Careful where you buy your swords online, many carry cheap pakistani crap, plastic hardware, and even worse......cast metal alloys (YUCK) They look good on a website, but once you hold it in your hand you'll quickly realize why it was such a good deal.
Then there are the many swords that while they are steel and even through tempered....their 440 stainless that does not sharpen well, they still have cheap hardware, they're too hard.. so they will snap if actually used. (You do NOT want a sword to be through tempered to the hardness of a good pocket knife, or fixed blade.....two completely different things. They can be hard and sharp but very brittle and will very likely snap and possibly hurt you when used for cutting)...and they weigh about twice as much as a real sword to make up for poor quality steal and bad tempering. These will make decent wall hangers but can not be used for cutting, or martial arts.
Also careful where you read up.....many forums on web are affiliated with companies (with no mention of this), so they pretty much are there for the purpose of promoting certain companies wether or not they make a good product.
I suppose it depends on your use. Most people who buy swords just want a wall hanger. Very few people who even say they love swords seem to understand what to really look for, and what is "authentic".....martial artists tend to be the most informed (both western and eastern arts)......and even they sometimes think Katanas should cut through steel & concrete, and that claymore's weighed freakin 6lbs, or that you can grab a rapier with your hand and other Hollywood Fairy tales. (I have never seen one sword fight in a movie that was accurate, you do not slam blade edge to blade edge unless you hate your sword)...........I suggest you keep two things in mind if you really want to collect swords. Read as much as possible (peferably books not web sites). Find out as much about the steel used by any company for each blade (one company may use 6-7 diferent steels for different swords). Find out as much as possible about their tempering process.......;the steel, and tempering will tell you the quality of the blade. Only holding one will tell you the balance, and quality of the sword.