Ordering porcelain tiles online: the checklist to run before and after your purchase

Buying tiles online gives you access to a range no physical shop could ever keep in stock: entire catalogues, sizes and effects a click away, with full technical data sheets right in front of you. To make the most of it, all you need is one small extra bit of care compared with the shop counter: running the right checks at the right moment. The good news is that there are only a few of them, all straightforward and all within your reach, because online you have every product detail set out in black and white. The moment that matters most is the one before you click "order", where you clear up any uncertainty from the outset. Here is the checklist, split across the two moments that genuinely make it worthwhile.

Before you click order

You have chosen the product and you are about to confirm the order. This is the moment to pause and run through these points: they are the checks that close off the margin for error in a distance purchase.

• The quantity includes wastage. On top of the square metres of the room, you always add a margin for cuts, wastage and a reserve, typically around 10% and more with large format tiles or a diagonal layout. Ordering "too tight" is the number one risk of buying online. How to calculate the correct square metres of tiles sets out the sum in detail.
• The intended use matches the technical class. The slip resistance (the R ratings) and the wear resistance (the PEI rating) need to match where you will be laying the tiles: a residential interior, an outdoor area, a high-traffic zone. These are figures the product data sheet states and that you cannot guess from a distance out of the photo.
• It really is first grade. This is the highest quality class, the one that guarantees no calibre or shade defects beyond the standard tolerances. Online, where you are not holding the product in your hand, this is the check that keeps you clear of surprises. The difference between first grade and other classes makes clear why it matters for the final result.
• You have read the data sheet, not just the photo. Actual size, finish, thickness, rectified or not: these are the details that stand in for your eye and hand on a screen. How to read a porcelain tile data sheet helps you decode it.
• You are clear on how delivery and returns work. Delivery times, unloading arrangements, return conditions: these are things worth having clear from the start. How to order porcelain tiles online safely goes into the process in detail.
• You have assessed a sample, knowing what it can tell you and what it cannot. A physical sample lets you read the colour, texture and finish in the real light of your room, which a screen never renders faithfully. With one small note, which we cover in the next section.

The check that matters most online: one single order, the same batch

There is one check worth more than all the others put together, and it is also the one almost nobody explains. Porcelain tiles do not all come out of production identical: they vary slightly in shade (the colour nuance) and in calibre (the actual size). That is why they are grouped into batches, and each batch carries a shade and calibre code printed on the boxes.

The useful thing to know is simple. The sample you receive at home is there to assess the product: colour, texture and finish in the real light of your room, so you can tell whether it suits you. And for that it is perfect. What the sample is not — and does not need to be — is a millimetre-perfect copy of the shade of the delivery: the slight shade variation is a natural feature of porcelain tiles, and the material you receive will still be the very product you chose and approved. There is just one thing to watch, and it concerns the consistency of the delivery.

The knack is a single one: order the entire quantity you need in one go, wastage included. One single order means one single production batch, so a consistent shade and calibre across all the boxes and over the whole laid surface. That is why the quantity calculation and this check should be thought through together, before you confirm: online, it is best to order everything you need in one go, with complete peace of mind.

When the pallet arrives

The second point of control is the delivery. Here the points are few, but they should be done straight away, before opening up the job and above all before laying: once the tiles are laid, claims for visible defects are no longer accepted.

• Check the packages on delivery. Inspect the state of the packaging in front of the carrier and, if there is visible damage, sign with a written reservation, with a photo. This is the step that keeps the door open to a replacement.
• Check that it matches the order. Confirm that the size, effect, finish and quantity you have received are the ones you ordered.
• Compare the shade and calibre codes on the boxes. Before you start, make sure that all the boxes show the same shade and calibre code. This is the final proof that the "one single batch" from the previous section has worked. A good knack when laying is to draw tiles from several boxes at the same time, so that any tiny variations spread out evenly.

With these few checks done at the two right moments, buying at a distance shows what it is really capable of: all the convenience of choosing from home, with the same reassurance as the counter of a shop.