Online shopping has been on a steady increase over the last decade and add a pandemic on top and we have never used online shopping so much. With a saturated online market and fake information, you want to do a bit of research to find the right product for you!

I want to offer some ideas about getting great deals and being a smart shopper. Search “As Is” on shopping sites for deep discounts on returned items. This little trick works on Overstock. or you can check Amazon (search Warehouse Deals), which is a similar feature. Items are sold at 50-60-70% off if they were returned. Just check the description to find the return reason. Many times, it’s being discounted because the box has been opened, or some stitching has come loose but can be fixed, or an item has a scratch on it but can be buffed out.

Search in Google’s shopping tab to compare sellers’ prices. Before you make a purchase on a retailer’s site, type the item’s name in Google (on the shopping tab) to see the price at a glance on other retailers’ sites.

How to identify real vs. fake reviews? What are the majority things to look out for?

• Generic comments. Although it’s not clear cut, reviewers who leave feedback that could’ve been written by anyone are more likely to be fake than those that go into details.
• Companies that pay people to review usually provide some kind of template for reviewers to use, and it’s usually pretty easy to spot.
• Watch out for generic names and/or photo-less profiles. To spot those, “look for names like John or Jane Smith, or obviously fake names or just numbers and letters. They will 99% of the time not have a profile picture,
• Examine the timing of reviews. See if there is a spike in the total number of reviews during a very short time frame. This can indicate a targeted campaign to add new artificial reviews.
• Look for phrase repetition. Look through several reviews and see if any words or phrases are repeated in different reviews. Reviews that use the same phrase(s) may have been instructed to do so by the party faking the reviews.
• Dig deeper into the reviewer profile. Another common type of fake review is from a “professional reviewer” — someone who was given the product for free and given extra money, to give a five star review

Reviews for other buyers can be very useful but what should you do when leaving reviews for products?

You want to provide useful, and constructive feedback. You can do this by talking about a range of elements, including customer service, quality or include an image of the product that you received. The most important thing is to be detailed, specific, civil, friendly and honest.

Ultimately read the reviews – if someone says they are big busted and needed to size up or that the product did work, then believe it. Women love to share!