How to find a product online when you don't know the name
Searching for items without knowing exact brand names or part numbers often returns irrelevant results or dead ends. This makes it nearly impossible to locate specific items like rare car parts or niche apparel, leaving shoppers stuck with no clear way forward.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Using AI search toolsDid this help you?
- 2Checking previous purchase history pagesDid this help you?
- 3Using image search with screenshotsDid this help you?
- 4Asking custom creators to make a replicaDid this help you?
- 5Measure the shaft diameter and outer diameter to find a compatible alternative at a bearing supply shop.Did this help you?
- 6Searching on Google imagesDid this help you?
- 7Sending a picture to school maintenance to check storageDid this help you?
- 8guessing based on shape and sizeDid this help you?
- 9asking online communities for identification helpDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I know this might be a long shot. I didn’t save the packaging and this is my cats’ favorite treats”source ↗
“I have a bunch of those little hook things that go on the top of the whiteboard. I use them for pictures, but I can’t get more since I don’t know what they’re called!”source ↗
“I have tried every search on the planet, including AI and all that ever comes up is the house divided shirts.”source ↗
“I've looked online, so far I can only find pumps without the pulley, and the local junk yard doesn't have my car. What are my options or am I out of them?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 14How to figure out what product to sell online
- 2Can't find specific parts on my dishwasher model
- 5How to find appliance model number when the label is missing
- 16Mystery part fell out during car repair — what is it?
- 6Why do website search results keep showing random, irrelevant stuff?
- 12Why is there no CRM with native AI insights out of the box?