Jersey sizing, there has to be a better way...

Local bike stores never seem to stock all of the sizes of all of the variations of even a couple of brands of jerseys.  It seems like I'm forced to either drive all over creation to try on random jerseys (hoping for a good fit) or do what I just did:  go online and order 7 jerseys when I really only want a couple of new ones.  I figure I have to shop online, order a variety of sizes, just to see which ones end up feeling good and fitting well.  So far it seems like the more expensive the jersey the tighter the fit (makes sense as someone who would spend $200 on a jersey is probably pretty fit).  That wouldn't be so bad but then I can't even know what a "Pearl Izumi Large" is my size, it's just a guess.  I might be an extra large in the fancier jersey and a large in the basic one.

Isn't there a better way?  Amazon must love his conundrum...