Whenever I look at the price of 3-piece suites, I always get the feeling there must be a conspiracy going one against us gullible punters. A settee is only a bunch of wood, fabric and foam, so, how come they cost from £500 upwards?
But I should probably come to the point... where can I buy a decent
3-piece suite for a good price? Anyone offer any tips on what not to buy? Makes to avoid, etc? Other buying tips?Thank you...
Frank
It's quite simple really, we the British complain about everything except the price we pay. If more people made a fuss when asked to pay extortionate prices for something which obviously cost only a few pounds to make we might see a difference.
Have you ever bartered in a shop try it, it sometimes works. Always try to pay cash, that usually gets you up to 10% discount. If the manager won't play the game don't go there again
The shops in my area cringe when I walk in because if they won't give a discount I can be heard to scream:- HOW MUCH! ARE YOU TRYING TO ROB ME? YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED! Oi! I DON'T WANT TO BUY THE SHOP! GET ME THE MANAGER!
a discount is usually forth coming if only to get me out of the shop.
You could always ask for the manager to prove to you the cost he had to pay to justify his prices in the shop. If he refuses tell him you will report him to Trading Standards for profiteering.
Here's a little story I went to Dixons to but a new TV. They had a sale on so I expected to get one for a good price. The one I was looking at was priced at £180, half the marked price. I pointed out to the sales guy that if he was honest he would admit that the TV probably cost less than £50 to make. I whittled him down to £150. At the cash desk I put £150 in tenners on the counter, placing my hand over the cash. "Ok," I said, "I'm taking this off your hands what's in it for me." He looked baffled. I said "I'm paying cash that has to be worth something." More baffled looks. "What a bout a pack of video tapes," I said. "I can't do that", he uttered. "No you can't, but he can", I said, pointing to the manager. He looked at the manager who said, "Give him a box of tapes". So I got a £360 TV that had been reduced to £180 in a sale, bartered to £150 and a pack of tapes. They still made a profit.
Try anything but do complain! As long as we rollover and accept thisday light robbery nothing will change.
And to keep this on topic do it yourself don't ask any one else to do it for you.
Steve R
-- "Latest gear:- One piece one button suit extremely comfortable, perfect for Relaxation, Sports, Hiking, Swimming, a must have" OOPS sorry you have one!!!
Suite design and colour is so varied and personal that sale of second hand suites is difficult. Look at your local free ads and it's full of suites 'hardly used, still wrapped, too big for room' etc. And at 10 - 50 % of the original price! It's a buyer's market if you can stand the thought of someone else's backside being there first.......
Or chat up the sales rep at the local big furniture store and find out how they dispose of their shop-soiled suites. We recently bought some 'slightly faded' (but not so that you can easily notice) brand new furniture at 25% retail price.
BAH
Typical British "free market economy". This means that *anything* sold from a shop is marked up at least 100%. The manufacturers usually only make a small profit and this would be included in their manufacturing mark up, of say actual cost of the bits times 1.6. This implies that the suite has an actual cost of maybe £150 Try mail order from some of the suppliers in the broadsheets. They don't have cavernous showrooms to pay rent on so their sell cost can be a lot lower.
(ps: Definitely don't buy one of those 'suites' that look to be covered in Cat-fur). regards john
I've made a sofa. It's great fun, and I'd recommend DIY upholstery to anyone who is so inclined. Not that hard, doesn't even take that long. Hardest part is finding decent fabric (Mine was hand-screened, but then I was pretty much building the sofa around the fabric)
But the last time I bought a couple of sofas they came from DFS, were really pretty cheap, dead comfy, and lasted well. I couldn't have built them for that money, at anything like a sensible hourly rate.
Easy. Just don't pay yourself for a year. ;-)
Looking at leather, I was surprised that it isn't as expensive as you might think at between 2-3 pounds a square foot. I don't know how many square feet there would be in a sofa, but it must work out an awful lot cheaper than buying leather furniture even from the warehouses.
Nick
Particularly if they cost more and you already have a cat. The fur can come for free then.
Paul
Absolutely. Even allowing for this the claim of a 100% markup on everything and anything is complete tosh. I worked in industries where 30% was good going and 15% was more normal.
Another useful supplier is:
My Citroen XM blew its gearbox last week, so is now being sacrificed to make furniture. I've been eyeing up its leather front seats since I bought it (black, comfy, electric adjust) but it seems the back seat squabs will make a decent two-seater too.
No unfortunately.
I found that a scratching post (around a tenner from Argos) and a cheap water pistol have helped them learn that maybe the sofa is for sitting on and not sharpening claws on.
--Paul
--whose wife finally agrees that we have enough cats...
I've done a fair amount of fabric upholstery - but I've not done any with leather. What are the webbing differences you mentioned?
Sheila
(I'm no expert)
Leather is less elastic than fabric. If you upholster normally, then things go slack which are normally pulled tight by the fabric's own stretch.
A webbing base always needs to be firmer than the cover, so you pack the webbing tight (like a Shaker chair) rather than spacing it. The batting under the cover will also have to remain taut under the leather, so that's different (less stretchy) grades of hessian and calico.
This stuff is in the better upholstery books - they know more than I do.
Save your christmas tree (assuming the sort with a natural tree, set in a disk of another trunk). Cut it off a couple of feet high (depending on cat) and strip the branches. Then wrap it with a whipping of coarse jute / manila thick twine or thin rope.
Yes, I was looking at leather to recover my Range Rover seats, so there would have been more and smaller bits involved. For a sofa this is less true.
Nick
Around here there used to be a small firm that made to order, nothing fancy just basic stuff. Their building got demolished for a Matalan and I don't know where they've gone. Try looking around for somewhere similar and cut out the middleman.
Peter
they still get the profit on the sale the finance is an added bonus but it's our choice
Steve R
-- "Latest gear:- One piece one button suit extremely comfortable, perfect for Relaxation, Sports, Hiking, Swimming, a must have" OOPS sorry you have one!!!
I think the basic answer to your question is because many people see them as a "traditional" or "must have" item. Plus of course greedy retailers. (Notice how much gets slashed off the price at sale time)
My parents got a suite when they married and never had another one. It lasted 37 years, of course it wasn't made with chipboard and dint have plastic covered foam. Today people change their suites at the drop of a hat and they devalue very fast. As another poster suggested, by a pre owned one from someone who bought the wrong size, changed their mind about the colour, can't keep up the payments. There are some good bargains to be had.
Good point. Last time I bought one we went for a 2 & a 3 seater sofa instead. Took up less space in the room, seated as many people and was far more comfortable all round. Two of us could stretch out in comfort.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.