The Sydney Morning Herald
· collected 2026-09-24 · by Lauren Ironmonger
What becomes of a desire that never materialises?
asserted
that → become → desire
These are the questions posed by “dopamine shops”, a new breed of websites born out of South Korea, named after the neurotransmitter in our brains associated with pleasure and reward-seeking.
asserted
These → pose → pleasure
Bearing names such as “Food Never Arrives”, “FakeHaul” and the less imaginative “Dopamine Shop”, these are digital storefronts that mimic the look and feel of the real online stores with one crucial difference: no real money exchanges hands, and your order never arrives.
asserted
order → bear → hands
The idea is a silly but sticky one: it’s been making international headlines, entrepreneurs outside Asia are taking up the idea and many sites are boasting millions of users.
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sites → make → users
Dopamine shops rest on the hypothesis that window shopping can be just as thrilling as consumption itself – that the dopamine rush we get from shopping is anticipatory in nature: Dopamine Shop’s tagline – “retail therapy without spending a cent” – says it all.
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tagline → rest → it
It seems we’re so deep into consumer culture that merely the performance of it is enough.
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performance → seem → it
Curious, I spend an afternoon poking around a few of these sites, adding ridiculous upon ridiculous product to cart with gleeful abandon.
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I → spend → abandon
A pair of rare, gold-foiled Nike Air Force 1s embossed with the Louis Vuitton logo ($3500) go in my shopping basket, as does a Rolex watch worth more than a year’s worth of rent ($34,500).
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watch → emboss → rent
Next, in goes a Carhartt jacket ($260) and Le Creuset Dutch oven that I’ve actually been coveting ($420).
asserted
I → go → that
I go to the checkout and fill in a fake name and address.
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I → go → name
Shipping is free, thankfully, but they do tack on an 8 per cent tax.
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they → tack → tax
I bite the bullet and type in the number for a fake credit card, connected to a bank account that doesn’t exist.
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that → bite → account
I’m given a tracking number and told to expect regular updates on its status.
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I → give → status
The whole ordeal has been fun, but I’m left wanting more.
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I → leave → more
This is digital edging for the person who gets off on designer labels, not sex – PornHub for the Carrie Bradshaws of the world.
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who → get → world
But now, my lust for stuff has become stronger.
asserted
lust → become → stuff
I crave the plastic smell emitted by a brand-new pair of sneakers, the cool metal touch of a hefty designer watch on my wrist.
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I → crave → wrist
I find cheap imitations for each of these products online in minutes, on websites such as Shein, and wonder if they would bring me more or less joy than my afternoon of simulation?
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they → find → simulation
Is it better to shop the real thing on a fake website?
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it → shop → website
“These sites take the enjoyable parts of shopping, browsing, choosing, and imagining, and removing the bill,” says Dr Anastasia Hronis, clinical psychologist and author of The Dopamine Brain.
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Hronis → take → Brain
“People have always window-shopped, so that isn’t new.
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that → shop → ?
But now the ritual has been turned into a digital experience, tapping into reward pathways in the brain that excite our desire for novelty and possibility.
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that → turn → novelty
”
However, Hronis is concerned about the time and effort people may pour into these websites, an experience which is she says is “rarely nourishing”, and likening the short-term thrill to other dopamine-rich activities such as blind boxes, gambling or porn.
uncertain
she → concern → boxes
“The reality is that dopamine-driven behaviours often pull us away from the things in life that feel more deeply meaningful or satisfying.
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that → drive → life
Desire is a funny thing in today’s culture, much of which is built around sublimating, rather than embracing, our most base instincts.
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much → build → instincts
We go on “dopamine detoxes”, Brick our phones and go “boy sober” or just plain sober.
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We → go → phones
At least half a million Australians are using GLP-1 medications, with an increasing number doing so for non-medical reasons such as weight management.
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number → use → management
These are drugs that work by suppressing our hunger signals – for food, yes – but also sex, shopping and addictive substances such as alcohol, as anecdotal evidence and emerging research suggests.
uncertain
evidence → work → alcohol
The therapeutic, clinical potential for these drugs to revolutionise conditions such as diabetes, obesity and addiction aside, what does it mean for the general population that we’ve become so intent on controlling our senses and erasing the evidence of a life well lived?
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we → revolutionise → life
This modern restraint nudges against a culture fixated on cheap rewards: online gambling, porn, the endless scroll of TikTok, fast fashion hauls.
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restraint → nudge → TikTok
Then there’s the fact these ghost shops aren’t that pleasurable to browse in the first place.
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shops → ’ → place
It’s interesting (and somewhat appalling) that the user experience on most of these dopamine shops is shoddy.
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experience → ’ → shops
They’re ugly, clunky to use and poorly categorised.
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They → ’re → ?
FakeHaul, created by a Microsoft developer in the United States, is designed in the image of ultra-fast fashion marketplace Temu.
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FakeHaul → create → Temu
Surely if we’re in the business of simulated shopping, where money is no object, we’d all want the ultimate, white glove experience?
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we → ’re → experience
Enshittification, a term coined by Canadian-British technology critic and author Cory Doctorow to describe the gradual (and deliberate) decay of the digital services meant to better our daily lives, feels apt here.
asserted
Enshittification → coin → lives
Online shopping, by and large, has become so diabolically lousy it’s barely worth it any more.
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it → become → ?
Trying to find anything worth buying through Google is like trying to navigate the laser-protected vault in Mission: Impossible – dodging sponsored ads for drop-shipping sites and fast fashion.
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Trying → try → sites
Interpreted differently, or more generously, one could argue these websites are akin to art projects – high-performance art designed to reflect our monkey-brained impulses back to us.
uncertain
websites → interpret → us
Seohyun Park, the 21-year-old mechanical engineering South Korean student behind the fake food delivery app Food Never Arrives, told The New York Times her product was intended as a lighthearted experiment.
asserted
product → arrive → experiment
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
