“Where Do I Buy Modern Furniture Online?” – A Guide

“Just because you can buy it online doesn’t mean you should.” — useful advice my mom tried to give me once. It was regarding a pair of sunglasses I found on Instagram, and — huge surprise — she was right. Ultimately, the mistake cost me forty bucks and didn’t solve my sunglass problem (they snapped in two as soon as I laid eyes upon them). Had I put even a cursory amount of effort into interrogating the make, shipping, and company itself… well, I’d have scrolled on by and invested that $40 into a better pair of sunnies. Hindsight is 20/20. I’m just relieved it was a $40 pair of trendy sunglasses and not a $2500 couch. To help you avoid the rickety cat-eye equivalent of a sofa, I built this guide to answer the question: where do I buy modern furniture online?

Read the About the Company; Do Your Research

A company’s About Page doesn’t just spin a marketing yarn. It gives you clues as to the level of care and expertise a company has, and often their commitment to quality. An About Page is a company’s defacto resume. If you notice that there are spelling errors, strange syntax, or they have a strange email address (hard_kickin_canadian190@hotmail.com is not an inspiring support tag*) … consider whether their lackadaisical approach extends to furniture quality.

TLDR: “Where do I buy furniture online?” — Somewhere with an intelligible “About” page. 

*If their support address is in fact hard_kickin_canadian190@hotmail.com, definitely don’t send them any money.

Cross Reference Online Reviews with Social Media.

Reviews are the compass of the internet. A product can look incredible when it’s photographed professionally. Bright lights, white backdrop, extensive photoshop treatment — it’s the Facetune equivalent of product photography. When you come across a piece you’re really excited about, start looking for photos of it in-situ. Instagram and Pinterest are obviously amazing for this. Not only can you get a look at the product without the studio-effect, you might even be able to ask a few questions of the owner. Just be on the lookout for filters. We can’t speak for other companies, but when you’re looking at the color of an Article piece, the representation on our own website will be more accurate than a customer photo.

When you’re looking through Instagram especially, be mindful of sponsored posts. Sponsored posts can be really great when the person or influencer is discerning about who they work with. When an influencer isn’t careful about who they align their brand with, they can unwittingly inspire purchases that aren’t… well… good investments.

Social platforms like Facebook and Instagram require anyone featuring paid or trade content to disclose the transactional nature of their review within the caption. Keep an eye out for #ad in post-captions. Just because you come across the # doesn’t necessarily negate the opinion of the poster. It should however, prompt some closer scrutiny.

Reseller and well-respected design sites are also great sources. Sites like Reseller Ratings, Houzz, and Quora feature customer reviews of a huge variety of brands. Modern decor & design sites, such as Apartment Therapy, more typically go the route of testing products in-house. These proverbial test-drives can be more informative in terms of quality considerations, but overall lifestyle is a factor too. If you’re looking for a couch for a rambunctious family, the first three sites we mentioned are more likely to have anecdotes that speak to your experience.

TLDR: “Where do I buy furniture online?” — From a company that has good ratings across re-seller sites, and a productive relationship with their social following.

Understand the Return Policy

A good return policy is a balm. It soothes your purchase anxiety with the knowledge that you are allowed to change your mind. However, not all return policies are created equal. Some are saintly. Some are decidedly not. When you’re buying from an online retailer, the return-policy needs to be both angelic and logistically sound. We recommend you check it before adding a single thing to cart; a truly Instagrammable couch can be very persuasive.

A return policy that best serves an online-purchase is one that lets the product live with you for at least a few weeks. A five-day turnaround isn’t enough time to really understand how your piece interacts with your home and lifestyle. If you buy a chair that you’d specifically intended to spend long, rainy afternoons reading in… you want to road test it (SweetBitter by Stephanie Danler is a real page turner). If you hit chapter 18 and are experiencing a back ache, the chair hasn’t hit its key performance indicators. Fire it.

Next up, you want to look at the shipping expectations. Are you expected to cover the shipping costs? What are the packaging expectations? How will you get this thing to the post office? Some businesses (Article included!) subsidize shipping costs. While that doesn’t guarantee you’re off the hook in paying some return-postage charges, it definitely means you will pay less. If you’re ordering from a traditional retailer — the kind that you can field test pre-purchase — shipping is typically not subsidized. Not only are you paying for a heavy item to be shipped one way, you may be responsible for shipping it back. Lame.

TLDR: “Where do I buy furniture online?” — When in doubt, look for a water-tight return policy (and don’t forget to consider shipping costs!).

