back to article Drunkards warned: If you can't walk in a straight line, don't shop online, you fool!

One in four Brits have admitted to splurging too much cash during drunken shopping sprees online, according to a new survey. Insurance website Confused.com commissioned a research outfit to quiz 2,000 people in the UK about their booze-charged spending habits on the interwebs. The survey found some 24 per cent of the good …

  1. Suricou Raven

    That explains a few things.

    Now we know who buys all those obsolete bitcoin miners on eBay.

  2. Oz
    Coat

    Hazy memory, but....

    Didn't they also always feature a Fondue Set as well as the "legendary" cuddly toy?

  3. Cliff

    Press release by a sponsoring commercial entity

    I'm sure that was a rigorous test and analysis.

  4. dan1980

    I do not need online shopping to drain my bank account when I am drunk. It's usually the round of a dozen or more tequilas in the middle of an already-expensive night that does it.

  5. Sanctimonious Prick
    Pint

    Oh, OK - Odd, But OK.

    I wonder what that research cost?

    Just for your other useless research, I'll add that when I'm drunk and using my computer, I;

    send really stupid e-mails with lots of typos and swear words

    post really ridiculous messages on forums with lots of typos and swear words

    swear at the keyboard

    click on 'send' before i'm finished, then swear at the screen

    have a hard time comprehending what i'm reading and swear at myself

    Thanks :D

    1. VinceH

      Re: Oh, OK - Odd, But OK.

      "Just for your other useless research, I'll add that when I'm drunk and using my computer, I;

      send really stupid e-mails with lots of typos and swear words

      post really ridiculous messages on forums with lots of typos and swear words"

      Yup... That sounds like me when I was younger. I remember sending a few absolute, er, 'gems' to usenet back in the day. I'm a bit more controlled these days.

      1. DanDanDan

        Re: Oh, OK - Odd, But OK.

        "Yup... That sounds like me when I was younger. I remember sending a few absolute, er, 'gems' to usenet back in the day. I'm a bit more controlled these days."

        Linus?

    2. Rich 11

      Re: Oh, OK - Odd, But OK.

      I don't need to be drunk to do any of that. Fortunately I can't type passwords properly when I've had a few, so I've also been able to avoid the drunken temptation to change all my passwords to something short and simple ('password1', perhaps).

    3. kiwimuso
      Pint

      @ Sanctimonious Prick Re: Oh, OK - Odd, But OK.

      "Oh, OK - Odd, But OK. "

      Shit, I do that when I'm completely sober!!!!!

      Occasionally my fingers turn all dyslexic. It's the only explanation, as the brain still knows what it wants to say! Mostly.

      Or maybe it's just age, and I'm just losing it - in more ways than one!

      Oh well, the sun is well and truly over the yard-arm so it's wine time, when I promise I won't make any further comments.

      Beer, because there isn't a wine icon, but it's still alcohol.

      Oh, and have an up-vote you Sanctimonious Prick. Great Name!!

  6. MrWibble

    I've purchased a banjo off eBay when drunk. Can't play the damn thing either!

    1. Fair Dinkum

      Hm, Banjo. Willng to sell it, by any chance?

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I've got a very nice 1711 John Speed map of Essex on my wall. Bought it at 1.00am one particularly heavy night for £880. And that wasn't the only map I bought that night.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I bought my wife a quite frankly bizarre sex toy from Ali Express.

    Then I mangled our new address and accidentally sent it to my neighbours house. It's totally OK though, as my wife only shares the same surname as my neighbour.

    I believe the kids would say FML

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Ali Express?

      You got off lightly. If you'd been really drunk you could have ordered it off alibaba and ended up with a container load full.

  9. Genericness

    Disad-van-van-van-tage of shopping tanked

    I bought three Lego combi vans as gifts for someone who lent me their cat, I'd only meant to get them one just has some struggles with the shop. Didn't know what was holding the $300-odd on my card until the confirmation emails came through a few days later.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. Genericness

        Re: Disad-van-van-van-tage of shopping tanked

        To treat depression :-D

        1. Matt 21

          Re: Disad-van-van-van-tage of shopping tanked

          For you or the cat?

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Disad-van-van-van-tage of shopping tanked

          "To treat depression"

          Getting tanked doesn't do you any favours with that...

  10. Zog_but_not_the_first
    Holmes

    Shocked, simply shocked.

