When things look very different in real life (online shopping)
By Porcospino
@Porcospino (31366)
Denmark
January 19, 2013 3:24pm CST
Did you ever get surprised or disappointed in something you bought online? For instance because the size or the colour were different in real life? What did you buy and what kind of differences did you notice when you received the things you had bought?
When my husband and I moved we bought paint online. The shop had a website where we could see all of the colours and we looked at the pictures and bought the colours that we wanted for our walls. When we received the paint, the colours were completely different from the colours that we thought we had ordered.
We contacted the shop because we thought that they had given us the wrong paint by mistake, but they told us that we had received the paint we had ordered, and the colours looked different because we didn't get the right impression of the colours from the internet.
They also said: "It is not your fault, other people have experienced the same thing and we are going to close the webshop, because people get the wrong impression of the colours. The colours look different on the internet" They offered to exchange the paint free of charge because they knew that the mistake was caused by the pictures on their website.
8 responses
@MissPiggy (1748)
• Indonesia
20 Jan 13
That's why I don't like from shopping online. Well people take pictures for their pages, the light on the room and the blitz can be the main reasons for the results of the pictures to be different. That's why every time I saw a red dress online, I always ask my friend who sells it if it is really that red. Sometimes even she gets disappointed.
However, I'm not saying that all pictures in online shops are different from the reality, but most of them are.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
14 Feb 13
Yes, the colours are often different when we see them in person and it is important to keep that in mind when we shop online. I have an online gallery where people can see my paintings and I always try to take good pictures and that show the colours and details in the paintings accurately, but it is not possible to see see the exact the colours online. Sometimes people get surpriced when they see the paintings in person. I always invite people to see my paintings in person if they are interested, because that is only way to get a true impression of them.
@iluvusabado (2560)
• Philippines
20 Jan 13
i haven't bought anything online because of these considerations. though i've been considering recently. i really consider a warranty when buying online because i don't wanna waste money on buying things i don't really like at all.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
23 Jan 13
I think it is important to check the rules of the site before we buy things online. Sometimes we are able to exchange the things that we have bought and some shops don't let us do that and that is especially important if buy things like clothes or shoes where the colours or the size could be different from the way that we expected. I am not afraid to buy other things online for instance books or cds because when I buy those things I don't have to worry about colours or sizes. I still haven't bought clothes online but I sometimes feel tempted to do it when I see some clothes that I like.
@Graceekwenx (3160)
• Philippines
19 Jan 13
It is true. Actual colors are really different.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
20 Jan 13
Yes, we discovered that when we received the paint. We almost didn't believe our eyes when we saw how different the colours were in real life 
But fortunately the shops exchanged the paint for us.
But fortunately the shops exchanged the paint for us.
@tkonlinevn (6357)
• Vietnam
29 Jan 13
My friend, maybe the shop was right. You know that the color can be different with different monitors.
Before, I bought a bag in an online shop. There is not dimension in their description. So, I thought that the bag is quite big. But when I received it, the bag was too small! It's disappointed! But that was my fault. Because I didn't ask the buyer clearly about the product.
1 person likes this
@Raine38 (12257)
• United States
20 Jan 13
Good thing you will get replacements for it. I have experienced buying some stuff online and they don't look exactly like how I expected them to be. Most of the time, it's the color thats off. And I think it has really something to do with the way the color is being diffused in the computer screen and how it was captured when the picture is taken by a camera, as compared to its actual color.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
21 Jan 13
Yes, sometimes the colours look different in real life and that can be a problem when we buy things online. Some things are safe to buy like books or cds, but when we buy clothes or things for our home we sometimes discover that the colours are different from the way that we expected. My friend experienced that some time ago. She had bought new cushions for her living room. The cushions looked very beautiful on the internet and she thought that would be perfect for her new living room. When she received the cushions in the mail she was very disappointed because the colours didn't look like the picture on the internet.
@edvc77 (2140)
• Philippines
20 Jan 13
Yes, it happens to me. I was disappointed when I found out the size was quite small. I think that's the problem in buying online. One cannot really fit it in actual. That is my first time to buy then so after that I'm really careful about the sizes.And now I get it right already.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
22 Jan 13
Yes, that is the problem when we buy things online, we are not able to see the size in person before we make our purchase and it can be hard to pick the right size. I am afraid that I would experience the same thing as you and discover that the size was smaller or larger than I expected. That is the main reason why I haven't bought clothes or shoes online, but I have thought about trying it, because I sometimes see clothes in webshops that I would like to buy and some of the clothes is quite cheap compared to the clothes that I find in the local shops in my country.
@myfb2009 (8296)
• Malaysia
23 Jan 13
Hi Porco, it had been a few times i experienced having getting a different color for the clothes that i purchased through online. It do makes me feels surprised and frustrated after seeing that i am not getting my favorite choice of color. After contacted them, they informed me that the color of the clothes may varies a little and i can't ask for compensation. It seems like, i have to purchase item through online at my own risk. You are lucky that they allowed the change of the paint free of charge. As for me here, once we had purchased any item though online, we are not allowed to change anymore.
1 person likes this
@jenny1015 (13366)
• Philippines
21 Jan 13
That is one disadvantage of shopping online. You sometimes do not get the exact item. that you really wanted to buy. There might be change in color, and the size could not be the standard sizes that we expect. So that is actually one reason why I really seldom buy online. There are discrepancies that some sellers could not avoid.
1 person likes this
