I am tentatively looking for a new couch. Our current couch & loveseat are approximately 18 years old. They’re starting to show wear, especially the top cushions that the dogs stand on when they look out the windows, but they’re still comfy. They are always covered because of the dogs. It’s easier to wash a cover than wash a couch! The dogs make me hesitant. I know I’ll have to keep a new couch covered so then I’m not really enjoying a new piece of furniture. I don’t want to spend a lot of money because, once again, the dogs.
I looked at the local furniture stores’ websites. I found some couches that interested me; they were in the $1000 range. Then I looked at Amazon. I saw pretty much the same couches for half the price and free shipping. But I can’t sit on it to test it out before I buy it.
Has anyone here purchased a couch, chair, or loveseat from Amazon? Should I take a chance?
I got a free sofa (from the Amazon Vine program) many years ago. It’s still in excellent condition despite daily use with three people and two dogs. If you find one with many good reviews, it should be fine?
Wayfair.com is another good option for online furniture; I generally find it easier to browse and navigate there than on Amazon.
If I were shopping for furniture “to keep”, I’d still probably go local (Costco?), but you’re not going to beat the online super stores when hunting for something cheap and dog-friendly.
I would try to find the exact same couch you are looking at on Amazon at a local furniture store. If you were to purchase it from Amazon without sitting on it, you might be disappointed, and returning it after unboxing would be difficult. If you can’t find the exact couch anywhere, you can take your chances with Amazon, but remember that it’s cheaper on Amazon for a reason.
Cheaper many times means in construction. It may sit the same but will it hold up anywhere nearly as well as one from the B&M store? Feels comfy at first but lasts a year is no bargain.
For sure. Amazon left a 2K 170lb piano in our driveway. Umm… Help! Luckily I and my neighbor are friends. Shit, he was here in about 3 minutes. My wife may be diminutive, but she is very strong.
I said this in another thread.
At.
Least.
Ring.
The freaking Doorbell.
Hours later…
“Oh, there is a $2000 piano in our driveway” Hmmm. I guess it’s on me.
I guess that’s what you get when ordering from a company with notorious labor practices and razor-thin margins… if they rang the doorbell, they wouldn’t have had time to go pee in a bottle =/
I suppose the same piano could’ve been white-glove hand-delivered to the right room, set up and tuned, and cleaned up afterward… if you paid a local dealer 2x the price.
A lot depends on the reviews/comments - do the past buyers say the couch is too hard, too soft, flimsy, etc.? Of course comments can be fake, but the comments that are not complimentary should tell you plenty.
Furniture that you see on Amazon can often be google-image-searched where you can find the same piece at other websites (with more reviews).
I would say a family that contains one or more heavy/obese people should be more cautious than one where everyone is no worse than overweight. I say this out of experience, as an obese person, that cheaply made furniture will not support my weight for very many months before I start feeling the lumber inside when I sit down. Then I have to put another cushion (like a Japanese zabuton) or two on top of the regular sofa cushion in order to be comfortable.
I would also suggest that you examine the listing very carefully about the practical reality of returning the sofa and getting all your money back, especially if there are no actual faults in it but just if it does not feel comfortable to you.
This is in addition to the other excellent advice you have received from other posters. I think the best you can do, with all this advice, is to reduce rather than to eliminate the risk inherent to buying something online.
The problem with upholstered furniture is that it’s hard to tell anything about the construction by looking at it. Still, I think it’s valuable to go out and look at something like a couch or a sofa in person. How comfortable is it? How deep is it?
Yea, I keep thinking of the issue of not being able to test it out first. And I always read the ratings/reviews. The problem is that there will be 5 glowing reviews and 1 crappy review. I tend to at first side with the crappy review, but there’s only one so maybe the other five really do know what they’re talking about. It’s hard to know.
There are no obese people, just some big dogs - Great Dane 150#, German shepherd 100#, and a boxer 70#. So I guess all of them combined would make a pretty large person!
I’m going to have to roam around some of the local furniture stores and try to compare. But I hate being accosted by the sales person. I will also image search to see what I can find. I’ll take a look at Wayfair too.
Costco and Fred Meyer (if you have those) typically have furniture without salespeople. You can try them out without any pressure.
Also, generally the real furniture stores in my experience aren’t that high pressure either. It’s not like buying a car. They’ll come and check on you but you can just tell them you’re browsing and they’ll leave you be.