30 Surprising Things You Can Buy Online

Recent meat shortages have made it difficult or impossible for consumers to find and buy the cuts of meat they prefer. Supermarket limits on meat have caused an increase in sales of vegan meat products produced mainly by Beyond and Impossible Meats.

While meat alternatives are flying off the shelves, they aren’t for everyone. Some people might not mind a veggie burger every once in a while, but resent having it forced on them. Those who eat a paleo or other protein-based diet may find it difficult to get enough protein daily without meats.

Luckily for carnivores, there are a variety of high-end butcher shops that allow consumers to buy meat online. There is a wide variety of meats available, from typical beef, chicken, and pork cuts and seafood to exotic meats that can often be difficult to find.

After decades of residential homes getting larger and larger, the trend of extreme downsizing emerged, and “tiny houses” emerged. Many people have built their own and there are DIY plans for tiny houses available online.

Until recently, tiny homes weren’t readily available unless you could find one for sale locally, and most people weren’t selling the ones they built. Now you can buy tiny houses online and have them delivered.

Amazon has many models and sizes for sale. However, even if you have Prime, the tiny houses won’t arrive in two days. It typically takes two to three weeks to get to you and you have to have a flat place prepared to put it with plumbing and electrical access ready.

Around the world there are large homes, mansions even, for sale online. These homes have been abandoned and are in various states of disrepair, so they are extremely cheap.

There is an Instagram account called @cheapoldhouses created by CircaOldHouses.com that lists old houses with great bones that are typically for sale for under $100,000. Many are in the United States, but the website has also started listing properties in Canada, Europe, and the rest of the world as well.

Structurally sound mansions have been sold online for as low as $1,000. The low prices are mind-blowing, but buyer beware, these houses need to be rescued and it takes a lot of work and money to restore one.

There are pre-built homes available for purchase online that come folded down flat and quickly unfold to “pop up” and become a fully functioning, insulated house.

Boxabl is one company that sells shippable folded houses that are built in a factory and can be unfolded and set up in about two hours. They are constructed using environmentally friendly materials. The company explains that building homes in factories enables a faster, safer, efficient, and more cost-effective build.

The pop-up homes manufactured by Boxabl are classified by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as modular homes. They could be classified as mobile homes if they are put on a functional chassis system. Because they are considered modular homes, the inspections can be done in the factory before shipment.

To purchase a modular home, the process of getting a mortgage is usually no different than bank financing a home fully built onsite. Shipping costs are kept under control by the ability of the homes to be folded up and shipped on regular-width trailers.

When the modular home arrives, the customer must have a foundation or concrete pad and water and electric hookups ready. Customizations can be added after the pop-up house is finished.

Boxabl expects to begin shipping pop-up houses in the US this year, but a company in the UK called Ten Fold Engineering is already selling pop-up homes that unfold themselves online and claim that it only takes a battery-powered drill and about four days to set the entire house up.

Keeping chickens in the backyard has become more common in recent years. Chicken coops and DIY plans to build your own are for sale online. Until recently, to get chickens you would need to pick them up in person from a farm or buy chicks to raise from a farm store. If you didn’t live near a farm store or friendly farmer it could be difficult to procure a few hens.

Some online sellers offer rare breeds of chickens and other types of poultry. You can also order fertile eggs to incubate at home. If you’ve ever wanted to hatch your own baby emu, now you can.

You can order day-old chicks online and have them delivered by USPS. They come in a small crate with a heat pack to keep them warm for the trip. The post office usually receives them in the morning and calls you to come to pick them up. They’ll want you to come to get them immediately, especially since baby chicks can be loud. The chicks have to be raised under a heat lamp for a few weeks until they are fully feathered and can maintain their body temperature.

There is a wide range of reptiles that can be kept as pets sold online. Before buying any type of pet online or in person, you should be prepared by setting up its habitat, purchasing the right types of food, or finding a supplier of the right live foods. You should also have a good idea of the animal’s needs and habits before purchasing.

While looking for reptiles online, it’s also important to get all of the information about the animal from the seller before the purchase, such as whether it was wild-caught or bred in captivity, it’s age, history, and any special needs it may have.

