Computer-based method and system for providing guidance to a purchaser for selecting an appliance that generally requires venting are provided. The guidance includes recommendations regarding a venting arrangement for the appliance. The method allows providing a database for storing appliance-related information that includes a respective identifier for each appliance. The appliance-related information further includes venting requirements data for each appliance. A vent wizard is configured to provide a set of prompts over a communications network to elicit information from the purchaser regarding a respective appliance of interest to the purchaser, and vent parameters for the venting arrangement for the appliance. The database is accessed in view of the information supplied by the purchaser. The information supplied by the purchaser is processed relative to the vent requirements data for the appliance of interest to determine a recommendation to the purchaser regarding suitability of the venting arrangement relative to the appliance of interest. The recommendation is transmitted to the purchaser so that the purchaser may take appropriate action regarding the selection of the appliance and/or venting arrangement.