Unfortuently im with these ladies,i would be very interested to see what you recieve because im pretty sure thats my friend Diane modeling that corset, and by the looks of things,the corset she is wearing is definitely steel boned,it wouldnt pull her in like that if it weren't.

In the future,dont be scared of buying a steel boned corset,you can tighten it to where you want to,you dont have to suddenly pull your waist in 5 inches!!
There are places like Primark and H&M,Ann Summers that all do plastic boned 'corsets' for around £10 ,and then you can try it on for yourself and know that it fits.

Your right this was a cheap buy so you havent really lost out no matter what,but in the future dont be scared to take a look on ebay where you should find a second hand corset in your size that you can start with,and go from there.

Good luck honey

xoxo