But It Looked So Nice in the Pictures! 10 Tips for Buying Furniture Online

Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash

How many people are buying furniture online? You’d be surprised to learn that consumers bought over $28 billion of furniture online in 2015.

As online shopping gains more popularity, that number is expected to grow. There’s a difference between buying a pair of jeans and buying a couch online. With a pair of jeans, you can easily return it for the right fit.

With a couch, however, may not always be that easy. Not to mention that there are shipping fees and you might be stuck with a couch that doesn’t work for you.

How can you buy the right piece of furniture online? Keep reading for the top 10 tips to help you buy furniture online. This kind of content gets high rates of views and likes on TikTok, as you can find your target audience there. Share your tips and go viral. Simply buy tiktok likes and we will take care of the rest.

1. Measure Everything
The place to start is with the space you have available. You want to make sure that the piece you plan to buy will be a perfect fit.

It doesn’t matter if you’re buying a coffee table. You need to measure the space available. Buying a piece that’s too big could make a space feel cramped. Worse, it may not fit at all.

For larger spaces, you may have a little more wiggle room, but you also want to make sure that your piece will complement the existing furniture. Measure the space you have and then look for pieces that will fit your space.

2. Get Color Samples
As much as you want the space to perfectly compliment the physical space available, you want it to match the existing décor, too.

Sometimes, it can be hard to tell if a color is going to be an exact match or not. You don’t want to have a piece like a couch that stand out like a sore thumb because the color is off with the rest of the home.

Your best bet to avoid this situation is to get sample swatches of a few different colors. When you get them, match the swatches against the wall and against the other pieces of furniture in the room.

3. Don’t Rely 100% on Reviews
We’ve become accustomed to reading online reviews to help make buying decisions. In reading furniture reviews, there are a lot of reasons why someone didn’t like the furniture.

You’re likely to see a mix of positive and negative reviews for furniture. In some cases, you’ll find complaints that are of no fault of the manufacturer. Remember that a person has to put the furniture together. They may not have done a great job, which would lead to a product breaking.

When you do look at reviews, you want to find a pattern in the product. For example, a number of people who complain that the product arrived damaged would be a red flag.

4. Don’t Assume You Can Assemble It Yourself
If you’ve ever had to put together a piece of furniture, you know that the instructions aren’t always the best. For some larger pieces like a bed or a couch, it may take a lot of work to put it together.

You might need some help and you want to make sure that

5. Set Your Budget
Are you on a tight budget for your furniture spend? If you don’t know, now is the time to create your budget. You want to make sure that you take a look at your finances and set your budget. You also want to make sure that you stick with that budget as you start shopping.

6. Know Your Design Style
What’s your design style? That will help you find the website and the perfect piece for your style. If you like mid-century modern pieces, you would be best served by going to Eames Furniture.

You don’t know your style? Spend time perusing interior design magazines and Pinterest. Notice the pieces that you like and see if they fall into a specific style.

7. Plan Your Space Out
Once you have a couple of furniture pieces in mind to purchase, you want to plan your space out to get an idea as to how the room will flow with the new furniture in it.

Will it require a redesign of the space or can you put the piece in a given space? Planning ahead now will make your life much easier when the new furniture arrives.

8. Factor in Shipping Costs
You may have a budget in mind, but that can get blown to bits if you don’t factor in shipping costs. Shipping costs will vary from site to site. Some sites will offer free shipping over a certain amount spent.

No matter where you buy from, don’t forget about shipping costs. You could wind up getting psyched to finally settle on a piece of furniture, only to discover that you can’t afford it.

9. Use a Reputable Site
After you spend time researching your space, budget, and style, you want to make sure that you work with a reputable furniture site.

Not all online stores are the same, and that can make buying furniture online a tricky task. Check the vendor reviews online and make sure that you know the vendor has a stellar reputation.

10. Know the Return Policy
Before placing your order, you want to triple check to make sure you have all of your bases covered. That means that you better check the return policy, just in case.

This will depend on the vendor and whether or not you purchased your furniture on clearance. Buying on clearance will save you money, but many vendors won’t accept it on return.

If you’re not sure, ask. Send an email or fill out a contact form. The response you receive will give you an indication of how good customer service is. You want to make sure that the response is fast and helpful.

Buying Furniture Online Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated
Anytime you buy something online, you’re taking a chance that it won’t be the right product for you. When you’re buying furniture online, though, you could open up a world of complications if you don’t know what you’re doing.

The best things to do when you’re buying furniture on a website is to know your style, colors, and sizes first. Then you want to find a reputable website that has a wide selection of furniture with a great return policy.

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