These not-so-savvy shoppers copped for some truly cringe-worthy items they were not expecting from a dead fish in a handbag to terrifying masks.
When 11-year-old Amy Macdonald asked her mum Claire, 31, for a paddling pool to cool off in, she couldn’t have predicted what would arrive in the post.
When Claire went to unwrap the bargain £12 pool, she had no idea how tiny it was, all Amy could do was use it as a foot spa.
Claire, from Macduff, Aberdeenshire, said: "I'm very prone to these online shopping fails. Usually, eBay isn't too bad for them but I guess I've just got bad luck."
Another mum, Nikki, 34, from London, decided to treat daughter Tayla, 15, to an £18 Boohoo black pleather bag but was horrified when Tayla took the gift upstairs but let out a huge scream, and not from excitement at the kind gift. She allegedly found a dead goldfish in the bag.
Nikki said: "She came in from school and took the package upstairs then I just heard this really girly, dramatic scream.
"It was all fossil-like. It had gone all hard from decomposing. It had a hard coating on it and you could just about see its eye and mouth."
The clothing company did offer a full refund and £20 voucher by way of apology for the slimy surprise.
Another woman was left hysterical in utter disbelief when a coat she ordered online came emblazoned with random words from a pub menu.
Chellce Adams-Jackson, 26, from Stockport, chose the £80 jacket as a gift for her friend, and thought she would receive a grey coat with the word 'Queen' printed down the side.
Not quite. What actually turned up at her door was a white coat with food words and meals all over it.
Chellce said: "I was in complete disbelief when I saw it, I honestly couldn't take it in. I was reading these words like cheese and beef stew and just started to cry with laughter.”
Mum Vikki Ceridwen, 24, bought a size 18 bralet from I Saw It First, or so she thought, but it turned out to be small enough to fit her four-year-old daughter.
When Karen Godfrey ordered what she thought was a pink size 12 playsuit it turned out to be unflatteringly small - in a funny video she explained that the playsuit didn’t just reveal a hint of camel toe but 'the whole hump'.
We all want to go all out for a Christmas party but poor Olivia Burroughs, from Nottingham, had to miss out on her friend's Christmas party after claiming her Boohoo clothing order made her look like a 'melted glitter ball with extra long legs'.
She said: "I couldn't believe the difference to the photo online, it was a real expectation vs reality of online shopping moment.
Being avid car collectors, Hedge Burley, 40, really thought out the present for her husband Mark’s birthday. She bought a set of £245 car mats for their favourite vehicle, a 1986 Ford Cosworth but when they arrived they were smaller than the palm of her hand.
Hedge said: "I opened it and flitted in between crying and laughing for about 20 minutes. I just couldn't decide which was the proper reaction.
"You'd think for that price, they would be the proper size!"
Surprised by the size of the item you ordered is not uncommon, as 22-year old Kayleigh O'Hara, from Glasgow, could tell you. She ordered a lounge rug online arrived and what arrived was something the size of a doormat.
She guessed something wasn’t right when it finally arrived from Groupon and was able to be put through the letter box!
To treat her mum, Olivia Candlin, 21, ordered a ‘large’ chunky knit blanket for £40 online but the biomedical science graduate from Rugeley, Staffs, could only laugh when it arrived and barely big enough to cover her cat.
She said: "It looked so big online - there is a woman wrapped with it around her. But it's a little bigger than a spatula but the exact same length as a rolling pin."
Online shopping is more popular than ever, so why not order knickers online, here’s why. Juanita McGowen bought a 10-pack of giant blue in size 12's, or so she thought.
Juanita, a mum-of-one from Cleveland, Ohio, US, said: "I could've probably fit three of me in one pair which is hilarious."
‘An oversized bin bag’ is how a Pretty Little Thing shopper Lauren Thompson, 18, described the PU bodycon dress she bought for a Barbie party.
The size 12 'tight-fitting' dress for £25 was not too flattering as it was way too big for her and she struggled to zip herself into it.
Another dress disaster happened to student Beth Whitehouse, 22, when she claimed the 'figure-hugging, mustard dress' she ordered, appeared to arrive like a 'high-vis tent'.
Lastly, on the same website, Fran Watts was stunned when a cosy knitted dress she bought transformed her into 'Mr Tickle' - as the ludicrously long sleeves passed her knees.
The 5ft 5 digital marketing specialist, 29, spent five minutes trying to arrange the sleeves so it would look like it did on the model, to no avail.
She said: "The arms were double the length they should have been, they looked really strange. I looked like Mr Tickle!"
