Hello , firstly welcome to Architecture+Design Community! Yes, that's the challenge of sourcing materials online. I'm not sure where you are based, but in some countries, you could reject and return items and this is a huge relief.
In our part of the world, this is quite a herculean task to do. It's almost impossible to return goods so I personally prefer, sourcing out materials to confirm the actual finish before purchasing them.
RE: Sourcing materials?