How Much Mark-up On Furniture?

[olds]

Anyone here work in a furniture store? I am looking to buy an oak entertainment center. The designs run between $1700 - $2400, retail. What is a fair price to offer so that the sales person gets their share and I get a deal? Man, I hate paying retail. TIA

 

[ImTyping]

Then don't pay retail. People upgrade this stuff all the time. Look in the paper or online to get one used. If you want to spend that kinda money on a real wood entertainment center, a used one can actually look better than a new one...if it ages gracefully. I have a couple of dressers that are over a hundred years old...and they are still used daily. Look better than they did 20 years ago, too.

 

[db]

Go to an estate sale. You can get great furniture for cheap.

 

[Pikachu]

Just went through the same BS you're talking about. It's marked up tremendously. First thing to do is decide if this is going to be heirloom quality, something to be handed down from generation to generation, or something to fill a niche for a decade or two. In the case of an entertainment center, heirloom quality stuff, like Statton (my favorite), would cost about $7,000 for a couple pieces. I bailed on that quality for a lowly entertainment center.

The price for utilitarian units ranges pretty high too. Seems a shame to waste too many thousands on something that will be replaced in a decade or two, when the same money could be invested in heirloom quality pieces. I'd say $2,000 is pretty high. I'd expect a really decent cabinet for that much. You can halve that price and still get a good unit. Believe it or not, I found that JC Penney was competitive when their stuff was on sale. We almost got a Riverside unit from them. If I had it to do over, I would buy one of those.

Shop for the lowest price you can find on the web. You'll see that by the time you add shipping, the local guys can compete. You have to know the prices ahead of time, though. Shop around locally, find something you like, then look for it on-line. Send out emails for quotes from stores across the country. I sent 14 emails out for a gas log set and got at least 8 replies via email or phone messages. Prices ranged from $475.00 to $625.00 for the exact same set! Furniture is even worse, but I think you'll be able to get a local guy to work with you.

Edit: Good points about estate sales, but be careful of those. I was surprised to find that some so called Estate Sales were just a rouse. They're actually just fly by night operations selling junk. There are stores that really do buy out estates. If you're patient, you could get super quality stuff from there. We just walked away with a barely used Lloyd Flanders furniture set for $1,400 from such a store. Don't even think that you would be able to do that when you actually need the stuff. And the chances of finding a high quality entertainment center might be tuff. Those have only been around for the last 15 years or so. TVs have gotten much bigger since then, so make sure you get one that's big enough and won't sag from a WEGA or whatever

 

[olds]

I am just looking for somethig "middle of the road". No $199 KMart units and no $7000 heirlooms. I'll check out that link after dinner. Thanks.

 

[richardycc]

about 300% mark up. I was looking at an entertainment center awhile ago, and the MSRP was around 1299$, and the store was willing to sell it for 999$, and while the clerk was looking up the MSRP price, I saw their cost, and it was around 350$ (plus delievery).

Richard

 

[Passions]

goto home depot and make it urself.

 

[Pikachu]

There ya go, BOBBY RIBS has the right idea. When you look at a piece, ask yourself how much you could build it for. How many hours would it take to do from start to finish? And that finish better be nice too, cause that's what sells the stuff. The companies that build the cheapy furniture pay a fortune for the machines that lay that finish on those garbage pieces and still make them look passable. Those machines lay on the conditioner, color and polyurethane all in one pass. I've heard that some of the wood panels and other parts are shipped out to Mexico to be finished and shipped back for assembly here. They use every trick in the book to keep costs down. Most folks don't want to pay the freight for true craftsmanship.