chinaco
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2007
- Messages
- 5,072
When DW and I bought a new house back in 2000, and we needed to furnish it. Most of our existing furniture was, shall we say, fully depreciated!
At the time, I got a good tip from an accountant I know. Side note: Good old accountants know how to squeeze a nickle till the buffalo Sh#ts. Anyway, the tip was to purchase our furniture from North Carolina directly. This probably will not be viable for folks west of the mississippi, but for the midwest and east coast, it works well.
We saved about 25% on average. You can save as much as about 30% depending on the manufacturer. This was compared to the best negotitated price I could get locally on the exact same stuff. The only caveat is that some furniture manufacturers have limited the practice (by imposing minimum prices) so thier local dealer do not get undercut. However, many manufacturers do not care. Some of them high quality furniture manufacturers.
The way it works is:
1) find a furniture dealer in NC ( cities are Highpoint, Hickory, Lenior)... do your homework! I chose the dealer my accountant friends had used so I was confident we would not get scr3wed. Plus DW and I stopped by to check the place out on the way back from vacation to the Outer Banks that year. (Yes... I am careful)
2) Check local stores to see what the furniture looks like and got a local negiotiated price for a baseline. The local store have the coverings for chairs and sofas, the furniture finishes, etc... Looking at picture does not cut it... You need to see it.... sometimes shading can be decieving.
3) Call the store and order. We purchased using credit card just in case there were unexpected problems. Some will offer lower prices for cash... but we felt the savings was not worth the risk. (i know i know... they are not supposed to do that).
4) You may have to wait for the furniture to be ordered and manufactured in some cases. No choice if you are getting custom coverings on sofas, etc.
5) They will setup the deliver (for a nominal fee). They send trucks all over the place. Usually a Semi with multiple orders. They make delivers along the way. The crew will unpackage the furniture, let you inspect it and put it in your house. We had a couple of damaged items. Sent it back and they delivered the replacement about a month later... no problems.
The first time, it took a bit of a leap of faith for us since we usually purchase this sort of thing locally... but since my friends were successful and had praise for the company, we did it.
We wound up placing about 3 large orders with the company. First one was $10k, then two for about $5k each. [Update] We made the first purchase at the store (on vacation). The two subsequent purchases we made over the phone. Like HB
Bottom line: It works! We spent about $20k (delivery and all). If we had purchased locally it would have been closer to $27k. I kept track of my local negotiated prices and what we paid.
If we are purchasing only one item, we do it locally. But for any sizable purchase, it makes sense to buy direct.
At the time, I got a good tip from an accountant I know. Side note: Good old accountants know how to squeeze a nickle till the buffalo Sh#ts. Anyway, the tip was to purchase our furniture from North Carolina directly. This probably will not be viable for folks west of the mississippi, but for the midwest and east coast, it works well.
We saved about 25% on average. You can save as much as about 30% depending on the manufacturer. This was compared to the best negotitated price I could get locally on the exact same stuff. The only caveat is that some furniture manufacturers have limited the practice (by imposing minimum prices) so thier local dealer do not get undercut. However, many manufacturers do not care. Some of them high quality furniture manufacturers.
The way it works is:
1) find a furniture dealer in NC ( cities are Highpoint, Hickory, Lenior)... do your homework! I chose the dealer my accountant friends had used so I was confident we would not get scr3wed. Plus DW and I stopped by to check the place out on the way back from vacation to the Outer Banks that year. (Yes... I am careful)
2) Check local stores to see what the furniture looks like and got a local negiotiated price for a baseline. The local store have the coverings for chairs and sofas, the furniture finishes, etc... Looking at picture does not cut it... You need to see it.... sometimes shading can be decieving.
3) Call the store and order. We purchased using credit card just in case there were unexpected problems. Some will offer lower prices for cash... but we felt the savings was not worth the risk. (i know i know... they are not supposed to do that).
4) You may have to wait for the furniture to be ordered and manufactured in some cases. No choice if you are getting custom coverings on sofas, etc.
5) They will setup the deliver (for a nominal fee). They send trucks all over the place. Usually a Semi with multiple orders. They make delivers along the way. The crew will unpackage the furniture, let you inspect it and put it in your house. We had a couple of damaged items. Sent it back and they delivered the replacement about a month later... no problems.
The first time, it took a bit of a leap of faith for us since we usually purchase this sort of thing locally... but since my friends were successful and had praise for the company, we did it.
We wound up placing about 3 large orders with the company. First one was $10k, then two for about $5k each. [Update] We made the first purchase at the store (on vacation). The two subsequent purchases we made over the phone. Like HB
Bottom line: It works! We spent about $20k (delivery and all). If we had purchased locally it would have been closer to $27k. I kept track of my local negotiated prices and what we paid.
If we are purchasing only one item, we do it locally. But for any sizable purchase, it makes sense to buy direct.