I’m no stranger to shopping online. I love it and do it for so many things. Household items, yup, Clothing, of course, furniture and home decor accessories, all the time! I have bought it all from outdoor furniture to our living room sofa and everything in between. I always make sure to check out the stores return policy, because you don’t want to end up with something you hate and then have to pay a massive amount or a restocking fee for a return. I also always search for any promo codes to make sure I’m getting the best possible deal and hopefully at least free shipping. Now, I think those are things everyone does and then probably stops there, but I go a step further and today I’m sharing my #1 tip for shopping online!

Google Reverse Image Search is a must when shopping online! Don’t trust that you are getting the best possible deal from where you are shopping online. Case in point, I learned yesterday that Michaels launched an online shop on their site where you can purchase home decor items like furniture, rugs, lamps, etc. I was excited to check it out and then I saw the pricing. It all seemed super high and that was with them saying they were currently running a 40 percent off sale.

Example number 1:Buchanan Side Chair set of 2 in Navy:

First off that Regular price of $699.99 is totally fake. It’s like an MSRP price on luggage. The item would never sell for that.

Now maybe because I’m a decorator my radar went off that that price was just way too much. I figured it was probably by Safavieh, because they are huge in the home decor world and they tend to sell their dining room chairs in sets of 2. Before even doing a reverse google image search I decided to just search for the product on google.

A second later my suspicions where realized!

Hayneedle carries the same chairs for $273 for the set of 2 with the same free shipping option.

Literally every item on Michaels online shop can be found for almost 50% less on another site! This makes me so angry! They didn’t even bother to change any names. Literally just type in the product name on google and viola you will find other shops where it’s sold for much less!

Now some stores are smart and switch up the names of items so a google name search won’t really help you. That’s why I always use google image reverse. For those that don’t know how to use it it’s actually really simple.

You go onto google and on the upper hand corner you will text that says IMAGES click on that.

Then a new page will come up with a search bar and there will be a little camera icon on it. Click on that.

Then you just need to upload a screenshot of the image you are trying to find. It’s best to just have an image of the product alone and not in a room setting.

For this example I used this lamp from Lulu and Georgia. I find that a lot of their products can be found for less elsewhere, but they change all of the names, so you must do reverse image searches.

Listing from Lulu & Georgia:

Then my results from doing the google reverse image search and it found the lamp and now I have the vendor and product name.

Then either scroll down and see if you can find a listing for the product or just google the vendor and product name which you now have and voila!

Catalina Antique Brass and White Shade lamp: $109.99!

The price differences aren’t as crazy as Michaels, but still it’s a savings and something that is totally worth it to double check for me. It takes an extra couple of mins and you can really save quite a bit!

Happy online shopping! Do you have other good tips to share with the group? Leave a comment and let us know!