Furniture buying advice?

tylerh1701

tylerh1701

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I'm just moving into my first place, and I don't have a lot of furniture. I'm looking for pretty much everything, from beds to couches and chairs to tables. I've been checking out Sunday ads to get estimated prices for most of these things, but does anybody have any advice on furniture buying?

Thanks. :)
 
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Buying furniture is a lot like buying a car. Never pay the sticker price -- all prices are negotiable.

Typical mark up on furniture is very high... so there is a lot of room, especially in the lower or middle tier stores. High end stores won't usually negotiate as much as they are used to a higher end clientele -- however these stores also offer in-home design services, which can be nice if you need help.

Lastly, check every store you can find -- often you will find the same brands in multiple locations. This just happened to me when I bought a sectional from a local store. Wife was all set to buy but I wanted to shop around a bit -- I called the company and found out that they sold the same furniture under a different name at another local store. I then put the two up against each other.

Final tip -- pay cash. Get the price negotiated to near what you want -- and then offer them a lower amount if they will take cash on the spot. I got my sectional down to $2700 pre tax and then I just made them an offer -- I offered them $2500 cash out the door and they took it.
 
i used to buy used furniture all the time for a living....
course i'd buy in the largest retirement community in florida (that's saying alot) called The Villages.... where i could get practically any piece of furniture, in high quality... in either new or nearly new condition... (i purchased alot from model homes...)
anyways... my point is.... if you live near any wealthy areas..... and you have a truck or don't mind renting a cheap moving truck (like 20$ a hour) you could get all you need for a steal....... just go out on a weekend morning and see if you notice any yard sale signs ... make sure to bring a wad of cash....
 
This may be some crappy advice, but thrift stores, goodwills, and yard sales are places you can get furniture for really cheap. We recently bought a couch and two recliners for about $100 (practically new condition) at a yard sale. Check the newspaper for yardsales while you look at those ads and maybe visit thrift stores and such. :) Hope this will help you, and congrats on your first place.
 
Thanks, I'm planning to check out Ikea here soon, I've heard good things.

I actually went to a thrift store yesterday to see what they had. They had a few nice table sets and stuff, but just now what I was looking for. I'll probably check out a couple more as well.
 
Not that it's a "hidden gem", but I'm a big fan of furniture shopping on craigslist. Small dealers and home owners are both listed and there are pictures and dimensions for everything so you don't waste time blindly shopping yard sales and used furniture stores. I also find you get much better quality for less money, plus you can find some really cool pieces, through craigslist than IKEA or retail furniture stores.
 
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Ashley Furniture just ended their promo where they sell you a living room set for $1K. The sales dude I spoke to Said the deal will be back on labor day.
 
Ended up getting a couch for $400 and a bedroom set for $600. I wouldn't call either of them "good deals" but I'm happy with both. Bought them from the major local furniture retailer (called RC Willey). Still need to get:

A nice TV (thinking about a 51" Samsung Plasma from Amazon),
Mattress (pain in the ass, I have no idea how to buy a mattress)
TV Stand (found an awesome one clearanced at BB for $100 until they looked in the back, found out it was mistagged and wanted $238 for it).
Computer Desk
 
[quote name='tylerh1701']Ended up getting a couch for $400 and a bedroom set for $600. I wouldn't call either of them "good deals" but I'm happy with both. Bought them from the major local furniture retailer (called RC Willey). Still need to get:

A nice TV (thinking about a 51" Samsung Plasma from Amazon),
Mattress (pain in the ass, I have no idea how to buy a mattress)
TV Stand (found an awesome one clearanced at BB for $100 until they looked in the back, found out it was mistagged and wanted $238 for it).
Computer Desk[/QUOTE]

My advice for buying a mattress is, don't buy one at a mattress store, like Sleepy's. Usually you'll end up alone in the store with an incredibly pushy, desperate salesman who will try to sell you the moon (while saying "I'm not trying to sell you the moon here" more times than you can count.) If you go in wanting to spend $X they'll try to tell you anything sub $2X is crap and railroad you into buying their favorite high-margin cash cow. It's probably the same at department stores.

This sounds weird, but if you have a local Big Lots, check there. They have name brands (Serta) and there's none of the BS of dealing with salespeople and trying to negotiate what should be a simple, straightforward purchase. Of course, they won't deliver. so there's that.

Hope that info helps.

Also you shouldn't take that kind of crap from BB, "mistagged" is a lame excuse and it's usually not that hard to get your way in such situations.
 
[quote name='StryderOmega']People still buy plasmas? Lol[/QUOTE]

They still manufacture them, don't they?

[quote name='N3UROP0D']My advice for buying a mattress is, don't buy one at a mattress store, like Sleepy's. Usually you'll end up alone in the store with an incredibly pushy, desperate salesman who will try to sell you the moon (while saying "I'm not trying to sell you the moon here" more times than you can count.) If you go in wanting to spend $X they'll try to tell you anything sub $2X is crap and railroad you into buying their favorite high-margin cash cow. It's probably the same at department stores.

This sounds weird, but if you have a local Big Lots, check there. They have name brands (Serta) and there's none of the BS of dealing with salespeople and trying to negotiate what should be a simple, straightforward purchase. Of course, they won't deliver. so there's that.

Hope that info helps.

Also you shouldn't take that kind of crap from BB, "mistagged" is a lame excuse and it's usually not that hard to get your way in such situations.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the advice, I've had lots of Big Lots recommendations, I'll definitely stop in one here soon.

