With more and more of our shopping moving into the online space, it’s less and less likely that we’ll be assessing a product in the traditional way. It used to be that you could go into a grocery store and look at the herbs and veggies on the produce shelf, or that you could ask a salesperson about the battery life of a certain accessory you’re considering. These days, it’s not as simple as all that anymore, and it can be rare to visit a traditional retail space.

Whether you’re buying a new vape or some succulents for your indoor garden, you have to rely on online reviews to get yourself to the checkout safely. That said, who should you trust? How do you know if the person declaring that the flavor of these dry herbs is exquisite is anything but a bot or a mouthpiece for the product manufacturer? Read on to learn just how to distinguish between those mouthpieces and the real deal.

Go to reliable sites for the advice you need.

One thing to know about customer reviews is that many of them aren’t real. That’s the bad news, but fear not—there’s good news, too. If you look enough, you can find reliable sites that carry out product reviews for you so that you don’t have to sift through 5,000 paragraphs on Amazon.

For example, if you’re trying to figure out how to plant an outdoor or indoor garden, but you don’t know the difference between plant food for cherry tomatoes or for herbs (like basil, rosemary, chives, or mint), you could read some pre-crafted gardyn reviews from a reliable site. Let professional reviewers do the heavy lifting for you. Then, when you go to buy your own seeds and decide whether you want an herb garden or a garden full of fresh produce (like tomatoes and arugula), you’ll be confident that the reviews you’ve read can be trusted.

Get crafty about finding niche marketplaces.

Another helpful tip is to know that niche businesses often have higher quality wares for sale. If you’re considering the pros and cons of dry herb vaporizers as an alternative to regular vapes, it makes sense to go to a company that specializes in dry herb vapors. These folks will be able to answer all your detailed questions about battery life and conduction, and with less customer service reps, there’s less chance that you’ll be passed around from agent to agent endlessly. If you’re shopping for a specific product, look for a smaller company, and ask the actual service representatives plenty of questions.

Consider growing your own food, at least partially.

Okay, you’re not going to be a farmer any time soon, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t bring your own quality control to your own plate. If you want to know that your greens are the way you want them, maybe the answer is to grow your lettuce and arugula in-house. If you have a backyard or patio with enough sunlight, you can grow greens with ease. If not, there are some pretty amazing grow lights out there that can mimic sunlight so that any type of plant can grow and be happy. Sometimes, the best results arise from taking things into your own hands. If you’re a beginner gardener, start with some easy plants, like mint, and go from there. By growing yourself, you can be sure that you have as much food (and whatever quality food) you want.

It can be hard to know where to turn when you’re trying to shop online. Whether you’re looking for a durable vape or some plant food and LED lights for your indoor garden, these tips should make things easier to navigate.

@TechmashUK #TechmashUK