ᐅ What have you ordered online?

I would just say that we Germans are not used to bargaining, or often don’t feel confident doing it. I have learned to negotiate, which sometimes embarrasses my wife. But here’s the thing: asking doesn’t cost anything, and I have often experienced that it works—not always, but increasingly so.

I even told a furniture dealer to keep one thing in mind: he only has one store, but I have many. So don’t hesitate to bargain—you’ll see, with a little charm, doors will open.

If you can find the exact same furniture online, it is a good argument to negotiate in the furniture store. In most cases, I was able to get the same or slightly higher price there. Sometimes, the prices were even lower than online. However, you definitely need to negotiate and, above all, compare a lot. Furniture stores usually conceal the brand and product names, and you really have to pay attention to the quality. This is often not proportional to the price. Expensive does not necessarily mean high quality, and vice versa. Ultimately, the furniture all comes from the same regions and often the same factories. In other words, they all have similar margins, so prices tend to be similar.

Does anyone here have experience with the manufacturer - massivum -?
I quite like some of their furniture series. So, purely from a visual standpoint, I could imagine buying from them.
I also really like solid wood.
But does it live up to its promises?

I saw bathroom furniture on mobel.de.
The brand is SAM. This company has a clearance sale in Walldorf, which is near the Hockenheimring, so we drove the 80 km (50 miles) to see the furniture in person.
The quality seemed to be at most comparable to Poco or Roller.
The worst part was the smell of the wood, which wasn’t real wood but some kind of MDF.
I immediately declined politely.

We also looked at a sofa set; it looked nice but some corners were stitched with just a single seam, which won’t hold up for long.

Better to spend a bit more money and buy something of higher quality.

This is quite simple in furniture stores.

Tell them what the piece of furniture is worth to you or how much it costs online. You will get the same price there, supporting local jobs and the retailer. Even if it ends up being a little more expensive, the advice is worth it to me.

What works (from my own experience)? High-quality lamps, sofa sets (Ewald Schillig), living room furniture (Hülsta), wardrobes (Voss).
All prices at the furniture store were the same or very close to the online prices. So why should I order online and risk potential problems?

tomtom79 schrieb:
Better to invest a bit more and buy something of higher quality.

For a couch?
After five years, it’s no longer up to date and probably needs to be replaced.
I’m not a fan of the cheap $999 sofas either—I bought something about three times that price (Schillig)… but honestly: eventually, the mainstream style of two “double-seat sofas facing each other” goes out of fashion and you want a lounging corner. Then that becomes outdated because of back problems, and now it’s L-shaped furniture. And if that stays, it’s the fabric: in the early 2000s it was microfiber, which nobody wants anymore, velour was popular one generation earlier…

But regarding the question: sofa and chair—testing them in person is definitely a plus.
I ordered our chairs and I’m a bit embarrassed… Tried them out at a furniture store, uploaded photos to a Google image search, and got a deal for two-thirds off… $100 instead of $300 is a big difference.
Lamps from vente-privee: saved half the price, paid $100 instead of $200, trusting the quality.
Bamboo flooring: ordered online, the product was great!
Plants: so-so!

The advantage is: you have more options!

Custom furniture is very hard to find online—you mostly get the common styles: MDF, high gloss, chrome, or faux leather. These are also cheaper.
But if you want a unique piece, you pay about the same as in-store, unless you can negotiate a discount there.