Over the years, Costco has made a name for itself as the go-to store for any need that the average American household may need. At Costco, you can not only lease cars and get your eyes checked, but you can also buy electronics, groceries, and even furniture.
And since everything sold at Costco is of great quality and is priced very well compared to the competition, to date, Costco has 111 million paying membership holders worldwide, some of which do their furniture shopping at the retailer.
Despite the affordable prices on a range of furniture sold at Costco, there are still some things customers need to be aware of, which is exactly what we’re going to cover in this article.
So, if you want to do a final bit of research before you buy a piece of furniture from Costco, continue reading.
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Things You Need To Know Before Buying Furniture From Costco
1) Everyday Is Furniture Sale Day At Costco
Believe it or not, there are no particular days where Costco puts its furniture stock on sale. That’s because the price of the furniture at the retailer is already super affordable due to their fixed price markup of just 14%.
When compared to the competition, for example, Walmart vs Costco, you’ll find that Walmart and other retailers mark up their furniture by at least 50%, and in some cases, 100% or even 200% when it comes to the higher-end furniture stores.
To give you a basic example, let’s imagine that you want to buy a sofa, which has cost Costco $600 to buy and display at their store. Now, let’s imagine that Costco’s competition has bought that same sofa at $600 too.
At Costco, with a markup of 14%, you’ll pay $684 whereas in a store with a markup of 100%, you’ll easily pay over $1200 for the very same sofa.
2) Costco Also Holds A Semi-Annual Sales On Its Furniture
Just when you thought you can save quite a bit of money by shopping for your furniture at Costco due to their low price markups, there are also semi-annual furniture sales that take place in-store and across the Costco website.
Most often, you’ll find that Costco puts its furniture on sale around the month of July. This is so that they can clear stock for their winter collection. The second guaranteed time of the year where Costco will put their furniture on sale is around Black Friday and the Christmas holidays.
They do that because everyone is in the mood for shopping and as a result, it can generate the retailer a lot of revenue.
3) Furniture From Costco Cannot Be Delivered
Costco has been known for its high-speed and impressive quality of delivery service, but sadly it cannot be applied when it comes to furniture.
Since Costco doesn’t deliver furniture, your options are to either arrange a delivery service through a third-party company or rent out a truck and have the sofa or whatever you bought delivered to your home.
In case you don’t want to deal with the delivery yourself, you can use delivery apps like Task Rabbit or GoShare to have your furniture delivered.
4) Costco Does Not Have Plans On Furniture Financing
In case you are wondering if there are any Costco furniture financing options, the answer to that is no because of the fact that the margins are pretty much razor-thin, and offering financing wouldn’t make much financial sense to Costco.
What might be a better option if you still want to finance an expensive furniture purchase from Costco is to just get a loan, pay for the sofa in full at Costco, and just repay the loan over your desired period of time.
5) Costco’s Impressive Return Policy Applies To Its Furniture
Costco is known for its super customer-friendly return policy that allows customers to return a variety of purchases pretty much on demand. For example, clothing returns can be done at any time after the item was purchased.
And the good news is that this applies to furniture as well. If you’ve tried a piece of furniture for 60 days but can’t really see yourself keeping it, you can easily return the order back to Costco and get a full refund either back to your original payment method or have the funds deposited to a Costco cash card.
6) Check Price Tags To Know Marked Down Furniture
If there is one important tip that you need to know to save money from Costco furnitures, it is to look at the furniture’s price tags closely.
By looking at the price tags, you can instantly determine if the price of the furniture is indeed marked down. All you have to look for is if the displayed price ends in $.79 or $.97.
While Costco does not explicitly say that there is a Costco furniture deals of its furniture, knowing the price drop through the above-mentioned tip will help you save money when shopping at Costco.
7) Check Price Tags To Know If The Furniture Will Be Restocked
Aside from being able to spot the marked-down furniture at Costco, using the price tags, you can also see if that particular piece of furniture is going to be restocked in the near future.
This is particularly useful as Costco is known for supplying a certain product and once it goes out of stock, it’s gone forever and no one knows whether or not the product will ever be back in stock.
This has left many customers frustrated but luckily, by checking the price tag, you can find out if the product is coming back in stock soon.
What you need to look for is an asterisk. If it’s present, then that is a clear sign that this particular product won’t be restocked once it’s sold out. Thus, if this particular furniture features an asterisk and you really like it, make sure to buy it there and then before it goes away forever.
8) Buying Furniture Requires A Costco Membership
In order to go inside a Costco store and purchase discounted or cheap furniture, you’ll need a membership. Unfortunately, Costco doesn’t have a one day membership pass, so, you’ll have to choose one of the three available memberships before you can avail of the cheap prices at Costco.
- You can go with the most basic membership option called the Gold Star Membership, which has been the one used by the majority of the people signing up to Costco due to its $60 annual fee
- If you are having a business that involves reselling products from Costco, then you may sign up for the Business Membership with an annual fee of $60
- For the best perks and most benefits, customers also get the Executive Membership that will cost them $120 each year
But, if you’re not sure if the $60 is worth it, you can still go inside the store and see what it has to offer. One way you can do that is by asking to go to the store with a friend. Any Costco member can bring to the store up to two people who are non-members.
9) Know Where Furniture Products Are Sold Inside Costco
Costco warehouses are absolutely huge. You can easily get lost inside if you’ve never been to Costco before. So, if you’re short on time, it’s a pretty good idea to know where the furniture is stored at Costco so you can go directly there.
The furniture products are usually found at the back of every Costco store, as well as in the middle of the open ground of the store.
But, if you’re not sure where to look or don’t believe that to be the case for your local Costco, you can simply ask a member of staff on the day of your visit and they will be able to direct you accordingly.
10) The Layout Of A Costco Store Is Regularly Changing
One thing that you need to know about the store itself is that the way the layout was made for displaying Costco products constantly changes.
This is because Costco has been making it a habit to move their products, especially the more in-demand ones, to ensure that you will have more time and a chance to see all the other products from a wider perspective.
Like we said above, if your local Costco has shifted everything around since your last visit, ask a member of staff for directions.
11) Know The Policy Of Costco Regarding Purchase Of Furniture From the Official Website
If visiting your local Costco store isn’t an optimal choice for shopping for your next piece of furniture, then it’s worth mentioning that you can still buy the very same items from the official Costco website.
Though you’ll pay 5% more on the total price of the product (also known as a surcharge fee), you actually don’t need to be a Costco member to shop from their site.
And as for delivery, you’ll be in the very same situation as if you were to buy the furniture in-store. You can either rent a truck and pick it up yourself or hire a third-party delivery service who can go to your local Costco, pick up your order, and have it delivered to your address.
12) Some General Things To Know About Furniture Buying At Costco
In addition to the important things mentioned above that you need to know about furniture shopping at Costco, there are a few more things that you need to make your Costco furniture shopping easier.
- It is best not to ask the demo staff for assistance, as they are working for the company they promote and not for Costco
- To make your checkout process quicker and easier, have your membership card and payment ready, as waiting in line can be pretty stressful and tiring
- Always keep your receipts ready at hand since Costco staff are known to check them before you leave the store and head home
