Be wary of returned items

I love deals, I love saving money on things. 

And as it turns out there are shops dedicated to selling returned items from online retailers such as Amazon at discount prices.

I got three things from such a store; a portable vacuum, a surge protected power block, and a phone tripod, costing about $15 each.

The portable vacuum made a terrible grinding noise, started spewing smoke and died within 30 seconds of use. Not a good start.

The power block seems fine, but the plug is incredibly thin, almost about as thin as these could get and still be operational. It's difficult to pull out of the wall without the fear of poking the prongs. Oh well, I don't intend to unplug it anyway.

The tripod was fine, though it's slightly incompatible with my phone case, a case that flips to cover the front when closed and covers the back, along with the camera, when opened.

There's definitely better ways to get good deals on things, you might even get lucky at one of these shops, though luck was certainly not on my side on this adventure. I might stick with regular thrift shops.