Parents Will Appreciate This Story About A Toddler Accidentally Buying A $430 Couch

Online shopping has made life so much easier. With just a few clicks or swipes, whatever you want or need can be on its way directly to your doorstep. Some might argue that life is too easy nowadays. So easy that, say... a child could figure it out. Just like this toddler who accidentally bought a $430 couch on Amazon while playing with his mom's phone. So many parents, myself included, have been there before, though it's typically a toy or something a little cheaper — and smaller — than a couch. But while her story will certainly give you a laugh, it may also make you think twice about letting your kids play on your phone without watching them.

Isabella McNeil handed her phone off to her toddler and thought nothing of it until an expensive couch arrived at her home, according to NBC San Diego. Even then she said she thought she had maybe purchased it accidentally while sleeping or something. After all, as she told the NBC affiliate, she'd been on the hunt for a new couch at the time.

It turns out it wasn't McNeil who bought the couch, but her 2-year-old daughter, Rayna. McNeil told the news outlet her daughter walked up and asked, "Mama, phone. Mama, phone," while she was browsing Amazon's couch offerings, and she handed it over to her.

McNeil apparently left the Amazon app open, and little Rayna decided to do a little browsing herself. NBC San Diego reported that while playing with the phone, the toddler clicked and purchased the sofa thanks to the "1-Click" ordering option in the app. By the time she figured it out, it was too late to cancel the order. McNeil told NBC San Diego she was going to return the couch, but there would be a $79 restocking fee and $100 in shipping costs.

"I was just so shocked... Lesson learned," McNeil told the outlet. "Now I know it's really dangerous and [I need] to make sure the Amazon app is closed before my daughter takes the phone. It's just so easy."

One woman's accidentally-purchased-couch is another woman's treasure though — at least, it could be. Since she couldn't return the piece of furniture Rayna bought without paying some hefty fees, McNeil listed it on Offer Up, as CBS News reported. She's even offering a steep discount, selling the couch for $300 instead of the $430 Rayna — I mean, McNeil — paid for it. It's now listed for $280, and is still available.

"Brand new inbox. Ordered by mistake, my toddler actually did...darn buy with 1 click on Amazon," the listing reads. "Anyway it's more of a hassle to ship back, so I'll take a loss. A paid 431 with tax and am willing to let it go for 300 must pick up." In Rayna's defense, it's a nice couch! I don't blame her for buying it.

McNeil is hardly alone in her experience; kids can truly wreak havoc with mobile devices or tablets in their hands. One dad learned just that when his son locked him out of his iPad, according to TODAY. Evan Osnos shared a photo of the message letting him know he'd been barred from opening and using the device on Twitter, and social media users were stunned at just how long he was in the digital timeout.

"Uh, this looks fake but, alas, it's our iPad today after 3-year-old tried (repeatedly) to unlock. Ideas?" he tweeted, showing a photo of a screen stating that he was locked out for "25,536,442 minutes."

I'm not sure how long that is, but I admire that little boy's non-quitting spirit.

Listen, these things happen. It happened to me once (granted it was an accidentally-purchased keyboard) and could very well happen again. The lesson here is turn off one-click buying, make sure your apps are closed, and maybe set up thump-print locks on your apps. That, or pray your kid has good taste in furniture. Whatever works for you.