    Just this >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  11. JeffHome
    Pint

    The last drunk purchase was a boxed set of 8 CDs titled "Greatest Hits of the 80s". It seemed like a great idea at the time.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    £800 at a Maid Bar in Akihabara over the hours of 8pm till 5am, plus sushi and karaoke finishing off at midday the next day in Ueno. This included 2 bottles of champaign, a half dozen bottles of cafe paris, a lot of cocktails, drinks for the maids and photos. No, no dirties with any of the girls.

    Regret isn't the correct term, solemn acceptance that mental nights require penance.

    1. Longrod_von_Hugendong
      Facepalm

      You were at the wrong bar...

      You could get a happy ending in Tokyo for a lot less... You wanted Shibuya, not Akihabara :D

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: You were at the wrong bar...

        I don't mind Shibuya but that's a couple of night a holiday not the "found somewhere I enjoy to kill all my spare drinking time" Have a half dozen or so places I go in Akiba whenever I get the chance.

  13. Yugguy

    If I spent 800 quid I'd want a Happy Finish.

  14. Doogs

    I remember my dad relating how he had to return an e-type Jag once after a drunken purchase.

    Long before the www and online shopping, though.

    Presumably before drunk driving laws too... :(

  15. Paul McCourt

    I bought every back catalogue DVD from the 'Kids in the Hall' (Canadian comedy troupe for the unwashed reading here) across 3 sites including eBay at 0230 on a Wednesday morning. The TV series (what was available), the live shows including the reunions). For the next few days I was bemused at the packages coming through my door until it finally hit home and I remembered. Drunk me knows what I like.

    Best 70 quid I can't remember spending.

  16. jake Silver badge

    What kind of moron ...

    ... purchases anything when inebriated?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What kind of moron ...

      a drunken one dumb-ass. Didn't you read the article

  17. D@v3
    Pint

    shopping while drunk

    When I've been out and had a 'few', shopping is the furthest thing from my mind.

    my priorities are usually, have another drink, have something to eat, pass out. (not necessarily in that order)

    If I'm drunk in charge of a PC, then something has gone horribly wrong with my evening.

  18. stucs201
    IT Angle

    Not me, a friend (*)

    A tandem from ebay. Had a minor panic when they sobered up and saw how far they had to go to collect it. I think they rode it once before they sold it on ebay again.

    IT angle? HAL's song: Daisy, Daisy....

    (*) Yes, I know everyone says that, but on this occasion it wasn't me. I just watched them do it and didn't bother stopping them.

  19. Reue

    Got drunk on my last dat of uni

    And bought a one-way ticket to Australia. Best drunken mistake I ever made.

  20. This post has been deleted by its author

  21. blokedownthepub

    One inebriated night online, I tracked down a couple of old girlfriends from 20 years ago. I'd sobered up a bit and common sense prevailed before I actually contacted them.

    Another reason why I don't drink any more.

    1. Jamie Jones Silver badge
      Happy

      " Another reason why I don't drink any more."

      .....says 'bloke down the pub'!

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Devil

    The expression "So What?"

    does spring to mind...

  23. JeffyPoooh
    Pint

    Been there, done that...

    Bought a signed-by-the-astronaut book after some red wine. Turns out it's a soft cover book, not hard cover. Major FAIL.

  24. chivo243 Silver badge
    Pint

    Why is this differnet?

    Than, drunk at the strip club?

    Drunk at the casino?

    Drunk at the tattoo parlor?

    Drunk in Vegas with a chick you just met?

    Drunk in the Red Light District in Amsterdam?

    Drunk bailing your friends out of jail?

    I'd put the pint icon twice....

    1. fajensen
      FAIL

      Re: Why is this differnet?

      All of the above are potential stories that will only be bigger, better and more epic* every time they are told to ones friends - Drive-by shopping alone in fromt of the computer (in soiled underpants holding a bottle of cheap gin) ... not so much.

      *) The ritual or "retell and embellish" that all men always do really pisses my wife off. But, at least now with experience she keeps her mouth shut about it so it is possible to bring her along ,p.

  25. Mike Smith
    Pint

    There but for the grace of God...

    I should have read this yesterday, as last night I came that close to blowing 1500 quid on an XS750 I spotted on eBay.

    Thankfully, I was too plastered to complete the transaction, but I got a nasty shock when I looked at my phone this morning.

    Oh, what the hell. Hair of the dog!

  26. 519meshif

    I've gone on a couple drunken Steam shopping sprees as well as ordered close to $100 worth of electronic components I had no need for at the time.

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