One of the worst shopping experiences I’ve had happened a few months ago. I bought a trendy point-and-shoot film camera called the Olympus Mju II from Facebook Marketplace, which is a second-hand trading platform. It’s really popular online, and I was quite excited because the seller offered it for only 100 dollars, which was much cheaper than the usual market price.

However, after I shot my first roll of film, I noticed that every photo had dark corners. I realized the lens had a serious issue. When I messaged the seller to explain the problem and asked for a return, he insisted that the camera was in perfect condition when he gave it to me. He claimed that I must have damaged it after receiving it.

Thinking back, I realized it might have been a scam. The price was too good to be true, and the camera probably had that problem from the start. I tried to argue with him, but he refused to take it back. Then, when I tried to message him again, I found that he had blocked me and even deleted his account. Because the transaction was done in cash, I had very limited information about him. I felt really angry and disappointed.

This experience taught me a valuable lesson — I need to be more careful when buying from second-hand platforms. Now, I always ask for a video test of the product and keep all our chat records.

But there’s a surprising twist. I work at a photo lab, and when I told my boss about the situation, he offered to repair the camera for me. To my amazement, he actually fixed it! I was so happy and grateful — what started out as a terrible experience turned into a lucky one, thanks to someone kind around me.