Reptiles that have been shipped should be unboxed immediately. The only legal way in the US to ship reptiles is through Fed Ex, so you should have a tracking number and keep an eye on where it is and have an idea of when it will arrive. Packages left on the doorstep can get too hot or too cold or could be stolen. Reptile sellers usually only ship on Mondays, Tuesdays, or Wednesdays at the latest so that the animals do not get delayed over a weekend. Reptiles should be shipped overnight and shipping can be very expensive.

Snakes and lizards are fairly readily available at many online shops. If you’re considering a tortoise though, there’s an entire online market for those too with many species to choose from.

Although not a reptile, we wanted to also mention giant snails are also available to purchase online. Snails are considered mollusks. Giant African land snails can make great pets if you are into that sort of thing.

Some types of large insects can be kept as pets, but some people buy beneficial insects like lacewings and ladybugs online to eat other bugs that are considered pests. These predator bugs are a natural way to rid houseplants of pests and can also help reduce the number of pests on garden plants.

Honey bees are also available for purchase online. Similar to the way baby chicks are shipped, the bees are in a crate with holes too small for them to escape (although sometimes a few do) and the queen bees are inside a vial with a candy cork. The post office will definitely give you a call when your live bees arrive and you’ll need to pick them up right away.

Before you release your bees into your hive, you need to place the vial with the queen inside. There’s no need to remove the candy cork because the worker bees will chew through it to free her.

Spiders, particularly tarantulas, can make great pets. There are many shops online where many breeds of captive-bred tarantulas can be purchased.

They are shipped in vials and come with instructions on how to lure your arachnid out of its shipping container and into the new habitat you have prepared for it. Habitats and conditions vary depending on the type of spiders you order and their habits.

Tarantulas like to hunt and eat live food, so if this is the type of pet you choose, be prepared to collect, raise, or purchase live foods for your spider.

Most species of tarantula are mild and docile. Some will even come out of their enclosures and sit on your hand. However, some species can be much more skittish, so care must be taken to not let them bolt out of their habitat into the great unknown of your house. Many tarantulas like to hide, so if you lose one in your home get ready for an intense game of hide-and-seek with your fragile pet.

Although we question why anyone would want to, you can buy an authentic human finger bone online (or several) from Amazon for only $15 each plus shipping.

The description of this product says it makes an excellent teaching tool and has been “professionally prepared.” It’s also noted that the size, color, and shape may vary. Noted.

Metacarpal, carpal, intermediate phalange, and proximal phalange human bones are available, as well as an entire finger bone set. The seller assures that the bones are obtained from legal and ethical sources.

The seller also offers real human foot bones.

Although these are replicas, rather than actual skeletons that once housed a human being, they’re still somewhat creepy outside of a medical or educational setting. Nonetheless, anyone can order their own full replica of a human skeleton and even a stand for it to hang on.

These human skeletons are anatomically correct and are typically used as a tool for teaching or as a study aid. However, once purchased, you can do whatever you like with your skeleton.

Over the last few years there has been a growing (no pun intended) interest in houseplants. And not just any houseplants – all of them.

The selection of houseplants available online has grown tremendously with new hybrids being introduced to the market all the time. This has created even more interest in the latest and greatest hybrids and growers are having a hard time keeping them in stock.

There are so many types of houseplants that are now common in collections due to Instagram. Plant lovers have flocked to online plant sellers to grab Monstera Deliciosa, String of Pearls, and Pilea plants as they became the “IT” plants on social media.

Online plant shops such as Planterina and Gabriella Plants are popular with shoppers because of the great lengths and care taken in growing, packing, and shipping fantastic, healthy plants. When buying houseplants online, it’s important to buy from a reputable seller to avoid receiving a sick, damaged, or infested plant.

For the more rare and hard to find jungle plants, NSE Tropicals has a great reputation for shipping high-quality plants.

The idea of strapping a rocket engine powered with jet fuel on your back and flying is not new. It may have seemed like science fiction when it was first dreamed up, but engineers have been working on personal jetpacks to casually propel humans through the air for many years.

Now jetpacks are available online for anyone who wants a 46 mph joyride through the air. The Martin Jetpack sells for between $150,000 and $250,000, not including fuel and flying equipment. In the US, you’ll also need to get a license to fly your jetpack before you can show off legally.

To save yourself the trouble, there are now water-powered rental jetpacks that can be taken for a spin at some lakes and beaches. No pilot license needed.

