Hey Steemers,

Today I was feeling like shvt. But in this shvt of a feeling there are some lessons to learn.

You see, I was in the market for a camera. I saw it as a good investment because:

• I sell goods online so it would be good to take crisp pics for my socials and product images.
• I make music so I could start making music videos.
• I plan to make some short films and do a little vlogging on Hive account@dtube
• I will dable in photography
• I wanted something dedicated to video and photography
• Last but not least, I wanted to take memorable pics with my family

Where it all went wrong

I've been looking for a camera for at least 2 months. I had no idea what I wanted and what was on the market. But after some research I realised I needed something small, powerful, with a flip screen for vlogging and something I could upgrade the lens on. I narrowed it down to the Canon EOS Kiss M ( known as the Kiss M50 in other countries).

I planned to buy it from Amazon or directly from an electronic store but then the cheap fever took over. I searched Mercari and found one for ¥65,700 ( USD $576.31). They usually cost around ¥100,000-¥120,000 with a lens kit.

The seller was definitely on a money milking spree as he had the double lens kit box but was only offering it with 1 lens. The smaller 15mm lens. I didn't mind as the price was good and I figured I'd buy a better lens later on. ( The seller was selling the bigger lens separately after they sold the camera to me.)

The next thing that should have raised a red flag was that the seller said the bar code was taken off the box. I asked a friend who is a seller what that was about and he said the seller probably bought the camera and got a cash back, posted it on Mercari and kept the barcode on the box as a guarantee. ( Incase a customer wanted a refund because of a defect and lost the box and warranty papers. ( Still not clear about that)

But I was still in cheap fever, so I bought it. They said it was new never used. I thought it would be better than buying an older used camera.

This is what the friggin box looked like

The seller switched the battery!!!!?

Then I realised the seller put a different battery in the box, not a genuine Canon battery. What a wanker. After checking the description, it actually said "with compatible battery". It was all in Japanese so I didn't understand it fully when I first pushed that buy button. It was cunningly worded for a person in "cheap fever"

I tried to stay positive. I thought, if it works, that would make it all worthwhile. I could buy a proper battery and use this crap as a back up.

The camera was looking and feeling good. But I felt fear taking over. "What if it doesn't work?".

I put the lens on, put in the "fake battery", and the "free shvt" SD card. ( yeah they tried to add value to their milking) clicked it on and it wouldn't work. FUUUUUUUUUjjjjjjj !!!! Ok.... then I thought maybe the battery isn't fully charged.

I charged it all night and SAME shvt. I contacted the seller and they said, "maybe you aren't putting in the battery right". SMH......... After some dialogue the seller gave me two options. (1.) They'll send a new genuine battery because that might be the problem. (2). Send the camera back , they'll check it and if it isn't working, they'll send a new one. So I went to the nearest camera shop, tested it with a genuine battery and same ole brick of high-tech shvt."

The lessons to learn from this story:

• Don't be cheap, spend on your investments freely.
• Don't rush into buying something because you really want it now.
• Do not let negativity take over.
• If it's too good to be true, it probably is.

The entire cycle of the purchase did not feel good, I felt something was wrong, I was anxious, I still proceeded. Why do we do that? I am pivoting to the positive. I see a working canon EOS M50 in my hands and I shall make good use of it. This will all work out to my benefit. And lastly, I promise to refrain from succumbing to cheap fever.
What do you think of the situation?
Thanks for reading.