Just several days ago, I did some shopping online. It was a rare thing for me, to be honest with you. We needed two stools, respectively for the bathroom and for the doorway of the entrance. We usually wash our feet in the bathroom and the stool in there was kind of worn out. And it would be more convenient for elderly visitors if there is a stool to sit on when changing shoes at the door.

Very quickly I found a website which sells “leather” stools. They all looked very cute, both the colors and the style. The leather on the outside was man-made, which was clearly marked out. We don’t need genuine leather for that purpose. The price was 45 yuan apiece. Reasonable, I thought. So I just clicked the mouse and the deal was made.

You have to admit courier companies today are highly efficient. In less than twenty-four hours, the two stools have arrived at the gate of my house. At first sight, however, I found something unusual: much bigger than I expected. Once the packing was removed, I finally got to see the stools I ordered. “Oh, my Gosh! Are they the ones I wanted to buy?” They were huge, much larger than what I wished to have in my house! There’s just no room for such huge stools either in the bathroom or at the doorway!

I visited the website again. The stool in the picture shows the height is obviously much larger than the width, or rather diameter. However, in the description of the products it says the size is 40×40cm. What a careless mistake! Maybe I was impressed by the height and only considered whether it was too high. Curiously I just didn’t think of the diameter.

I decided to return the stools because they take up far too much space in my apartment. I apologized sincerely to the owner of the website, and offered to pay the entire express fees. Luckily he finally agreed. The funny thing is: I paid 50 yuan without getting anything, but still feel very appreciative! Anyway, we had to suffer the consequences of our own actions.

Looking at this matter from another perspective, however, I found the money was not completely wasted. I paid for the valuable lesson: You have to be more careful and never trust so easily the pictures you see on the website. What you see may not be the real thing; it could be misleading, not only in the virtual world but in real life as well.