Air-Trekkers In Action from Preston Edwards on Vimeo.

When you slip your feet into a pair of Air-Trekkers, you’ll feel more powerful than ever before. You’ll be able to jump over cars and run faster than Usain Bolt with no workouts and for under $500.

Air-Trekkers are high-performance carbon fiberglass springs for your feet. They are described as having pogo sticks on each leg. A former incarnation of the same type of product was made in Germany, was much more expensive, and had gas cylinders to propel you even higher and faster. We can’t imagine why these rocket shoes may have been discontinued, but it’s good to know that pogo shoes can be bought on the internet.

Years ago, movies made us believe that we’d all be traveling on hoverboards, flying cars, and teleportation by now.

While not mainstream, two of these modes of travel are available on the internet. We’ve already discussed the jetpack, and you probably know we can’t teleport or punch people through the internet yet.

Hoverboards are a real thing now. These skateboards without wheels levitate on a cushion of air and can whisk you from one place to another at speeds up to 15 mph. To travel on a hoverboard you’ll need to pony up about $13,000 and you’re all set.

Sometimes when you’re filming a horror movie, the regular soundboard just isn’t enough. You need creepier sounds, scarier sounds, and absolutely bone-chilling sounds.

You can buy them online. Well, not the sounds themselves, but the instrument to make all of the horrifying sounds you need is right there on Amazon, waiting for your click.

It’s called a Waterphone and it’s made of stainless iron. You add some water to it and use a violin bow or small stick to make the metal tines vibrate and create the hauntingly unique sounds for a creepy movie or just for fun. Your neighbors will love you.

This item is advertised as the perfect gift for the person who has everything except a yodeling pickle, so there’s that. The yodeling pickle will relieve your frustration of trying to teach your own jar of dills to yodel. Batteries are included with this 5 1/4″ plastic pickle so that when you push the button it “yodels its heart out” for you.

In the Q&A section of Amazon, it’s noted that the yodeling pickle is not waterproof, but may be able to produce offspring. It has over 1,400 ratings and an average score of 4.6 out of 5 stars.

During quarantine, Joe Exotic became a big star. Netflix introduced us to Carole Baskin, Joe Exotic, and a band of other questionable characters in the docuseries “Tiger King” and we can’t get enough of the kitty cat debauchery.

For those who love Joe Exotic just a little bit more than the rest of us, there’s now a sweatshirt you can order online to show the world how you really feel about the Tiger King. It features an image of Joe himself, a man who isn’t his husband and a tiger.

The sweatshirt is on sale for $49.95 and although it has no customer reviews, we think it’s a bargain. If a sweatshirt isn’t practical for you right now, the same design is available on swimsuits, long sleeve t-shirts, and hoodies too. All hail the king!

For your next jungle themed cosplay, Halloween, or really anytime at all, you can purchase an inflatable elephant costume that fits most adults. This costume uses 4 AA batteries, which are not included, to power the motor that runs the fan in this beast. The product description claims it inflates in seconds and you’re off!

The customer reviews of this product are fairly good. It has 20 ratings with an average of 4.1 stars out of 5. The low reviews are from customers who say it doesn’t have the power to inflate itself and it loses air quickly.

If the elephant is too much for you, there’s also a blow-up shark costume that comes in blue or grey. It has 103 ratings and a score of 4.4 stars out of 5.

When someone in your home is a little too attached to their phone and needs to be restricted from using it, this jail cell can come in handy. It is 15 x 13 x 19 centimeters and holds up to six smartphones. This makes it possible to restrict everyone in your house if you have a small family, or you can order two if you need to lock up more than six phones at a time. You’ll feel so powerful when you force your family to interact with each other at the dinner table.

This item can also be used at the office to protect your lunch in the office fridge in the break room. It comes with a padlock.

When news broke that a house cat had tested positive for COVID-19, we all wondered the same thing: Where can we get masks to protect our cats?

Face masks for cats are available on Amazon and come in small, medium, and large. They’re marketed as a product to protect you when you are grooming your cat’s nails or giving it a bath. There’s a nose hole in the cat mask, so it won’t protect your kitty much, but then again, do face masks really protect the wearer anyway?

This kit is full of miniatures that represent common addictions and is for sale on a website that sells therapy toys for children. However, the product description does state that the objects in the addictions set are not toys.

