how to avoid an online purchase fail

The internet is a magical place for online shopping. With that, I’m here to share all of the tips and tricks to make sure it’s a smooth process.

read the reviews

I usually will sort them from lowest to highest. I want to know what all of the negatives are first to see if those are of concern to me. After I read those, I read the positive ones; are the things I liked also what other people liked? My last step in reading the reviews is to see if anyone shared a review with images. Looking at the images helps me to better understand how color and scale might look in real life.

confirm the dimensions

The toughest thing for me to identify online is scale. I will always look for the dimensions and break out a tape measure to understand how those dimensions feel in real life. Then once I know what that spatial relationship is, I look at the area I’d like to use that item and re-evaluate if it’s still a good fit. More often than not, I’ll also measure it out in the area I’m looking to use the item.

look it up on other sites

If I’ve done the top two items and I’m still unsure, I will typically try and look up the item on google to see if any other websites carry the same item. Sometimes other websites will have different information or more reviews.

check the return policy

And when in doubt, check the return policy. Be sure to see if there is a re-stocking fee and if you need to pay return shipping - those can be sneaky! If you’re unsure, you can always reach out to customer support!

and my last tip is this; if it’s too good to be true, it probably is!