I think it's Russian Roulette.
I buy kitchen stuff, bedding, yard stuff....but I wouldn't dream of buying a chair that I will sit in often from them
Some have rooms they rarely use...and are going for looks alone....but I sit in all my stuff!!
Caveat emptor!
Linda C

Somewhere I read that it is better to try to get your furniture from a local retailer so it has less chance of being damaged in shipping. I have wondered about Overstock.com myself and wonder how many people have bought from them?

that's it lachase, there are alot of furniture being sold there, so someone must be buying it? no? well I'm not inclined to buy anything I have not sat on either, but I really just wanted to see if anyone had a good or bad experience with them. I suppose logic says that more have bad then good experiences, just for that fact alone.

I'll have to look more into the star rating thing and see if that applies for this stuff too.

I agree; it is tempting though, isn't it?

I recently purchased a copper vessel sink. It was over $300 dollars cheaper than the one locally. I have also been looking for some Holland barstools. They have what looks to be the identical ones but with a different name. They call it the Cambridge. It has to be the same one.

I have to disagree with mynoblebear on Oversock.com's quality. I've purchased several things from them and have been satisfied each time. I research the item, read other's comments, search online for the same products and have never been disappointed. I bought a decorative chest from them that had a stuck drawer. I tried my best to "unstick" it. I notified them and they immediately sent another chest in perfect condition and told me to keep the first. I may end up getting burned sometime, but not so far.

Actually, Noblebear is right. While it often tends to look good, it's generally made of inferior materials and joinery techniques, like particleboard, pallet grade secondary woods, corrogated fasteners, plastic or stamped potmetal brackets, staples for joinery, crap like that. As a furniture builder myself, like Noblebear . . . we know it because we know how it's done correctly. There are even a lot of companies that used to make quality stuff that sell a lot of inferior stuff too. Ethan Allen comes to mind, I recently looked at a Coffee Table from them and was surprised at the poor quality . . .though it looked the part just standing there casually looking at it. It's all about "look" nowadays. I prefer my 'quality' to be 'actual' rather than psuedo.

I don't know noble Bear from Adam either, just wanted to point that out other than I saw his work on his website.
I don't mean to offend anyone, and my apologies if I have. But frankly, people in general have forgotten what actual quality really is.

P.S. Noble . . .If you're not a "he" my apologies. I know there are a lot of female woodworkers with a high level of skill too, nowadays.

I have had nothing but great experiences with Overstock. I re-did two bedrooms this past summer and placed 6 separate orders with Overstock (12 items combined) that totaled over $1200. Although the majority of the items were bedding, curtains or lighting related, I did purchase a bookcase (hardwood and some veneers) as well as a fabric accent chair from them. We are very happy with the quality of both of the items. The bookcase is solid and the chair is both comfortable and quite capable of taking the typical daily wear and tear my 8 and 10 year olds are putting on it.

One note - Overstock encourages customers to post product reviews of their recent purchases (if you take the time they will email you e-coupons off your next purchase). Just to be safe, I only purchaseed items that received at least 4 out of 5 stars. I have seen a few people blast the quality of some of their products, so it is pretty easy to avoid some of the lower end quality goods just by reading the reviews.

By the way, all of the items were delivered within 1 week and most of the time within a few days. There were no issues in regards to getting the wrong item shipped in error. There was only one item that was damaged in shipping - actually it was one piece (out of 100+) from a crystal chandelier. Upon notifying Overstock a replacement part was shipped and received within a week.

All in all, I would apply the same logic to Overstock as I would with any Internet purchase of furniture. I try to stick to hard good items where I know the quality of the goods from the manufacturer based on in-store experiences or prior customer feedback. However, I wouldn't purchase a soft good item on-line especially if it was something I would sit or sleep in everyday unless I knew exactly how comfortable it was regardless of the manufacturer.

The best advice I could give is to try out whichever furniture you have an interest in at a local retailer and then shop online to find a more suitable price. Local retailers are often more hefty in their price options and during this economy, who couldn't save a dollar?

Also, if one looks the majority of online retailers in their policies suggest that there is a less than 1% damage rate on certain items such as chairs, desks etc.

If you are attempting to purchase glassware, I would not trust the shipping for that as they would carry a probable damage rate.

Hope this helps! :)

I have to say that a pet peive of mine is folks who go to a showroom to see furniture, ask questions, etc. . . . then go find an online company to buy it from because it's a little cheaper.

This is unfair, and is even unethical really. Some warehouse wholesaler does not have the overhead of maintianing a showroom, having employees there who can answer questions about individual pieces, etc.

If anyone feels like they want to do this, in an effort to be a little bit fair, at least give the people who made the product available for you to examine, touch, feel, sit on, etc. and answered your questions a chance to match or come as close as they can to the warehouse price you are considering. Further, I've seen people here and on other forums complain about retailers who carry a given companies line being a bit indifferent to doing warranty work on a product they bought from an online discount warehouse.

All I can say on that issue is "Think about that for a minute."

Note taken, 'woodcutteron' - you raise some very interesting points.

Recently my wife and I were interested in 2 sets of furniture by Magnussen. We realized that one of the sets was being sold at Raymour and Flannigan but under a different style name. As 'woodcutteron' pointed out, we went to R&F and through a sales person did all of the touching, feeling and question asking. We did then go to the on-line store where we originally found it, but since it was faily close in price we decided to buy it through R&F for a few reasons:

1 - Turnaround time. 6 - 8 weeks with on-line store, 6 days through R&F.
2 - Shipping. At the on-line store they only delivered curb-side PLUS if there was damage in shipping we would need to take it up with the trucking company. R&F unwrapped each piece in my driveway and upon inspection they hand delivered each piece to to my 2nd story bedroom. R&F owns it's own trucks and delivery people are employees of R&F.
3 - Downpayment. The on-line store wanted 100% payment upfront - (this is becoming more common). R&F only required a minimal downpayment and then the remainder after the furniture was delivered.

However, on the second Magnuseen set we wanted it was not something that R&F normally orders from the manufacturer. So we ended up finding a different on-line retailer in NC who offered "white glove" delivery and "only" required 20% upfront to place the order - but the remainder had to be paid once the furniture was in their warehouse and ready for delivery. The wait time was 4 - 6 weeks.

We tried to get R&F to match the price but even their sales guy told us that he couldn't even come close to the since it would be a special order to them.

i think it depends on what it is, how you plan to use it and what your expectations are. i'll tell you, i am a furniture snob. i'm snobby about lots of things i guess, but what i mean is i want quality for the money. i believe it is far more expensive to go cheap because i always end up replacing something of inferior quality.

we moved into a temporary home while our new home is being built. i needed some things for the basement so i got a $1600 sectional from macy's. i bought it because it was the cheapest "large" grouping i could find and it will be kicked to the curb in just a few months. we've had it for four years and i will be surprised if anyone will be willing to go through the hassle of carting it away ...even if it is for free. it's not in great shape, but it served it's purpose.

i also wanted a cheap ottoman to go with it, again with the intention of getting rid of it as soon as we were ready to move. i found a perfect leather ottoman on overstock for $79 and hit the BUY NOW button. the kids have abused it, jumped on as well as off of it a million times ...and it's GREAT. i've decided it is worth enough to move into my dream home and live in the play room. it looks as new as the day we got it and has held up beautifully for a "throw away" item.

i wouldn't buy a sofa or chairs without knowing anything about them or being able to try them out, but you never know. i would never buy from an off-price internet site expecting to get furniture that will last a lifetime. it's just not realistic.