I'd have to agree with the majority of your rant. I've been guilty of the same thing a couple of times, and every time I ended up buying a better quality higher priced part that I should have bought in the first place. Although, I do have to say that price doesn't always ensure quality. I've experienced that also. Several parts from highly advertised manufacturers did not match the hype and the manufacturer's reputation. Getting back to the weatherstripping, after looking a some photos of trunk lids it looks to me like my weatherstripping is thicker than most of the photos. So, just because it 'fits' doesn't mean it's correct. Too bad. Stuff like this should not even be sold, in my opinion. It takes advantage of those of us who are not 'experts' in parts procurement.

 

I'm going through the same thing right now on another forum. I feel your pain as you will have to replace it with the correct one. I ordered the Daniel Carpenter USA made one from Rick yesterday and plan on installing it this weekend. I'll post my experience. Also if you decide to remove it the 3M Adhesive remover works good to take the adhesive off and not the paint