The addictions set includes three fake pills in a medicine bottle, a fake hypodermic needle, plastic marijuana leaves, a tiny slot machine, five little playing cards, a pair of dice, little beer cans, liquor bottles, and cigarettes. It is intended for use in therapy situations with children and has a 5 out of 5-star rating.

Ben & Jerry are looking out for you. It’s the worst feeling to open the freezer to grab your pint of chunky monkey only to find it’s already helped your roommate through her hard time and is gone.

This combination ice cream lock will prevent anyone from opening the top of your pint of ice cream, but that’s not to say that the cardboard bottom of the pint can’t be cut out to release the creamy goodness into someone else’s bowl. 

Also, the ice cream lock is made of plastic, so anyone determined to break it certainly could. This is a novelty item, and just in case you thought it would really keep anyone out of your Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, it won’t. 

Never be caught off guard again! This box contains five fresh pairs of tightie-whities for whenever you may need them. A fresh pair of underwear pops up out of the top like a box of tissues.

The underpants are unisex, making this the perfect gift for anyone who soils themself frequently or just likes to stay extra fresh at all times.

Your dog loves and trusts you, right? Well, now there’s a way to quickly change all of that.

This Puff-N-Fluff dog dryer is a ridiculous suit that you put your dog into, then firmly secure around the neck and tail. If your dog is chill with this, you’re doing great so far. After the suit is on your dog and pretty air-tight, you use a hairdryer to blow hot air through a hose to dry the dog.

Some dogs may love this, while others may be even more terrified of the hairdryer and vacuum cleaner than they ever were before. At least it doesn’t have a tumble cycle.

For the Victorian steampunk lover among us, this keyboard has a truly beautiful vintage-looking design and is functional. It has handcrafted, polished brass edges, and the keys are artificially tarnished, giving it a weathered through time feel.

The downside to this lovely piece of functional art is its price tag. This keyboard is priced on Amazon at $999.99, plus $15 shipping. It does not do your laundry or run errands. It won’t cook you dinner or bring you a beer. It’s just a functional keyboard like the ones you can buy for under $40.

But, it is very pretty to look at. And Mr. Beast has one, so of course, you want it too.

These days, most anything you wear in public is not going to be that unusual. The public has pretty much seen it all before, no matter what your style you’re unlikely to draw onlookers. And you should be able to wear what you want anyway without embarrassment, right?

The umbrella hat keeps your hands free and protects you from rain, sun, slime attacks, and more! It doesn’t absorb heat from the sun, so it keeps you cool and dry. You just unfold it like a regular umbrella and put it on your head. Then you tie the little strings together under your chin and it’s just darling. Then you’re ready to go out in any weather.

Do you love cheesy poofs but hate the cheese dust on your fingers after eating them? This product is for you.

We all know how annoying it is to have to get up off the couch and wash our hands after a snack. These finger covers come in sets of three and are meant to protect the fingertips from cheese dust or snack seasonings. They’re made of food-grade silicone, one size fits all, and come in many colors. They’re also dishwasher safe, so they’re easy to keep clean.

Never has a swimsuit shown off your body parts like this one! This polyester/spandex blend long-sleeve bodysuit is printed with the correct location of human organs and muscular structure on the front and the back.

It closes with a zipper in the back and comes in one size that a small or medium-sized woman could wear.

This suit is reminiscent of the Slim Goodbody character on television years ago who taught children about anatomy. It was weird then and it’s weird now, but it could be fun for Halloween or other occasions when unusual attire is desired.

For the bacon lover you love, now there are bacon bandages. The tin comes with usable bandages that look like strips of bacon. There’s also a trinket surprise in each tin.

Each bacon bandage is 3″ x 1″ and designed to make you smile while your boo-boo heals. As good as they look, these are not edible. They don’t sizzle in a pan or smell like bacon either, just in case you were wondering.

We mentioned earlier in this list that many people now enjoy keeping chickens as pets. While many chicken owners let them free-range or keep them in a pen all day, some like to take their hens for walks on a leash.

The chicken harness pack comes with a harness, a 6-foot leash, a storage bag, and three adorable little bow ties for your chicken in different colors. You’re all set to take your bird for a walk with this set.

The harness is safe and comfortable for your chicken and fits chickens weighing about 6.6 pounds.