I bought a dog camera online. You attach it to their collar and it films what they get up to. It was $17 USD. I've been excited about it for a month and a half. I just wish it would actually, you know, arrive.

The risk with online shopping is that there's often an ocean between you and the thing you just bought. You've sent your money off into the ether and have to basically sit and wait for the dividends.

I've had about 5 items just never show up. At first I'm always annoyed, then I feel embarrassed for being so stupid and then I feel kinda happy, because I have too much stuff anyway.

I've never not gotten a refund. That's maybe just me being lucky, but I've yet to experience a seller on any platform who doesn't take responsibility for an item not ending up on my doorstep.

If you think you're in a no-show situation, contact the seller right away. The system is in your favour and most of the time there's a way to resolve it nicely.

Write a sassy letter if you like. On the computer. Just never use typewriters, they're extinct for a reason.

If the seller is silent or refuses to compensate you, when you've waited long enough to be certain that the item isn't going to turn up, contact the relevant platform authorities. AliExpress have an "Open Dispute" option, for example. If you're buying online, only ever use sites that have systems in place for when things go wrong. Be proactive. Feedback systems are pretty good at keeping people honest, but there should also be a way to get the site's actual employees involved to resolve things.

Before you buy, also be sure to check the guarantees. Many seller will offer full refunds, but only if the item is not received within a certain time period, eg, 35 days. Personally, I think this makes no sense at all, because it means I could ask for a refund if the item doesn't show up after two days. I've had things take almost two months to get to me!

In conclusion, be proactive. If you're spending more than $10 online, check all relevant fine print, such as the refund policy and feedback of the store. If less than $10, then they'll happily just chuck you a refund, it's so inconsequential, and it's a cheap life lesson if they refuse.

Let's all just hope and pray that my dog camera shows up. Because I really, really want it to!

If you want some specific advice, do utilise our long-suffering forum. It's really just there for support. We wanted to give you a place to ask for help from us people who waste far too much money online and so have a good idea of how to deal with shonky sellers!

I paid a bit more for this necklace (Product Page) than I'm normally happy to spend on AliExpress. But I fell fully in love with it, so I had to have it. That said, it was only $7.70 USD, which is still really cheap.


It's a stunning necklace, but it's actually a total nuisance. Firstly, it's heavy. Secondly, the flowers don't sit right and need constant readjusting to get the little red ones to sit in front of the big yellow ones neatly. Thirdly, it's too bright for my skintone- I think this would look stunning on peeps with darker skin than me, but it overwhelmed my complexion.

I took plyers to it and removed the flowers, leaving only the blue chain behind. I totally adore it now, and I have some cool flower charms I can use for something else! Huzzah!


Note: the eyelets are still on in these photos because I removed them all later. They needed to be pried quite far apart to come off.


Note 2: That's my adorable kook of a cat, Izzy. She looks grumpy, but if I wasn't holding her, she'd be on the ground meowing at me to pick her up for a cuddle. Cats are weird.

Speaking of cute weird things, here's Dusty modelling the necklace before I improved it:




Two points to Gryffindor if you spotted that my pets are colour-coordinated!

 Ratings
Product Quality: 4/5 (The paint or whatever it is comes off when scraped, which is something I'll have to watch out for)
Accuracy of Description: 4/5 (The colours are brighter IRL and it looks just a bit difference overall on the product page)
Similarity to Original: N/A

Absolootely in November has been a bit like this:


And for that, I'm sorry. It's a bit of a case of the snake eating its own tail- Absolootely helped get me a full-time marketing job, and that meant I haven't had the time or energy to blog.

I spend most of my spare time snuggling my dog and telling her how much I missed her while I was away working. That's my life.

Loving Absolootely as I do, I dedicated today to prepping a lot of new posts, which I'll stagger over the next few weeks.

Woooo, regular content!

Until then, here's a bit of a preview of what I did today and some things to look forward to....