Understanding Warranties

They can be so useful and protective. They can be so persnickety and specific. Depending on your chosen retailer, your furniture will either be under warranty from the business itself (if its manufactured by the same company you’re purchasing from) or by the manufacturer that the business licenses designs from. When ordering from a company that produces in-house, a warranty of one to five years should be expected. If a company is licensing designs from a manufacturer, that company is beholden to the warranties set by said manufacturer. A good rule of thumb is to expect about one year from the time of consumer-purchase. Warranties cover defects in materials and workmanship that are the fault of the manufacturer. If your furniture has considerably lower-quality fabric than expected, or breaks without due stress (like, you haven’t used it for years), that’s a warranty issue.

TLDR: “Where do I buy furniture online?” — Depending on how the furniture is produced (in-house vs. overseas) the warranty will differ. Does it cover all your needs?

Shipping Costs

Humblebrag: Article’s shipping is great. We worked hard to make it that way. As mentioned above, we subsidize ours by offering a flat rate fee because we know that a high shipping cost can make or break an order. It makes the difference between feeling like you got great value, and feeling like you got ripped off. Rationalizing a decision you’re already emotionally tied to is easy. Waiting for 3 months to receive a new bed frame is hard. And annoying. When you’re looking to order furniture for your home, try to ascertain the shipping cost before you find anything you like too much.

One further point: if you live in a third-story apartment, consider springing for a white-glove set-up service. Hauling your shipment up three flights of stairs is a daunting task when you have a buddy on-hand — let alone when it’s 2PM on a Wednesday afternoon and you’re home alone. Plus, you won’t have to worry about dinging your drywall.

TLDR: “Where do I buy furniture online?” — Look for subsidized shipping; pay for the white-glove upgrade (your walls will thank you).

Customer Care

It’s every company’s sincerest hope that you don’t need to speak to customer care. That means you have had a visit free from the plague of uncertainty, that every interaction with the online shop was clear and precise, and the online experience was so realistic you actually got the feel of the products by way of our super-high-res product photography.

Of course, that’s not a reasonable expectation. A crack customer-care team should be a top priority when you’re vetting your online-retailers. When you’re reading reviews, look for specific call-outs to customer-service reps. Additionally, check a company’s social media presence to see if frustrated customers are taking to the comments in an effort to be heard.

Lastly, if you’re stuck between a few color or fabric options, customer care teams can usually send swatch samples to your home. Our team is happy to shoot them along free of charge. Want one of your own? Get in touch!

TLDR: “Where do I buy furniture online?” — From a company with a really, really awesome customer service team.

Ascertaining Quality

How a product makes you feel is important. How a product feels is important. Unfortunately, technology has not taken us to a place where we can transcend the time/space continuum to offer in-home immersive experiences. What we can do — and what all good online retailers do — is give comprehensive information about our materials and construction. When you’re looking at a beautiful piece of furniture, check for the following factors:

• Fabric. When you’re looking at an upholstered piece, ask yourself whether it will be highly trafficked. The more use the furniture gets, the higher-performance the fabric must be. While natural fibres such as cotton or linen are typically better looking, they sometimes don’t stand up to long-term wear. Man-made fabrics, like polyester, can significantly increase the lifespan of your furniture. Get the best of both worlds: pick a fabric that features a mixture of both.
• Corner blocking. A corner-block is a piece of wood at a piece’s joints. The additional piece helps to improve frame-stability, and makes for a much longer lifespan. Cheap furniture makers skip this step to save time… but produce a rickety chair.
• Measurements. How can you buy a piece of furniture without knowing its size? Make sure that your chosen piece has good specs listed (including depth if you’re getting a chair or sofa), and measure your space (including your doorways and elevators!) before placing your order.
• Hardwood. The best furniture is made from solid wood, or from plywood with at least 8 layers. Cheap, synthetic veneers, or thin layers are susceptible to warping or bending with even slight pressure.

TLDR: “Where do I buy furniture online?” — From a retailer that offers in-depth product knowledge, right on their website.

Buying furniture online is a bigger commitment than a nice pair of shoes. We built this list to help you make informed choices when looking at web-based furniture presences. We also wanted to low-key point out that our return policy and our customer care teams are really, really great. If a company is worth your money, they should be able to put you at ease about the quality, style, and durability of their pieces.

(Love the style in our featured photo? Energy healer Bridget Ambrose has a peaceful personality and great style. Her Cigar sofa is sturdy, comfy, and upholstered with premium Italian leather).