Tips for how to buy on Amazon: What to look for, step-by-step

SAN FRANCISCO — We've all done it on Amazon: See, click, buy. Then the item you needed on Thursday doesn't arrive for two months. Or it's broken and the seller doesn't answer emails. Or the hot water bottle you bought smells like a chemical factory. The good news is the information you need to avoid these problems was probably right there on the Amazon page — you just need to know what to look for.

Here's a step-by-step guide to what Amazon tells you, and what it means.

What is it called?

First, type in the name of the thing you want to buy. That's not always easy because sometimes you don't know what the thing you want is called. Take the lamps that emit full spectrum light to help people who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder when the days grow short. They go by multiple names, including SAD lamp, winter light and circadian rhythm setter.

Amazon's algorithms will do what they can to help, offering suggestions when you type in just a word or two. It's always worth scanning the list as it often gives you words you hadn't thought of, which can turn up items closer to what you actually want. Or try different phrases to see what else pops up.

Amazon's Choice

After you search, you're likely to see several rows of items at the top of the page that have an "Amazon's Choice" tag. This means that for that specific search keyword or phrase, Amazon deems this precise product optimal with respect to its combination of high reviews and rating, high sales and ability to ship immediately primarily via Prime, said Chris Perry, vice president at Edge by Ascential, a company that helps brands position themselves within e-commerce. Amazon doesn't allow products to purchase the Amason's Choice tag, so the tag is based purely on the product's standing.

Best Seller

These are items that are among Amazon's most popular products in whatever specific category you've searched, based on sales. The designation is updated hourly.

Note that while there's no way to game this, sometimes items do suddenly become best sellers because they're a Deal of the Day, a Lightning Deal, or they got a mention in the press or went viral from a blog post. "Oprah’s favorite things always requires careful inventory planning, for example," said Danny Silverman at Edge by Ascential.

Sponsored

These are paid ads. A brand or a seller or even Amazon itself has bid to place its product in a more visible search result position on the page.

Is it Prime?

By some estimates, as many as two-thirds of American households have access to a Prime account, giving them free, fast shipping along with a host of other benefits.

If you have a Prime account, you can click a box on the left-hand side of the screen to say you only want to see Prime-eligible items when you search. You have to click it for each search, however.

Check the delivery date

If it's not prime, check the delivery date. Especially if you order using Prime most of the time, it's easy to imagine everything arrives in two days or less. Which makes the non-arrive for a week a bit of a shock. To see this, you need to click on the item and look on the right-hand side, below the price.

Check the seller's reviews

Next, you want to see if this seller is a good one, offering reasonable quality and responsiveness. To find the seller, as opposed to the product, review, click on the seller's name, which is below the price. It should say "Sold by XXXX."

Questions & Answers

If you have any questions about the item, many Amazon products feature a Questions & Answers section if you scroll down the page. These are questions would-be buyers have asked that the seller, or people who've bought the item, have answered. If you're concerned or confused about something about the item, and not in a hurry, it's worth posting a question. Someone usually answers within a few hours.

Read the reviews

Nothing beats reading the reviews if you really want to know if something's worth buying. Many products have thousands of reviews, though be aware that some of those reviews are fakes, written by people paid for the purpose. Some tips:

- Search by "Most Recent"

Products can change and sometimes sellers swap out one item for another, albeit similar, one. You want to hear from people who bought it recently, not two years ago.

- Click on the lower ratings

Look to the left of the reviews and you'll see all the 5-star, 4-star, etc., reviews. Click on some of the lower ones, not just the high ratings. This protects you from only seeing fake reviews (not that all are) and also lets you see what common problems crop up. While sometimes a reviewer is just a grump who hates everything, if enough people mention the same problem it gives you a sense of what the real issues are.

- Look for Verified Purchasers

To guard against fake reviews, Amazon notes when a reviewer has actually purchased a product. Of course, this isn't a 100 percent guarantee. “Many bad sellers now say it’s worth buying products themselves in order to write a review. So people hire folks to create fake accounts in the U.S., buy the product and review it,” said Jason Goldberg, a digital shopper marketing expert with Publicis Groupe, a French marketing company.

To make sure it's a real buyer, look for poor English — not that everyone's an English major, but something written by an obviously non-native speaker could mean it was coming out of a review farm overseas. You've hit the jackpot when you find someone who knows a lot about the topic/area and waxes poetic about it, whether good or ill.

- Write your own review

Finally, once you've bought the product, take the time to write a review yourself. Good, bad or indifferent, your feedback and thoughts will help others decide whether to spend their hard-earned cash.

Careful about Subscriptions

Amazon allows customers to subscribe to certain products, setting up automatic refills to be shipped out without the need to reorder, often at a slightly lower cost. Don't click this button if you don't want more of the item in a month, and the month after that. If you aren't paying attention and click the subscribe button thinking you're simply getting it cheaper, you could be surprised when your second order of Vegan, Gluten-free Aloe-based Liquid Foundation arrives.

Doublecheck the delivery address

Especially at the holidays, many of us order items to be delivered to various friends and family all over the world. Amazon will default to your default address, but will also list the most recently used. Be careful you don't send your 90-year-old aunt a tricycle meant for her grand-niece. When you click Proceed to Checkout, you will get a chance to Choose a Shipping Address. Make sure the item is going where you want it to.

Don't do 1-Click

Unless you're 100 percent certain that everything is set up exactly as you want it for this specific item, don't use the 1-Click button. Having the chance to double-check as you go along is worth the extra minute it takes. This option is always just below the yellow Add to Cart button. Though it’s useful to know that if you like the simplicity of 1-Click but don’t want a bunch of separate orders coming, Amazon does try to consolidate your 1-Click orders if they’re placed within 30 minutes of each other, says Joanne Joliet, a senior retail analyst at Gartner, a business research firm.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tips for how to buy on Amazon: What to look for, step-by-step