Bought a 'mint condition' keyboard that smelled like a seafood buffet
Tbh I still think about this one deal from 3 years ago in Portland. The ad said barely used, but when I showed up the guy handed me a box that was sticky and clearly had some kind of crust on the keys. I opened it and the whole thing reeked of old shrimp, like someone spilled a chowder inside. I asked him about it and he just said 'it's character' and insisted I take it for the $30 we agreed on. I didn't, but sometimes I wonder if I should've haggled him down to $5 and just deep cleaned it. Has anyone else walked away from a deal over a smell that stuck with you?
Kept reading your post and one thing stands out that needs fixing, that shrimp smell was probably not food at all. Keyboards get pulled from offices and homes where people eat at their desks for years, so that "chowder" could've been old soda mixed with dust and skin oil baking under the keys, which smells WAY worse than any seafood. You were smart to walk, because no amount of cleaning gets that smell out of the plastic once it soaks into the case.