A glitch in the matrix of online shopping

Or: why I reverse-image-search before buying anything

This is a story that begins with a lamp — though in hindsight, I’m not sure exactly which lamp I saw first.

The lamp I purchased was called the “Evelyn & Zoe”: a generic sort of floor light with a big drum shade that Walmart.com sold for $86. But before I found the Walmart lamp, I’d seen an identical product on Macys.com that currently sells under the br…