No matter what they say, shopping for shoes (overstock shoes or full-price shoes) is an art. Some people can spend months looking for their perfect pair of boots and then end up buying something completely unpractical, uncomfortable or ridiculously expensive. For others one shopping trip or an hour online is enough to find a knockout pair of gorgeous, comfortable and deeply discounted shoes.

I think that the art of shoe shopping comes with practice and the more you do it the better you get at it. However, every shoe shopper needs to know these important tips in order to find good brand name shoes at discount prices.

1.    Be very careful where you are buying your shoes. If you are like me and prefer to shop online, make sure you buy from reputable merchants. If you are not sure if the site you are looking at is legitimate, go to Google and put “name of the site + reviews” in the search box (without quotes) and you will see what people are saying. If you are not lazy, you can also check BBB.

2.    Many sites which sell overstock shoes have a pretty strict return policy. Before you buy your shoes, make sure you read it carefully. Some stores will only let you return your shoes within 30 days after they arrived, so be careful with that.

3.    Always look for coupons prior to purchasing. If you see that the shoes of your dreams are 70% off on a particular website, don’t snag them immediately. Go to Retailmenot.com or other coupon sites and see if you can make the deal even slicker.

4.    Know when is the best time to buy overstock shoes. End of season is always the best time to shop for shoes, handbags and clothing. Yes, buying boots in the end of February is not fun. Who wants boots when you are ready for spring and are dreaming of your summer vacation? But if you do buy them, you will thank yourself next year when everything will be 5 times more expensive.