Yeah, I asked if they could match the price at BB since it was mistagged but they said "No, because it was too big of a difference", whatever the hell that means. I guess I probably should have pushed it further and asked to talk to a manager, but by that time I had already wasted 25 minutes in the store and was late to where I needed to be, so I just walked out. I've had prior experience with the managers at that specific Best Buy and have had zero luck, they're pretty much dicks.

It kills me that Best Buy has had such good gaming deals of late, because I really don't like giving them my money. The customer service at my local store is just god-awful.
 
I suppose they do, but why would you want a plasma when LEDs are out and produce better color than a plasma without the horrid glare issue?
 
[quote name='StryderOmega']People still buy plasmas? Lol[/QUOTE]

People still like crappy blacks on LCD? Lol

See, we can do it too, except I can use logic in my discussion. Can you?
 
[quote name='StryderOmega']I suppose they do, but why would you want a plasma when LEDs are out and produce better color than a plasma without the horrid glare issue?[/QUOTE]

LEDs don't produce better color or black levels than plasma. LED's also lag far more than plasmas on top of that. I can go into a full list of problems LEDs have over plasmas but why bother?
 
If you really want to save money, you can do what I did for my first dorm-room couch: browse the street curbs (and/or Craigslist's "Free" section) for furniture that people are throwing out. You probably won't get anything very nice, and you'll want to clean it thoroughly, but I suppose the same goes for buying used furniture at a thrift store, so you might as well get it free if you can.

The best time to do this is around the start or end of a semester, if you live near one or more universities. Browse the student residential areas, where you find block after block of ~5 bedroom houses that college students rent together, and you'll find plenty of furniture sitting on curbs. It won't necessarily be in terrible shape, either; keep in mind that, in this situation, there are other motives for throwing it out than just "it's falling apart." If a college student is moving back to their home for the summer, or moving to a new job across the state/country, they will sometimes throw out usable furniture just because of the hassle / space constraints involved in moving it so far.

People also routinely sell old furniture on Craigslist for very cheap (yard sale prices), say $10 for a couch, $20 for a kitchen table+chairs maybe.
 
[quote name='Paco']LEDs don't produce better color or black levels than plasma. LED's also lag far more than plasmas on top of that. I can go into a full list of problems LEDs have over plasmas but why bother?[/QUOTE]

Yeah, definitely not the right thread for it...but I'll be buying plasmas until they're no longer available. (Haha @ LED/LCD being "better".)

On-topic, Craigslist is definitely worth a look if you don't mind used. ANd like others mentioned, ALWAYS haggle/negotiate at furniture stores. Especially if you have cash ready to go. If you could have the cash that day, you can work out a nice deal!
 
Out of curiosity / for future reference.. by "cash," do you guys literally mean a handful of bills? I know a lot of people use "cash" as a synonym for writing a check, but I can see how having no paper trail could net you a better deal.
 
[quote name='Josh1billion']The best time to do this is around the start or end of a semester, if you live near one or more universities. Browse the student residential areas, where you find block after block of ~5 bedroom houses that college students rent together, and you'll find plenty of furniture sitting on curbs. It won't necessarily be in terrible shape, either; keep in mind that, in this situation, there are other motives for throwing it out than just "it's falling apart." If a college student is moving back to their home for the summer, or moving to a new job across the state/country, they will sometimes throw out usable furniture just because of the hassle / space constraints involved in moving it so far.
[/QUOTE]

They may also be throwing it out because they know what their dormmates did on it...
 
[quote name='Josh1billion']Out of curiosity / for future reference.. by "cash," do you guys literally mean a handful of bills? I know a lot of people use "cash" as a synonym for writing a check, but I can see how having no paper trail could net you a better deal.[/QUOTE]

cash as in bills because of what you said. I thought only asians did it.

It's been mentioned but a lot of the small independent stores sell the same furniture from Coasters, Home Elegance, Ashley. Comparing online prices to store prices should give you an idea of how much stores mark it up. I think the smaller the physical store, the more they're willing to negotiate since they're not paying the rent on a showroom.

Tip for general furniture shopping: always measure the room so that you know if the furniture will fit. I didn't have those in hand when I went shopping so my sofa set is a bit big for my living room.
 
I was shopping around for furniture but all the stores of course want ridiculously marked up prices so I just got some decent crap off craigslist. Got a couch and recliner for $280. Obviously not the best but there's nothing wrong with them either.

As for a TV I got a 55" 3D Toshiba at Amazon Warehouse back in March I think it was for $740. Works like a champ and great quality. Took quite awhile for one that good at that low of a price to pop up though. Stalked the Warehouse for a week or so before finding it and even then I think it was mostly luck.

edit: Just looking at AWD prices on TVs now I can already tell that prices are still dropping considerably even from when I got mine.
For example right now theres a 47" LG 3D 1080p blah blah blah for $590. There was no such thing for that price when I was looking back in March. Maybe wait until Black Friday and get something ridiculously cheap.
 
Thanks for all the input guys, both on the TV and the furniture. I'm really thinking this is the TV for me, but I haven't quite 100% decided yet.

Waiting for Black Friday would probably be a smart idea, but the only other TV I've got is a 39" Sanyo that I don't love, and I don't think I can hold out 3 more months without an upgrade. And apparently Samsung and Sony are both pulling some shady ass shit where they're not allowing retailers to put their TVs on sale.
 
[quote name='Josh1billion']Out of curiosity / for future reference.. by "cash," do you guys literally mean a handful of bills? I know a lot of people use "cash" as a synonym for writing a check, but I can see how having no paper trail could net you a better deal.[/QUOTE]

I definitely meant cash as "paper money".

Negotiate on the big ticket item until you are at a pretty good price...AND THEN mention you'd be paying straight cash and that you know they can cut the price further.
 
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