You ever wonder about the mark up on furniture?

[Jon99]

We have been buying a bunch of new furniture for out house, today went looking for a couple of end tables and found a set of Broyhills. Two tables, first two places we checked were $599 and $579, finally went back to the place we have bought all of our stuff so far and he shot us a price of $310, he quietly mentioned that he was making $100 on the deal and he was happy.. So these stores are buying the stuff for $200 and selling them for 3 times that!

 

[tar heel]

The standard mark-up on namebrand furniture is 200%, so a store can "discount" heavily from retail and still make a handsome profit.

 

[dreamalittledream]

yep, I worked retail for a while. list is about 3x the cost on most brands. so if you can get 30- 40 % off list price, you are doing good. if you get more, that is great. the key is to look at the list price and make sure it is not inflated to make the % off look better.

some stores can buy from the manufacturer at deeper discounts by the volume they purchase. this may get you a better deal.

also, you have to think of the costs of overhead, staff, delivery, (any added charges they do have don't really cover the costs of a warehouse, men and trucks) so there is profit margin there but it is not as much as you think.

also ask to pay cash, you may get a deal, maybe another 3-5% more. If they don't have to pay the Credit Card company the charges to use a card, it saves them money too.

 

[ZuZugal]

I heard that the biggest markups in retail are furniture and jewelry...and I believe it!!

 

[mtblujeans]

We are doing some costly maintenance around the house this summer (painting, replacing windows and doors, etc) It must be getting to DH because has gotten so he sits through commercials and says "I wonder what their markup is"...."I wonder what their markup is"....

 

[tinan]

Yep.......we have often wondered exactly how high of a markup furniture has had, we knew it was definitely over 100% and believe the over 200%. Which is why we refuse to buy new! Almost all of our furniture has come from people advertising in the paper or auctions. My favorite is auctions and I have landed some great deals through them Our bedroom suite retailed for $2,000 and what did we pay..............a whopping $350. One of our living room suits was like brand new Lazy Boy double recliner couch and double recliner loveseat we picked up for a total of $300. Granted there are days that I go to an auction and things just don't work out, but you keep looking and eventually find what you want at the price you want it. It all depends on who is at the auction and how high they are willing to go. I've seen suites go for much more of a lower quality, but I have also seen things go for dirt cheap. It just takes a little patience and if you're willing to have something used.

 

[Jon99]

The place we bought this furniture is unreal, I will guarantee that nobody on this board has seen anything like it. The store is impossible to describe, but its safe to say they haven't put money into the building in 50 years. There are no showrooms, just furniture stacked to the ceilings. The stairs are too scarey for some people to walk on, they don't keep the lights if they don't have to, instead of fixing leaks in the roof, they line the ceilings with giant sheets of plastic. They guy actually prefers if you find what you like, then give him the product numbers and he gets you the price. But he always saves us at least 30%-40%..

 

[KerriL]

We buy all our furniture from North Carolina. Even when we figure in the freight costs, it is still less expensive than any retailer around here.