I saw these frog balloons in a Chasing Firefly’s catalog and decided we had to have them but the 14 dollar price tag for one balloon sans helium seemed a little spendy.
And then I found them on ebay. Not just the frog, but a whole conglomerate of 10 balloons with a ‘buy now’ price of 12 dollars. My speedy fingers pressed ‘buy’. I should have known better than to be surprised when they came a little stuffed, worn and crinkled in a USPS mailer. My rose-colored glasses blinded me to the flimsiness.
“Where did you say you got this again?” The man at my undisclosed balloon-filler-up-place asked as he tried to fill the second balloon I handed him from my stash. The first was already decimated on the floor. Its opening was no match for the helium machine.
“Oh a friend. I’m not sure where uh, she, uh got them.” And I started to sweat.
“I’ve never seen anything like these-they don’t seem to want to open.”
Balloon Knock-offs. I’d been had.
“And I’m not charging you for this one, it doesn’t even fly.”
Red-faced I collected my frog and left.
Lesson learned.
Be sure to leave seller feedback– hopefully you can keep someone else from getting duped!