction Time / Facebook.com | @Reaction Time / Facebook.com

When the online shopper received the husky-shaped pillow, however, only the red sweater was the same. The pillow was ten times (at least) smaller than the advertisement. Instead of being larger-than-life, the pillow was maybe a foot long and made of seemingly less-plushy material than the eBay seller advertised it to be.

eBay is pretty safe when it comes to protecting your data, but, as one commenter on the site’s blog said, it does seem like this type of mixup has been happening more and more. The tech giant has been trying to keep both sellers and buyers satisfied, though with arguably diminished results over time.

Price: $750*
Made by: Yeezy
Purchased at: eBay 

Paying $750 for sneakers is a questionable move to begin with, but people are simply in love with Kanye West’s Yeezy brand. But one unlucky eBay user didn’t quite get the Yeezys he was expecting when he made his purchase.

Yeezy Shoes @Quintina Sainsbury / Pinterest.com | @cozy_kicks / Twitter.com

The shoes that arrived looked more like two pillows for your feet than the sleek shoes that dominated social media when they first came out. Yeezy as a company, is now worth around $3 billion, according to Axios. Not even a million knockoff-sellers could dent that net value. 

Forbes broke the news in April 2020 of Yeezy founder Kanye West’s incredible wealth (currently valued at $1.3 billion), much to the delight of the entrepreneur-rapper. This makes him roughly $300 million richer than his wife, and $200 million richer than his sister-in-law, makeup mogul Kylie Jenner. 

Price: $399+*
Made by: Apple
Purchased at: eBay 

One ebay shopper purchased an Apple watch for the seemingly sweet deal of $600. But what came was definitely not the sleek, expensive tech watch that people have been buying like crazy since the gizmo was took the market by storm in 2015.  

iWatch @Larissa Wildeman / Pinterest.com | @u/zeekyboy / Reddit.com

The iWatch has been around since 2014. This cutting-edge product hit the market on the heels of the company’s realization that wearable tech was the next trend worthy of pioneering. There are six series of this wearable Apple tech so far – though this knockoff iWatch is definitely not one of them.

The watch that arrived from eBay was literally shaped like an apple, with a red background and an analog clock in the middle. The label on the watch itself says “I-PHONE WATCH,” while the band merely calls it an “iwatch.” 

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

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: $19.95*
Made by: Coca-Cola
Purchased at: Any grocery store 

Another famous product that didn’t live up to its promising ads was New Coke. New Coke was Coca-Cola’s attempt to revamp its recipe after blind taste tests showed that people preferred the slightly-sweeter taste of Pepsi to that of Coca-Cola. 

New Coke @chrisdorney / Shutterstock.com | @99.5 Kix Country / Facebook.com

It turned out that the declining market share of Coke was due to Pepsi’s advertisements, which targeted what the rival company called the “Pepsi generation.” Coke futilely spent tons of money on celebrity spokespeople for New Coke. Coke, in hindsight, would have been wiser to spend the money on a rival ad campaign to counter Pepsi’s clever marketing. 

One major reason that New Coke failed was because of the southern U.S. states. By the time of New Coke’s release, southern customers were especially used to the taste of Coca-Cola – after all, the original recipe was devised in Atlanta. So when Coca-Cola tried to sweeten and change its recipe to match Pepsi, Southerners were outraged at the capitulation and even formed special interest groups to get the old Coke back. 

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: $25,700 ($9,995 then)*
Made by: Apple 
Purchased at: Apple stores 

On the subject of products that failed to live up to its advertisements, the blast from the past known as the Apple Lisa is definitely one for the list. Apple rarely misses, and the company didn’t become a $1.3 trillion empire by launching duds. But the Lisa remains an early misfire, though arguably still an inspired one.

The Apple Lisa @u/retrobattlestations / Reddit.com | @Matthew Chiavelli / Pinterest.com

The Lisa was Apple’s original desktop computer, released in mid-January of 1983. It used a Lisa OS, and it was one of the first PCs to target the work-from-home crowd. Unfortunately, despite massive fanfare, only 10,000 units were ever sold. Unreasonable pricing, unreliable FileWare, and a poor software library led to its demise. 

The costly recalls of the Lisa were a huge reason that it failed. These days, Apple has been relatively free of huge, reputation-damaging recalls – but the Lisa came at a time when Apple really didn’t have the capital. The engineering-driven products at Apple have a far more successful track record than the marketing-department-designed products.