When was the last time you walked into a shop to buy a tie and were confused by the range of colours, materials and patterns? It happened to me just yesterday, which prompted me to write this article. I've been in fashion for a long time (fifteen years!), but never have I seen such a large range of ties, and ties of such varying quality. So, I was thinking, if this confuses me, what would it do to the average 'non-fashion' guy? What if that person was purchasing online, with no way to see or feel the quality of the tie? Here are my top five tie buying tips that should help you purchase a tie online, hassle free.

1) Know what you want. Before you start to shop online, go into a store and have a look at a couple of different styles of tie. Grab the ties off the rack and touch the material, making sure you get a good understanding of what you like. Get an understanding of the pattern that you want and the material that you want. This may seem like a lot of effort, but bring a shirt to the shop and try to match it against the tie. I even have a friend who takes a photograph of the tie that he likes! Here is a warning - don't buy at this stage! It's very tempting once you find the right tie to buy it at the store, but the reason that we're shopping online is that we have a greater variety at a cheaper price. Save yourself a couple of dollars, go home, and turn on the computer.

2) Know your tie material. Make sure that the tie material from whatever site you intend to buy from matches the material that you like. If you find a site that won't list what the ties are made from, don't purchase ties from that site. You don't want to purchase a tie which you assume is made of silk, only to be delivered a polyester one. Take special care with this, because the material often dictates the price, and people generally assume that if a tie is expensive, it must be silk. Not so. Ensure that you are getting the tie that you pay for.

3) Understand colours. Dependent on your monitor, the quality of the image, and a number of other factors, the colours might not be accurate. So, what appears on the tie on your monitor may be different to the tie that you receive when you open that package. This can often relate to colour tones, but if you want to match a particular shirt with a particular tie, then you really need to make sure that the colours are accurately shown. If close enough to what you want is acceptable for buying a tie, then don't worry about this. However if you are buying an expensive tie for a certain occasion, and the colours have to be just right, there is nothing wrong with asking the retailer to send you a photograph of the tie so that you can colour match.

4) Shop around. Most likely, you're not looking at a one-of-a-kind tie. There are likely several online tie stores that are going to be selling your desired product. So, shop around. This is one of the great things about buying online, take advantage of it. Get the best price, get the best service, get the most reliable vendor.

5) Ensure that you are buying from a respectable site. I don't care how much you are spending, if your merchant can't guarantee your tie purchase, then go elsewhere. Make sure there is some sort of returns policy. If your tie is delivered stained or watermarked, or if there is a tear in your tie, should you have to pay for that? Of course not! You expect product in wearable condition, just like you would receive if you walked into a tie store.

So, go out and shop for ties! We all want to save money and make life easier by shopping online, so remember the tips in this article.